The 2017 Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) National Adviser Conference at the Gold Coast did not disappoint. Notwithstanding the fact that there was not much sunshine in Sunshine State Queensland, there was material galore from kick-off.
Outsider was expecting AFA general manager, member services, partnerships and campus AFA, Nick Hakes, to spend quite a bit of time talking about AFA’s whitepaper on the financial advice competency framework. He, however, did not expect young Mr Hakes to make his grand entrance to the stage to Justin Timberlake’s ‘Bringing Sexy Back’.
Outsider’s first instinct was to assume he of course meant bringing sexy back into education. A couple of hours later, however, Outsider shot him an email to request a copy of the whitepaper, to which he received an out-of-office reply.
“Unfortunately, due to the very cool time everyone is having…I will find it hard to dedicate myself to email…”
With uncertainty still lingering around the specifics of the new educational framework for financial advisers, perhaps the AFA should have sung a different tune. A certain Pink Floyd springs to mind:
We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control…
Hey! Cool, sexy, Mr Hakes! Leave them adviser kids alone!



