Networth News

Financial Planning

Advisers need to develop clear cost models for their services. The implementation of the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms will require financial planners to embrace different business models in which scaled advice will become a critical part of their services. Read full article

Financial stress causes practice sale jump. Financial stress following the global financial crisis (GFC) has led a spike in the number of financial advice businesses and client books bought or sold in the past three to six months. Read full article

Superannuation

Superannuation fund members baulk at financial advice costs. Superannuation fund members are generally unwilling to pay extra for financial advice provided over the phone, over the internet or via a mobile device, according to research Read full article

Superannuation industry funds’ claims disputed. Research from the union-affiliated industry funds claiming dramatically better performance than the retail master trusts set off a storm of indignation Read full article

Regulatory

Clients could lose out from opt-in: FOS. The opt-in provision of the government’s planned financial advice reforms needs a safety mechanism to ensure consumers are not inadvertently left without an adviser, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has said. Read full article

ASIC continues Storm chasing. The Federal Court of Australia has rejected the main challenges to an Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation into the demise of Storm Financial. Read full article

Funds management

Move over, managed funds. Financial planners have known and – mostly – loved traditional managed funds for decades, but a shift away to offering direct equities continues to gather pace. Read full article

Is alpha just beta waiting to be discovered? The rise of hedge fund betas will lead not only to the reclassification of alpha, but also to better-diversified portfolios with greater transparency, improved risk control, and – perhaps most importantly – higher net returns. Read full article

Investments

Developing your international equities policy. We all know that international equities should be included in most diversified portfolios to take advantage of the risk premia and to diversify away from the risks of extreme home bias. It’s also conventional wisdom, based on practical realities, that ordinarily a well rated fund manager is the most sensible way of accessing offshore markets. Read full article

Fixed income: the case for active investing. The question of whether an active or passive investment management approach adds more value to a portfolio has long been the source of vigorous debate in the investment community. Read full article

Markets

IMF sees weaker global economy. The International Monetary Fund says it will probably lower its global economic growth, but does not expect a double-dip recession in the United States.Read full article

CBA, Macquarie say S&P downgrade won’t affect funding. Commonwealth Bank of Australia said today it doesn’t expect any material impact on its funding plans after Standard & Poor’s downgraded Macquarie and all four of Australia’s big banks’ credit ratings. Read full article