Articles for Advisers

Lifespan finalists in ifa Excellence Awards 2023

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Huge congratulations to all those finalists short-listed for the ifa Excellence Awards this year, with a record 21 from the Lifespan community.

It’s a great recognition for their role in and support of the financial planning industry, and the strength of the Lifespan adviser community.

Lifespan Head Office:
Lifespan Financial Planning – Dealer Group of the Year
Eugene Ardino – Industry Thought Leader of The Year
Eugene Serravalle – Compliance Consultant of the Year and Dealer Group Executive of the Year
Lisa Gregory – Marketing Consultant of the Year

Authorised Representatives finalists:
Kristopher Meuwissen, Wealtheon – Innovator of the Year and Regional Adviser of the Year
Sheshan Wickramage, Wick Financial – Innovator of the Year and Transformation of the Year,  Individual
Sangram Rana, Build MyWealth – Risk Adviser of the Year and SMSF Adviser of the Year
James McFall, Yield Financial Planning – Holistic Adviser of the Year
Zachary Coleman, ZDC Financial – Newcomer of the Year
Terrence Vogiatzis, Omura Wealth Advisers – Newcomer of the Year
Robert Rich, Unite Wealth – Transformation of the Year
Suganesh Kumanan, YTM Financial Planning – Young Financial Adviser of the Year

Practice finalists: 
Wealtheon – Client Servicing Company of the Year and Innovator of the Year – Company
Yield Financial Planning – Holistic Advice Firm of the Year

PLUS CDM Solution Services – Innovator of the Year – Company and Transformation of the Year – Company.

The complete list of ifa Excellence Awards 2023 finalists can be seen here.

Established your own AFSL? Now what

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You can listen to the podcast here https://lifespanfp.com.au/for-advisers/podcasts/

Increasing regulation of financial services has seen a trend of practices seeking to become self-licensed through getting their own Australian Financial Services licence (AFSL). While speculation that ASIC may impose individual licensing remains just that, the number of registered advisers that hold their own AFSL or operate a boutique or small AFSL doubled from 2016-2020 to 30%[1], and a further one in 10 advisers are considering becoming self-licenced.

So why undertake a detailed process that needs time, commitment, and dedication? It is because advisers from large institutions experience over-compliance burdens, become tired of being told what to do and want more autonomy over their businesses. Similarly, those from smaller dealer groups want to retain control and flexibility over their destiny.

What do practices need to know to prepare themselves?

We are currently working with a number of practices looking at getting their own AFSL, who are using our services to support them in that process. It can be a big effort to get your own AFSL and it has become harder in recent years.

The first consideration is time. We find it can take between three to six months depending on the parties involved in completing the application process.

Decisions need to be taken around who should be nominated as the Responsible Manager as their knowledge, skills, and experience are important. Articulating the manager’s character and how they are qualified with the right know-how can be a big stumbling block. While understanding the five Options that are available to a perspective Manager to demonstrate their knowledge and skills to ASIC, it’s also important to show you have the right infrastructure and that you have time to run an AFSL.

You need to consider the AFSL process holistically, as getting the licence is just the start. 

Adhering to an AFSL is a lot of work. Some of the tasks include:

  • Putting together a compliance manual, a compliance committee meeting process, agendas, and policy documents for training and supervision, research, and pre-vet procedures, among other things.
  • Dealer codes need to be set up at the licensee level and distribution agreements obtained for different providers.
  • An ASIC-approved accountant is needed for a financial audit.
  • The ASIC register has to be updated in terms of appointing new Authorised Representatives. 
  • Then there’s AFCA membership and AUSTRAC requirements.

Once an AFSL is in place, you need the right systems and processes to ensure the smooth operation of the licence and that the advice business does not suffer from meeting the necessary compliance and regulatory demands.

That could mean you need to develop a business plan at a licensee level and a company level and do a cost analysis, including the time you spend as a Responsible Manager and the capability of your personnel. There are significant challenges.

