CONGRATULATIONS…
Congratulations to the recently announced Top 100 Financial Advisers for 2020.
After exhaustive research and analysis by The Australian and Barrons, this list of talent represents the best in Australia.
They deserve their accolades as do all high achievers and leaders in any industry who have worked hard to gain their credentials, build successful teams and have created a loyal and strong client base. Well done.
However, there are aspects of these awards similar to shallow beauty pageants that would make many financial advice professionals wince.
SERIOUS?
A serious re-think is required.
It is almost farcical at a time when millions of Australians are facing some of their most uncertain financial times to be judging Australia’s best financial advisers on the amount of funds under management required to become one of their clients.
The role of our industry is to provide valued financial certainty to as many Australians as possible. The overwhelming focus on investment performance as a means of awarding our ‘best financial adviser’ shows how little the organisers of this award understand our industry’s culture and commentary has progressed after eight inquiries over the past decade.
The organisers of these awards continue to stoke the insidious and invisible power of financial products by labeling these awards ‘best financial adviser’.
In fact, considering their readership and coverage, they are missing the leadership opportunity in these most uncertain of times to be raising the consciousness of what Australians really need right now – non-product based financial advice.
GROWING CONSCIOUSNESS
The organisers don’t need to look far for evidence of this growing consciousness seeking alternatives to an industry that has only catered for a minority of wealthy Australians due to a pattern of entrenched product-based thinking.
A review of the findings of Ripoll in 2009, Cooper in 2010, Murray in 2014, Trowbridge in 2015, Sedgewick in 2017 and of course Justice Hayne in 2019 might be a good place to start. But, most importantly, before next year’s awards, the organisers hopefully reflect upon the fact that the vast majority of the people needing real financial advice at the moment are not investors – they are average Australians.
Australians are tired of being fed financial advice solutions where eligibility is only open to the big end of town or based upon a high-performing asset class, or where remuneration is tied to the amount of money under management as opposed to the quality of the advice provided.
Again, the award-winners deserve their congratulations. They have performed well against the rigorous standards for these awards. But these standards are not dissimilar to those of the beauty parades bias towards one aspect – good looks.
Enough is enough. Financial advice has to evolve to be valuable for the many, not just a few. More Australians need access to valuable advice more than ever before.
What do you reckon?
Cheers,
Jim
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Helping people live their ideal life | Mentoring future Star Financial Advisors
4 年The Barron's Advisor Top 100 is open to anyone. Just like any other award or recognition in the financial and wealth advice profession, it is easy to criticise the process and criteria from the sidelines. I can find holes on all of them. However, there are some exceptional individuals from within truly independent advice firms. How about we just show some gratitude and recognise these people. I offer my congratulations to Scott Carmichael Sean Abbott Mark Minchin . Well done.
Helping You Retire Comfortably & Live Fully | Registered Financial Planner | Director at Pinnacle Advice | IFA Excellence Award & Overall Winner 2019
4 年Well said Jim. I was honored to have been named the Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) Magazine, Client Servicing Adviser of the year and also the Overall Winner. This year it was not awarded to the Adviser that broke the most sales records, nor to the Adviser that managed the most money. The IFA award was presented to an ordinary Adviser like myself, that after being independently assessed had the "happiest" clients and felt they were on track to having the highest probability of meeting their goals for the reasons that were important to them. Like most advisers, I've just tried to always put my clients needs first and focus on their goals. The reason this award means so much, is because after decades of recognising advisers ability to sell product, it was finally recognition that the Financial Planning industry were handing out awards based on the success of clients meeting their goals. I felt I was representing all those advisers that just went about their business helping people. I really do applaud ifa (Independent Financial Adviser) magazine for taking a brave stance and hope we continue to recognize all the Advisers out there that silently go about their work every day helping Australians reach their goals.
Managing Director of HPH Solutions, FPA Professional Practice of the Year 2020
4 年Couldn’t have said it better Jim Stackpool! I have friends who are among the brightest, most ethically-minded and client-centric advisers anywhere in the country and they don’t appear on this list. But then again, this isn’t a peer-reviewed list. Knowing how much you love medico analogies, if you were trying to find a good back surgeon, would you be looking for a list like this (if there was one)....... or would you be asking trusted friends from within the medical profession (insiders) for a referral?
Well said Jim Stackpool. I have received an invite to these awards for the past few years. I started the app once and realised it was all about FUM so didn't bother. As a business, we don't measure FUM as a metric for client or business success, so why bother being benchmarked on this blunt and frankly, ridiculous metric. We care that clients value our advice and service, as evidenced by the tenure they retain us for advice and the demonstratable impact we have on their life. When clients advocate our business to their network by way of introductions we know we're doing something right. Our business metrics are about EBIT, managing costs, Client and Team member satisfaction, increasing efficiencies (ie. time to produce and deliver advice docs, conversion rates, people employed to revenue, etc). FUM isn't a metric of ours. When my business is benchmarked to the metrics that matter we're doing well. It's a shame that consumers will see this leaderboard and have the perception that the 'best' Advisers are about gathering assets which says nothing about the value Advisers really deliver.