Rallying to the defence of co-ops

While reading the recent January 20 Money Management article (‘Look before you leap into a co-op’) by Phillips Fox solicitor partner Martin Jamieson, I bristled a little in defence of AustChoice’s 52 adviser shareholders and their 270 plus authorised representatives.

While reading the recent January 20 Money Management article (‘Look before you leap into a co-op’) by Phillips Fox solicitor partner Martin Jamieson, I bristled a little in defence of AustChoice’s 52 adviser shareholders and their 270 plus authorised representatives.

These planners collectively own 80 per cent of AustChoice and enjoy approxi-mately 90 per cent of the profits. Not an altogether new concept where distribution buys at wholesale and redistributes at retail for the fair benefit of distribution.

I want to respond with proud, albeit indignant, vigour arising from the fact that AustChoice grows at better than $1million of new business per day and is now has well in excess of $300 million of assets under management.

I wanted to remind our learned counsel of the crystallisation of values (in part and in whole) achieved by the hard working, entrepreneurial folk at IPAC, Sealcorp (Asgard), Garrisons (Synergy) and Symetry.

Magnanimously, I was happy to almost acknowledge that our industry has always been liable to the flukiness of legislative change. In fact, I’ve long suspected that continual regulatory change is the main reason as to why the financial planning in-dustry has prospered.

Historically, other professional groups (accountants, stock brokers and yes, law-yers) have chosen to allow hard working and innovative financial planners build a worthy and profitable industry by being there for their customers, unbundling and explaining continuing taxation, superannuation and investment legislative changes.

In fact, the relatively recent interest in financial planning by professional groups other than financial planners is in itself an interesting development.

This interest and the enthusiastic market support for the AustChoice co-operative model has encouraged the current development of the AustAccount structure to which Jamieson refers.

The AustAccount structure allows professionals such as accountants to participate in financial planning and share more equitably in the value that is created.

The AustAccount prospectus will be issued shortly, with every confidence that a sustainable structure has been created for accountant financial planners.

And I also wanted to ask solicitor Jamieson why shouldn’t the finders endeavour to redistribute some of the capital values that have historically been the exclusive benefit of the minders.

Yes, I did want to say all those things. But I hadn’t looked before I nearly leapt.

Because as I read Jamieson’s last paragraph, I realise that he was just doing what we are all trying to do profitably. Solicit.

Roger Gumley

Managing director

AustChoice Financial Services