Some businesses are merging or aligning themselves to share costs and responsibilities. If you take that path, ensure that the businesses are truly aligned and that there’s a trust factor between both parties.

How should firms plan?

You need the right infrastructure, personnel, systems, and processes. Unfortunately, many firms focus on just getting their AFSL and don’t have the time to do their own wider research. This can lead to rushed decision making and you could end up paying for support that doesn’t meet your needs.

You should explore dealer service options to obtain the packages and support appropriate for your individual needs. Try to really understand what sits behind the service offering. Look at their packages, compliance support, and personnel. Are they a publicly listed company, or privately owned?

Tap into the experience of Lifespan

Tapping the experience of an organisation such as Lifespan Partnership can be invaluable, as we can keep you up-to-date on regulatory changes and provide everything needed to run a compliant and successful AFSL.

As we’re privately owned, our focus is the AFSL, its clients, and advisers. We can also share learnings from running our own business and have a dedicated compliance manager who ran his own advisory business and who can provide a unique ‘adviser to AFSL’ perspective.

We leverage our financial planning experience to provide scale and support around technology, pricing, compliance research, and technical support. That includes a comprehensive checklist and induction training to help licensees after their AFSL application is granted. Professional development days ensure you don’t get lonely when you’re not part of a dealer group as you can share information with other AFSLs and become part of that community.

One of the major challenges of self-licensees is obtaining reasonably priced Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance, with the withdrawal of insurers from the market making this more difficult. It can also be difficult to secure reasonable excess terms where a claim needs to be made. Relationships with general insurance brokers that specialise in PI cover is critical. Our industry experience means we can leverage general insurance broker contacts that we have known for decades, allowing us to assist our AFSLs with appropriate PI cover at competitive rates. Similarly, we provide support with software and pricing and can leverage our relationships with research houses.

The additional value of connecting with a leading AFSL service partner is the peace of mind that comes from having another pair of eyes previewing your documentation templates, such as your FSGs, SOAs, compliance manuals, and policy documents. We help take the guesswork out of sometimes overwhelming corporate governance pressure, enabling your practice to thrive and operate sustainably, well into the future.

by Tony Mantineo, Head of Lifespan Partnership

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Notes:
[1] Investment Trends.

Lifespan Investment Series Launch

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Lifespan Financial Planning is proud to announce the recent launch of  the Lifespan Investment Series – Episode 1.

These videos will be available quarterly and are designed, to not only educate and inform our advisers, but also as an education and engagement piece for our advisers to use with their clients. 

This edition includes 4 videos:

  1. Full-length episode (31.26 minutes)
  2. Short video – Australian economy (3.10 minutes)
  3. Short video – US economy (2.17 minutes)
  4. Short video – Impact on Managed Portfolios (5.54 minutes)

Click on the links above to check out these videos today!

Pendulum of change is swinging to advisers in 2023

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Eugene Ardino, CEO at Lifespan Financial Planning, joins ifa podcast host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic, to discuss why he believes the pendulum of change is swinging in favour of advisers in 2023.

He gives his overview of some of the key recommendations made by Michelle Levy in the Quality of Advice Review, and details why he believes it will take at least a couple of years for some of the reforms resulting from the review to be implemented.

Eugene Ardino, hopes the government will take a closer look at Michelle Levy’s recommendation to allow superannuation funds, banks and insurers back into advice.

The Quality of Advice Review (QAR) lead, Ms Levy, has suggested that non-relevant providers won’t be stepping on advisers’ toes. It is, however, still unclear how the government views her recommendation, with Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones yet to release his assessment.

Mr Ardino said that this recommendation could present a “clear conflict of interest”.

“I think that’s the one area that I think that really needs to be looked at,” Mr Ardino said. “That was kind of what the general advice framework was for. The idea was if you’re employed by a product provider, you can give very basic general advice with a general advice warning, and it’s essentially limited to product, et cetera”.

