How digital advice can help increase efficiency

The financial advice industry is undergoing a major transformation and financial advisers face an increasing number of constraints on their time.

Current risk and compliance requirements are a result of numerous inquiries into the quality of advice provided by the financial planning industry and are designed to protect consumers, something of which the industry as a whole is supportive of.

Improving diversification with smart beta

Factor investing, also known as smart beta, has become increasingly popular as investors realise they can harvest factor-driven excess returns and diversification over the market capitalisation-weighted benchmark through a simple, transparent, and rules-based approach.

Downsizer contribution rules and strategies

Since its introduction in the second half of 2018, the downsizer contribution strategy continues to be popular with both advisers and their relevant client base. It allows those who are age 65 or over and have sold a qualifying residence to contribute up to $300,000 each of the sale proceeds into superannuation outside the contribution rules and limits which may otherwise preclude them from doing so.

Breaking up is hard to do

Separation and divorce can have a negative financial impact on many clients. In these situations, advisers often play a critical role by assisting with the practical aspects of splitting assets and cash, and can further demonstrate the value of personal advice in the area of life insurance.

Some may consider raising the topic of life insurance during the beginning of a marriage breakdown as bad timing; however, it’s an important conversation to have earlier rather than later.

Beyond the Label, ESG Funds May Miss Their Mark

There are plenty of ESG funds available on the market, writes Warwick Schneller, but the lack of universal definition means some may not be having a real-world impact.

The protection equation

As the memory of a retirement funded by a 'risk-free' investment in bank term deposits fades into history, the current generation of retirees must come to grips with the challenge of maintaining income over a much longer retirement period than the generations before them.

And as advisers know all too well, in the context of delivering sound (and safe) retirement outcomes, with interest rates close to zero, traditional sources of safety and protection for capital have been turned on their heads.

ESG credentials and strong returns

For some time now, strong credentials in environmental, social and governance – ‘ESG’ to use the shorthand – have been the buzzwords on every investor’s lips.

It would seem that everyone now wants to make investments in companies with strong ESG scores, with asset managers wanting to offer investments that stand up to ESG scrutiny. But there can be no denying the suspicion that ESG investments may not be able to keep pace with ‘traditional’ investments.

Identifying 'transition winners' in a disrupted economy

We no longer live in an era of short-lived industrial cycles driven by the dynamics of manufacturing and the management of tangible capital. Today, we live in an era of long-term transitions in the key value chains of the modern economy, usually starting with a disruption that has an impact across several different industries.

Using property in an SMSF

Real property investments continue to be a popular investment for self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs). The latest Australian Taxation Office (ATO) SMSF statistics (as of 30 June, 2019) found non-residential real property investments accounted for 9% of all SMSF investments by value, making it one of the top five asset classes held by SMSFs. Residential real property accounted for 4.8% of all assets by value.

Investing in closed-ended trusts

Premiums or discounts to intrinsic value are a normal and inherent part of the successful functioning of listed markets. As with any listed shares, investors in Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed closed-end investment funds (commonly known as listed investment companies/trusts) should appreciate the opportunities and risks that this creates.

What happens when an investor buys/sells shares?