Dealer groups prepare clients for job losses

A number of dealer groups have begun warning their clients to prepare for redundancies early this year, including telling them to acquire more skills and retrain themselves, and be able to access capital if needed.

Gavin Fernando, director, financial services at Prosperity Advisers, said redundancies were going to start hitting the economy very soon, and that the company was already hearing rumours of wider job losses in the workforce, particularly in the mining and manufacturing industries.

Fernando said that telling clients to retrain and acquire more job skills would protect them against job losses in a slowing economy. They were also telling their clients to ensure that, in a worst-case scenario, they have access to capital, for example, by accessing their mortgage. They could also investigate receiving benefits from Government.

The managing director of Matrix Planning Solutions, Rick Di Cristoforo, said a major focus for the group this year was helping clients with retrenchments and a slowing economy. He said he expected job losses to hit in the first part of 2009.

Cristoforo said Matrix was offering toolkits and discussion opportunities for their advisers on how to help clients in the event of job losses.

It was important for advisers to review a client’s investment and liability position to see “what they can bear and what they can’t”, he said, as well as investigating whether older clients could retire early from the workforce.