“Look, I don’t have the exact answer as to what will work there, but I just think there need to be some fairly clear limitations as to what non-relevant providers can and can’t advise on if we’re going to go down that path,” he noted.

Mr Ardino suggested that perhaps, rather than removing general advice entirely, “we could tweak it a little bit to make it fit for what we want it to do now” — to allow product providers to give basic information without the presence of a senior adviser.

“I actually think the general advice framework is reasonably well suited to that almost as it is,” Mr Ardino opined.

There is also a fear, he noted, regarding an individual’s distinction between general and personal advice.

“The fear is also I think people are worried about letting their staff give general advice and them being accused of having given personal advice.

“It’s all well and good to try to give certainty, but I don’t think we can just open it up to be able to do whatever you like. That’s the part that I would definitely tweak and I think a lot of stakeholders in our community have also voiced their concern on that. I’m not the only one,” Mr Ardino said.

Mr Ardino also touches on Ms Levy’s latest admission that she was surprised by the extent to which advisers feel under siege.

 

You can listen to the podcast here.

ifa Excellence Awards winners 2022!

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STOP THE PRESS!!! 

We’re delighted to announce that the Lifespan group (Head Office and adviser network) won three awards in the 2022 IFA Excellence Awards held in Sydney, including the prestigious ifa Excellence Awards Company of the Year and Dealer Group of the Year, for the second consecutive year. It was really fabulous to once again be able to catch up with Advisers in real life!

To win these awards is humbling and a testament to the strength of our adviser community. We had a strong presence as a group in finalist nominations for these awards, being represented across 11 categories. This demonstrates the quality of advice firms that we have in our network. We would like to congratulate the following Lifespan advisers on both their success last night, but also for being recognised as finalists. We are really proud of our Lifespan adviser community, including Robert Rich,  awarded Client Servicing Adviser of the Year, Alexander Rankin, and the team at Endorphin Wealth Management, and James McFall and the team at Yield Financial Planning for achieving this well-deserved recognition!

What an amazing result! You can find the winners and finalists here.

Winners:

COMPANY

Dealer Group of the Year
Lifespan Financial Planning

ifa Excellence Awards – Company of the Year
Lifespan Financial Planning

INDIVIDUAL

Client Servicing Individual of the Year
Robert Rich, Endorphin Wealth

Finalists:

COMPANY

Client Servicing Company of the Year
Endorphin Wealth

Holistic Advice Firm of the Year
Yield Financial Planning

Marketing Program of the Year
Endorphin Wealth

INDIVIDUAL

Client Outcome of the Year
Robert Rich, Endorphin Wealth

Dealer Group Executive of the Year
Eugene Serravalle, Lifespan Financial Planning

Goals-Based Adviser of the Year
Robert Rich, Endorphin Wealth Management

Industry Thought Leader of The Year
Eugene Ardino, Lifespan Financial Planning

Marketing Consultant of the Year
Lisa Gregory, Lifespan Financial Planning

Young Adviser of the Year (30 years or under)
Alexander Rankin, Endorphin Wealth

ifa Excellence Awards 2022 Finalists Announced

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ifa Excellence Awards 2022 finalists were announced this week, coinciding with World Financial Planning Day.

We had a strong presence as a group in finalist nominations for these awards, being represented across 11 categories, including four company level categories and seven individual level categories.  This demonstrates the quality of advice firms that we have in our network.

We would like to congratulate the following Lifespan advisers on being recognised as finalists. We are really proud of our Lifespan adviser community, and of Robert Rich, Alex Rankin and the team at Endorphin Wealth Management, and James McFall and the team at Yield Financial Planning for achieving this well-deserved recognition!

In addition to the recognition across our adviser community, we were also honoured as an AFSL to be recognised as finalists as Dealer Group of the year, for the fifth year running, as well as recognition as individual finalists in Eugene Ardino as Thought Leader of the Year, Eugene Serravalle as Dealer Group Executive of the Year and Lisa Gregory as Marketing Consultant of the Year. Huge congratulations to our team efforts!

