THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION NOW

Hi Thanking for signing our petition and on your comments, I could not agree with you more. As a matter of interest I don't regard anyone as a sophisticated investor unless they possess the skills necessary to meet that definition. What I do believe in is client directed portfolios where we provide the research and the opportunities to learn about investing. This means you are still a retail client however you share the responsibilities on the investment choices.
Investing carries risk and no one should be responsible for market losses, they are a fact of life, however structure is important and spreading risk reduces its impact. If you make good investments, they will recover anyway.
As investment advisers we enjoy the participation of that select group of clients that seek client directed portfolios and the achievement of reaching their goals.
Wishing you all the very best of luck with your financial planner and I hope you achieve yours goals.
William..

 

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you that as the most important part of this partition is to send a message to government that financial advice is far too expensive and compliance costs are the reason.
Aust Financial Complaints Authority AFCA , recently published the percentage of claim's against financial advisers and that was only 1% and most of these complaints were resolved..
The other 99% were against the Banks and the institutions and yet our government wants to exclude from the compensation scheme of last resort. These people have been responsible for 37 billion dollars worth of losses suffered by Australian investors.
At PFI we do not use unlisted managed funds, we use ASX listed securities and have done so for 30 years. The ASX ensures liquidity and it amazes me that we must keep learning the same lesson about unlisted funds, you cannot just sell a building or a share in a negative market. What happens with equity funds is in a negative market some shares are more saleable than other shares and managers tend to sell their best stocks to meet redemptions. This is totally the wrong decision however they have little or no choice.
We belong to an Association of Independently Owned Financial Professionals that is dedicated to improving the access to affordable financial advice and we have a rule that we do not accept financial advisers that have links with product manufactures, Banks and institutions. We believe all financial planners should be independent of product otherwise all you are getting is their inhouse funds and not necessarily the best funds available.
At PFI we do not have these links so we are free to recommend what we believe are investments that are in your best interests.
We provide opportunities such as client directed portfolios where you can choose your own investments and we will help you with the research and skills you may or may not have.
William@PFI. .. .
.

 

Signed! I strongly believe in the value of financial advisors, but that monetary value does become questionable when there is such an abundance of documenting and paperwork that now goes with it.

Good luck William, I am sure you will let us know if all goes well in this thread.

 

Hi Peter
Did you know that financial advisers represent 1% of all complaints received by AFCA (Aust Financial Complaints Authority) and the 99% relate to the banks and the institutions (source AFCA). This government is not on the side of consumers as they want to establish a compensation fund of last resort for financial advisers but the twist is they want exclude the banks and financial institutions which are the cause for most of the consumer issues. Our Association of Independently Owners Financial Professionals want product advice separated from financial advice and for the government to establish two schemes where consumers are protected from failed financial advice and more importantly a separate scheme where they are protected from product failure. Most of our current financial institutions have failed and frozen funds with a total loss to consumers amounting to 37 Billion Dollars over the period from January 2006 to April 2013 (source ASIC Website). That's 164 separate funds with a combined loss to consumers of $37,301.30 Billion.
Attached is a PDF extracted from the ASIC website showing the names of the failed and frozen funds which includes many of the major brands on offer today.
William@PFI

 

Thanks for signing and yes I will let everyone know the final outcome of the petition.
William@PFI

 

Hi Rolf
You might be interested in knowing that our PI Insurance is acting reduced from $25k to $15k in the last 12 months and cover is getting easier to obtain.
This is a good sign that PI underwriters are interested in insuring financial advisers and they are sharpening their pencils in the process.
William@PFI

 

Hi Rolf
Would you please promote our petition to your clients and you are welcome to use our information with your own footer at the bottom.
We would really appreciate your help.
William@PFI

 

Its so annoying given the aim is to make financial advice more accessible.... or is it.
Poor get poorer, rich get richer is perhaps the real motive behind it?

 

Hi Never Give up
What a great name and thank you for signing our petition
That is very much appreciated
William@PFI