Advice comes at a price
We live in a complex financial world. Whether you are buying a home, building wealth, choosing life cover, saving for retirement or funding aged care, there are difficult decisions to be made, each of which could benefit from specialist advice.
But that comes at a cost, one that most Australians find unaffordable.
Numerous government reviews of the financial services system have been made over the past three decades. The latest, the Quality of Advice Review, announced in March, aims to assess how the regulatory framework could deliver better outcomes for consumers.
It will investigate whether there are opportunities to streamline and simplify regulatory compliance to reduce costs and duplication; to improve the clarity of documents; and whether parts of the regulatory framework have created unintended consequences.
Actuary Michael Rice says the current financial advice regime is in crisis.
“While there is now much improved consumer protection, the heavily bureaucratic legislation pertaining to advice, together with the ultra-cautious approach of the regulators, is a severe hindrance to