 

COMPANY

Dealer Group of the Year
Lifespan Financial Planning

Client Servicing Company of the Year
Endorphin Wealth

Holistic Advice Firm of the Year
Yield Financial Planning

Marketing Program of the Year
Endorphin Wealth

INDIVIDUAL

Client Outcome of the Year
Robert Rich, Endorphin Wealth

Client Servicing Individual of the Year
Robert Rich, Endorphin Wealth

Dealer Group Executive of the Year
Eugene Serravalle, Lifespan Financial Planning

Goals-Based Adviser of the Year
Robert Rich, Endorphin Wealth Management

Industry Thought Leader of The Year
Eugene Ardino, Lifespan Financial Planning

Marketing Consultant of the Year
Lisa Gregory, Lifespan Financial Planning

Young Adviser of the Year (30 years or under)
Alexander Rankin, Endorphin Wealth

Social media for financial advisers.

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by Lyndal Higgins, as seen in ifa magazine online – click here

Why is social media important for Financial Advisers?

Financial advisers may have hoped that social media was a passing fad, however, it’s difficult to keep hiding behind the argument that “my clients don’t use social media”. Global figures reveal a different story, with a 10% increase in social media users over the 12 months to January 2022, or more than 1 million new users per day[1]! Not only that, but each day we spent on average 2 hours and 27 minutes connected on social media!

Social media enables you to engage a variety of senses – written, visual, audio, or a combination. Whether tweeting on Twitter or posting on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Tik Tok, social media offers you an opportunity to connect and grow your relationship with your audience.

That relationship is key. In-person relationship marketing, such as networking or referral marketing, is all about being social and building connections with two-way conversations. Social media facilitates online relationship marketing, using social engagement to build relationships, with an approach that is both scalable and more efficient.

How can financial advisers use social media to grow their business?

With 86% of US financial advisers reporting that social media activity has helped them gain clients[2], you may well be asking, “How can I use social media to grow my business?”.

You can’t expect to post a single tweet and instantly gain a client. It requires a series of ongoing interactions, to build the know, like, and trust relationship. With the aim over time to become a trusted source of credible information and solutions, which culminate in a client or referral opportunity.

As a proof point, in Australia, Yellow Social Media Report 2020 found over half the consumers said they are more likely to trust brands if they interact positively with customers on social media (51%), make their content engaging and relevant (54%), and keep content regularly updated (53%). If your target market is females aged 18 to 40, these figures jumped to over 60%.

The benefits social media offers as a relationship marketing strategy are efficiency and scalability, especially for small businesses.

  • When you find, create, and share relevant content with your target audience via social media, the effort is substantially the same, whether you reach one or one hundred prospects.
  • Social media activity can make in-person meetings with prospective clients more efficient. People who meet with you will already have had a chance to get to know you and get comfortable with you and understand what to expect.
  • Likewise, it can also work to efficiently filter out those prospects that are not within your target audience, with whom you don’t want to establish a connection.
  • The greatest social media success ultimately builds on itself, as people clients, and prospects who follow you, share information with people, like them, who follow them. As your social media audience grows, the results can increase exponentially.

This is true not only for connecting with your potential clients but importantly for maintaining an ongoing relationship with your existing clients, who can be your greatest referral sources.

Often your existing clients may mistakenly believe that you are simply too busy, and don’t need them to refer clients. Social media can help remind them that you are looking for referrals of people just like your existing clients.

Before you start with social media, what is it important to know and do?

The first thing to think about when you’re looking at developing a relationship is, who do you want to develop a relationship with?

It’s important to clarify who you serve (your target market/preferred client), what you do for them (not simply a list of the services you offer), and how you help. It’s valuable to have an ecosystem of marketing resources that all tie back to your website, working together to amplify your efforts, and results.

The golden rule of effective communication – know your audience!

