Advisers ‘more important’ amidst leadership spill

CATEGORIES:
Parliament House

We assist the clients of a number of financial advisor practices and were asked by the Independent Financial Adviser for our view on the value of financial advice against the current backdrop of political turmoil…

by Killian Plastow – 24th August 2018

Advisers ‘more important’ amidst leadership

The value of financial advice is set to rise against the current backdrop of political turmoil as policy and regulatory uncertainty makes planning more difficult for clients, according to Equilibria Finance.

Speaking to ifa about the Liberal Party leadership spill that has played out over the past three days, Equilibria Finance managing director Anthony Landahl said uncertainty over government leadership will impact both advisers and clients.

“What’s very difficult about the political instability is to be able to have some certainty around your business planning and some certainty around the planning you’re doing for your clients because of the changes that are continually coming in to the political cycle,” he said.

“With the media cycle as it is, and everything being so poll-driven, what you end up with is a situation where it’s hard to governments to make long term strategic plans that are needed for a more strategic direction for the country.”

However, Mr Landahl said advisers should look to “manage what [they] can control” and prepare as best they can for changes which may or may not eventuate, adding that financial services providers may even be able to turn it into an opportunity for growth.

“Our services are needed more than ever because of the level of complexity and the level of regulatory intervention across all these areas,” he said.

“From a client’s perspective, the difficulty in navigating all these things is getting more and more difficult, so there’s actually a big opportunity here for all of our types of businesses in terms of clients needing us more than ever, and it’s up to us to put ourselves out there and continue to show them the value we offer them – because they’ll genuinely need the services of good mortgage brokers and good advisers more than ever.”

Elevate Wealth director and senior financial adviser Matthew Hawkins similarly told ifa that the political uncertainty presents a difficulty for the industry.

“Financial advice is going through a lot of change at the minute, and changes to government and to the role of finance minister will just be another headache for us to deal with,” he said.

Mr Hawkins added that the possibility of the next election going to Labor would provide further complexity, as their proposed tax reforms will create more uncertainty again.

END


Anthony Landahl is the founder of Equilibria Finance, a mortgage broking practice specialising in delivering mortgage and finance solutions to the clients of financial advice and accounting practices.

Our Awards