Skaffold adds to investor-adviser relationship

Launched in November 2011, Skaffold now has approximately 2,000 members of which 5 per cent are financial advisers, Skaffold chief executive Chris Batchelor told reporters in Sydney yesterday.

The company recently surveyed more than 200 investors and found a vast majority of respondents who currently use Skaffold are reporting stronger investment returns.

“These investors have their superannuation heavily invested in shares and a few are using an adviser or broker to help them with their stock decisions,” Batchelor said.

Of those who do use an adviser, only 11 per cent say they are dissatisfied with the service they receive.

“We think this shows a clear opportunity for advisers to re-engage with SMSF investors,” he said.
“Seventeen per cent of respondents used an adviser and had experienced increased performance using Skaffold.

“The Skaffold platform is highly compatible with investors who use advisers or, more accurately, we believe it adds to the investor/adviser relationship by providing another pillar to the relationship, one that is built on research and rigour.”

Commenting on current bullish sentiments toward the Australian share market, Batchelor suggested there are better opportunities in overseas markets and in what he termed the ‘boring tech’ sector.

“An area that we are quite interested in at the moment is what I like to call ‘boring tech’. In other words, those tech companies that are no longer cool. Not Twitter or Facebook, but companies like Microsoft and Cisco.

“When you look at companies like Microsoft, they are still trading at quite a discount.”