Bill Shorten’s announcement late last year that the government will introduce legislation to effectively enshrine the terms ‘financial planner’ and ‘financial adviser’ was broadly welcomed by the financial planning industry. However, it’s of course been opposed by the Opposition on the grounds that it will just add another layer of unnecessary bureaucracy.

While government intervention/regulation is generally unwelcome there is no doubt that the legislation (if it passes through that is) would provide consumers with a safeguard against unqualified persons calling themselves advisers or financial planners. You have to remember that as I write there are no constraints on individuals calling themselves financial planners, even if they don’t have the required training or even licensing and so of course we end up hearing of countless stories where people have been swindled.

This burningpants blogger thinks the proposed legislation would be of great benefit to advice seekers who as it is aren’t clear on what the role of a financial planner or a financial adviser is. It of course depends on the individual you talk to. To many, a financial adviser can include stock brokers, accountants and other specialists, but not include financial planners whom they see as providing general financial advice. Indeed, some don’t see financial planners per se as being specialists. That of course is far from the truth but is does shows the lack of awareness among consumers and how we need to better communicate what financial planners do!

We as industry I think contribute to this also. How often do we use the terms ‘financial planner’, ‘financial adviser’, ‘adviser’ and other variations interchangeably? All the time, and in fact I was sitting in a meeting the other day and this is exactly what was happening. So not only are consumers confused, but we ourselves can’t settle on terminologies and their meaning. It would therefore be great if we as an industry could set the standard in our communications, both internally and externally

As a final thought, it would be interesting to do a poll in the office and see what meaning people attach to the terms ‘financial adviser’ and ‘financial planner’ or whether indeed they see them as one in the same…cause people out there don’t necessarily. unshaven girl можно ли взять займ без паспортазайм на пару днеймикрозаймы онлайн первый займ бесплатно