GFC spinoff a more educated client base

Clients are generally far better educated about the markets and their investments than before the onset of the global financial crisis (GFC), according to Alan Harrison, chief executive of dealer group Iris Financial Group.

Harrison said this was both a function of financial planners spending more personal time with clients during the crisis and also due to a greater motivation to learn by clients themselves.

A sign of a more educated client base was that “not many clients are hanging off the end of the phone waiting for planner to call them”, as was the case at the beginning of the GFC, he said.

“I think clients are better informed by the efforts of planners, but at the same time the impact of the GFC on client portfolios in general has helped to concentrate clients’ minds.”

He said it was “an obligation and an objective of our planners to help educate our clients through the GFC in order to make mutual decisions [about] their investments”, and to some extent this has been achieved.

On the other hand, the GFC itself brought investing to the front page, which has in turn also helped to further the education of clients.

“In particular, this greater publicity has driven home to them the impact the international environment can have on the Australian markets and how those impacts are formed.”