Defining and understanding your target market helps you to develop clear compelling communication that attracts ideal prospects to you. Almost two thirds of investors think financial advisers all sound alike[3], making the same promises, and making it difficult to distinguish between them.

How do you stand out? Be relevant and valuable.

The more you know and understand your preferred clients, the better you will be able to uncover their needs and wants, engage with them and be relevant and valuable to them. It’s important to invest both time and resources in understanding not only what your preferred client’s life looks like, but also in understanding their hopes, dreams, and fears. Your communication should reflect this.

So, you know your intended audience, what next?

Ask them where they spend their time online. Make sure you broadcast where your audience are, and that it’s a platform you’re comfortable and confident using.

Social media offers a dynamic way to tell a story and share content, and it’s important to be consistent in how often you communicate. Some examples of the types of content you can share include:

  • Stories about clients like them, that tap into the emotions of the value you bring.
  • Educational content informs clients about when they should be proactively reaching out for advice, rather than having to live with the consequences of poor decision making.
  • Stories that add value to your clients and reinforce what you do and the value you bring.
  • Your business is about your people, share stories and images of your team with your audience.

Remember, potential clients will check out your social media presence before they contact you and many of these will choose not to reach out because of what they see or hear. So, it’s critical to ensure everything you post reflects your value proposition, or don’t post it.

What you can do right now

Check your website for clarity. Does your brand and value proposition align with and reinforce the quality, look and feel that appeals to your ideal client? Your communication, online or otherwise, should focus on the person you seek to serve. It’s not about selling; it’s about solving problems and demonstrating value.

Get connected. Check that you’re connected with your existing client network via social media. It’s also important to ensure it’s easy to connect with you and to connect with the relevant information about you and your practice. This includes enabling prospects to book an appointment with you directly via your website.

Prioritise. As busy advisers, if you feel you ‘don’t have the time’, perhaps you can allocate time towards social media instead of other current marketing activities that may be less successful, effective, or efficient.

Reach out for assistance, contact Lyndal Higgins or Lisa Gregory @ Lifespan, Nicole Smith @ Socialisd.

Listen to the complete podcast here!

[1] Digital Global Overview Report, January 2022 report by Hootsuite and We are Digital

[2] The Social Adviser, 2017 US report by Putnam Investments

[3] The Social Adviser, 2017 US report by Putnam Investments

Avatars in action – helping advisers engage with preferred clients

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Successful advisers understand that marketing is about developing meaningful conversations with their preferred clients (and referral sources).

So, what makes a conversation meaningful? How do you make sure you’re engaging with your preferred clients and not timewasters? How do you provide them with helpful information instead of annoying them?

The first step is to understand who your ideal or preferred client is. Then, the more you know and understand them, the better you will be able to truly engage with them. Developing client avatars (aka client personas) can help you develop that level of understanding.

In this podcast, we’re joined by Jenny Pearse, Owner of Jenesis Consulting, and avatar expert. Lifespan advisers may remember Jenny from her fabulous presentation at our National Conference last year.

WHAT: What’s an avatar? 

An avatar (or persona) is a representation of your ideal or preferred client. Rather than simple demographics of your target audience, avatars are semi-fictional characters based on detailed research of your actual clients. They look to uncover the needs and wants of your ideal client. 

Ideal client profiling with avatars looks at psychographics – or what makes people tick. This includes a person’s values, politics, secret fears, secret desires, and what wakes them up at 2am.

WHY: The Power of the Avatar

At the most basic level, developing personas allows you to create content and messaging that appeals to your target audience. It also enables you to target or personalise your marketing for different segments of your audience and how to articulate the needs in the words of that particular target or “avatar”. It helps you to develop a clear compelling message that attracts ideal prospects to you.

If developed and used well, avatars can change the way you do business, not just your marketing. They can be an integral part of creating and maintaining a client-centric practice. By orienting your team around your avatar/s, you assure that your entire practice is working together to reach the right clients and serve them well. 

