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22 January 2025
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There are a lot of vague statements about the costs of financial advice in Australia. This insider's knowledge shows the actual costs are skyrocketing but demand for financial advice remains strong.
Opening the market for advice makes sense but the QAR is weak on consumer safeguards. Financial advice legislation should be tailored to the risk of harm for consumers, identifying complicated, risky strategies.
Financial advisers must convince regulators and clients that advice to ‘do nothing’ or maintain a current position is indeed valuable advice, and often more valuable than activity buying or selling shares.
Seeking financial advice can be a daunting task and over 80% of Australians do not have a financial adviser. Here are the steps involved in understanding the advice process to encourage more people to jump in.
‘Suitability’ of financial advice is something unlikely to be addressed by the Royal Commission, but its adoption and regulation is crucial to the improvement of the wealth management industry.
The Royal Commission will change financial advice, focussing more directly on conflicts of interest and client best interests. What can you flush out of your adviser immediately?
A note from ASIC to Cuffelinks readers regarding the Financial Advisers Register – a comprehensive database of financial advisers’ scope, experience, training and qualifications to assist investors in choosing an adviser.
The term robo-advice has quickly evolved to cover a broad range of automated advice and investment solutions. But the underlying principle is the use of a formula or set of rules to assist with managing wealth.
Most investors seek re-assurance, certainty, confidence, comfort and rational explanations from finance professionals, but what they often get is jargon-laden confusion. We have much to learn about effective communication.
The recent push for greater transparency on asset management fees has reignited the debate about what is fair and reasonable. Both managers and investors need to reset their expectations to find the common ground.
When two Nobel Laureates sit down to discuss the topic 'Why does the public hate us?', you know there's a major problem. And the Murray Interim Report raises many concerns about wealth management in Australia.
Financial literacy levels in Australia and around the world are worryingly low, which impacts the way financial advice is received and understood. Is the message getting through, or should advisers give clients this simple test?
Last year, I wrote an article suggesting returns from ASX stocks would trample those from housing over the next decade. One year later, this is an update on how that forecast is going and what's changed since.
The housing market was subdued in 2024, and pessimism abounds as we start the new year. 2025 is likely to be a tale of two halves, with interest rate cuts fuelling a resurgence in buyer demand in the second half of the year.
The renowned investor has penned his first investor letter for 2025 and it’s a ripper. He runs through what bubbles are, which ones he’s experienced, and whether today’s markets qualify as the third major bubble of this century.
This examines the performance of key asset classes and sub-sectors in 2024 and over longer timeframes, and the lessons that can be drawn for constructing an investment portfolio for the next decade.
Key lessons include expensive stocks can always get more expensive, Bitcoin is our tulip mania, follow the smart money, the young are coming with pitchforks on housing, and the importance of staying invested.
Check out the most-read Firstlinks articles from 2024. From '16 ASX stocks to buy and hold forever', to 'The best strategy to build income for life', and 'Where baby boomer wealth will end up', there's something for all.