Connect and engage

"Australia is “reaching a tipping point”". Nope. Australia is well past the tipping point, and is now in a mental health driven death spiral for disability insurance.

"Insurers will always be there for the Australians who are most deeply affected by mental ill health." Nope. If insurers continue to pander to the mental health sector, they won't be there for anybody.

I’m a CPA who is beginning a career change as an advisor. After completing the qualification twice, once in 2011 and now in 2025 and then having to pay $1,500 to sit the exam there is no incentive other than pure passion to join the financial advice industry. 

It absolutely needs to be provided to a client as soon as you provide the advice. This is for any record of advice. Check the legislation

I think people are misunderstanding this. There is no suggestion of a 5 year rule. Merely the point being made is that it’s highly likely that a clients relevant circumstances will change significantly in a 5 year period. Of course this depends on what phase of their journey they’re in i.e it’s more likely a 40-50 year old will experience significant changes to their circumstances compared to a 60-70 year old. Everything is case-by-case. 

I could be very wrong but I think more attention should be paid to the term ‘relevant’ circumstances, in the legislation. Like you said, there are plenty of instances where significant changes occur but don’t impact the existing advice. I’d say those changes are to circumstances which are not relevant, and therefore do not fall within the scope of the legislation. Using this interpretation you could say RELEVANT circumstances (whose relevance will change based on what kind of advice is being given), have not changed in this instance, which means an ROA can be done (provided the basis hasn’t changed significantly under that second limb). 

Very well summed up

They already tried on April and in submissions for qoar which were addressed as incorrect. Just won't stop, accountants are even worse than bias industry funds at advice and both are rubbish

Bias conflicted cr4p shame as far and shame Labor. Disgusting like a 3rd world and killing financial services in Australia 

It won't happen and they'll have sold us and the profession down the river. Just like lif just like scaled advice for super funds being carved out. Morons

Isn't it all just "Product Sales" being sold as "Advice"?

I wonder if their next press release calls for an accountant's exemption to fill the gap...

Too little too late, there will be a few thousand less in a couple of years.

Advisers have been warning of this for this for years. Add the horrendous stats on mental health and suicide within the profession and it is easy to see a profession that has been persecuted and continues to be.  

Even great practitioners that should have 20 years of advice ahead of them - have had enough. The smart ones can see that the ASIC funding model, CSLR and the design of PI have advisers in the barrel. Where the last business standing will simply turn out the lights and walk away. If you rewind to post RC when there were more people employed in compliance, look back, audit and compensation programs than there were employed as advice practitioners it was easy to see the writing on the wall. For all the growth, every single bank said - 'not for me' and walked away. There will be wholesale advisers or private client advice, that sits outside most regulation and there will be industry fund employed advisers whose sole job will be to funnel more money into the industry fund.  Independent retail advice and advisers. Good luck! You're only one law reinterpretation from having to refund fees of the last decade or compensate clients for returns under the index and your business will need to close. 

That seems to be the plan anyway. 

I think you have nailed the issue right on the head. Discussion has been going on for years and  the only thing still being offered is problems not solutions. The risk market has been decimated quite frankly and what was once a vibrant and dare I say, fun place to be - as well as doing good for Australians, there is no longer any attraction for new advisers let alone customers. 

Quinella of rubbish between the AFR and the Oz regarding this.

You'd think that they might be a bit better than this, but clearly not.

Question is, is it on purpose?

Bravo!

I've said this before - very interested in what documentation, research etc. this so called "new class of adviser" will need to produce and provide to the "clients" before providing "advice". Statement of Advice / Client Advice Record?? Or simply nothing!

Expecting The Australian to publish anything other than inaccurate and poorly researched sensationalism was the first mistake here.

Why would anyone read the AFR? The majority of journalists these days are just looking for tik tok stories to report on. When they have to do some actual research they are out of their depth.

Spot on Keith