HOW: Understanding Your Ideal Client

Your avatars should reflect your best client relationships – relationships that generate the most revenue over the longest period and sustain a working partnership. Think about your best clients. How do they communicate? What are their persistent and emerging challenges? How can your services provide meaningful solutions they can understand and value? 

With well-defined avatars, your practice will have insights into questions like:

  • What pains are you solving for your clients?
  • What form of content is meaningful to your ideal client?
  • How do your potential clients want to engage with you?

Well-developed avatars will assist you to engage in meaningful conversations with your preferred clients more effectively and efficiently. They are key to turning strangers into prospects, prospects into clients, and clients into raving fans.

Huge thank you to our guest Jenny Pearse, and remember to email lyndal.higgins@lifespanfp.com.au for your short Avatar questionnaire.

Listen to the podcast here.

Lifespan Invest digital investing and education solution to address the ‘advice gap’

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Lifespan is pleased to annnounce the launch of our digital investing solution, Lifespan Invest, as a means of reaching the mass market of Australians priced out of receiving personal advice.

Consumers who sign up will not receive personal advice but can elect to have their investment portfolio professionally managed for them, and will obtain access to a regular feed of financial literacy and educational content in the form of engaging articles and videos, helping them to lead more successful and fulfilling financial lives.

Lifespan Financial Planning CEO, Eugene Ardino, said the company was proud to be taking proactive steps via a digital solution to seek to address the needs of Australians who would like professional assistance.

“In an ideal world, every Australian would be able to afford a personal financial adviser, however, the reality is that delivering personal advice has become increasingly expensive over recent years, inevitably excluding more and more people. Yes, the Government can take steps to reduce much of this cost by streamlining regulatory requirements – and we are extremely supportive of the Quality of Advice Review currently underway – however, the industry needs to also utilise robust and compliant new technologies to help address the growing “advice gap”.

“Our advisers are now able to offer an alternative digital solution for those whose circumstances are such that they do not need to go through the more expensive personal advice process. When they do need that service, our advisers will be there for them”, Mr Ardino explained.

The Problem – and its Solution

Mr Ardino called on the rest of the financial advice industry to look to new technologies to enable them to reach and help mainstream Australia.

“The press is doing a great job in highlighting the size of the problem – thousands of advisers continue to exit the industry every year, and as a result, it is estimated another 100,000 Australians over the past year were “orphaned”, that is, had their advice relationship terminated. The problem is clear – but equally, there are now digital solutions to this problem, and it’s up to the industry to embrace these new technologies”.

The Lifespan Invest solution is provided via a partnership with Melbourne-based fintech platform, OpenInvest.

OpenInvest CEO and co-founder Andrew Varlamos said the company was excited to be partnering with an award-winning dealer group in Lifespan Financial Planning.

“The team at Lifespan understand that everyone is better off when they can access expert and professional help and are now – via OpenInvest technology – able to reach a much larger audience with their expertise. The current advice gap will only be solved by a combination of scalable technology and progressive financial advice firms such as Lifespan working in partnership”, Mr. Varlamos said.

Financial Wellbeing

Mr Ardino echoed the theme that being able to access trusted financial expertise helps people to lead more successful and happier lives.

“For a variety of reasons, increasing numbers of people are experiencing financial stress and uncertainty. And because the banks have all exited financial advice – unless you’re extremely wealthy – it leaves an even larger vacuum that unfortunately has been filled with a spate of gimmicky trading apps that encourage people, especially young people, to gamble via share trading or crypto. Not only does this pose excessive risk of financial loss, but it also comes with inevitable mental anxiety and stress.

“There’s sensible investing and there’s speculating, and we see it as our role to help Australians invest the right way – via managed, multi-asset class diversified portfolios. By doing so, they are more likely to reach their financial goals, and also achieve a greater sense of financial self-confidence and wellbeing,” Mr Ardino explained.

Find out more about Lifespan Invest here.