Don’t do it for the money: aspiring advisers warned

By Sara Rich

Aspiring advisers were brought down to earth last week by industry commentator Ross Greenwood, who told those thinking of financial planning as a get-rich-quick scheme to get out.

Speaking at the Financial PlanningAssociation’s (FPA) careers expo in Sydney, Greenwood fuelled the commission debate by stating: “In the past, this has been a product sales-driven industry — that has to go.

“As soon as you have a commission, you know the needs of the sales person will be put in front of the client they are trying to serve.

“Most of you think it’s all about the money … Too many people have been doing it for that reason for far too long and taking too many commissions.”

The Channel Nine finance editor then went on to use scare tactics to emphasis his point.

“If you think this is going to be a way of getting rich quickly, think about going to jail quickly, because the Australian Securitiesand Investments Commission will have no qualms about sending you there,” Greenwood said.

“If you are having second thoughts about getting into this industry, then good, because you are probably not the type of person who should be in the industry.”

After explaining what a financial planner was not, Greenwood gave explanations as to what audience members should aim for in their careers.

He said a good financial planner was someone who had clients willing to pay for advice that recommended no change. Meaning, if it was in the client’s best interest not to change anything about the investment portfolio, then that advice was worth more than creating a new plan.

Greenwood’s view was supported by other presenters on the night, who believed putting the client’s interests before their own, even if they made no money from it, would result in extra clients in the future through the power of word of mouth.

Of the careers expo participants Money Management spoke to, all said they wanted to be financial planners so that they could help people.