Winners

1. Peter Costello The Treasurer provided a significant fillip for superannuation, retirees and the financial services industry on the whole when he abolished the tax on super withdrawals for people 60 years old and over as part of the 2006 Federal Budget.

Costello saw fit to abolish the reasonable benefits limit as well.

According to calculations by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, the changes will mean the average wage earner will be better off by around $9,000 over 30 years.

And while he may have accompanied the announcement with the regrettable throwaway line that the changes would mean the death of the financial planning profession, in reality it has proved to be anything but.

With a whole new set of parameters to work in, advice regarding superannuation has never been more important.

2. Professional Investment Services (PIS)

The Queensland-based financial planning dealer group took over from AMP as the largest in the country in 2006, increasing its number of authorised representatives over a 12-month period by 135 to boast a network of 1,329 advisers at the time the most recent Money Management Top 100 Dealer Group survey was compiled.

This milestone was achieved despite the group’s links with the collapse of the Westpoint investment schemes — PIS clients were reported to have approximately $19.2 million invested in the failed group of companies.

Managing director Robbie Bennetts puts the dealer group’s successful growth curve down to his in-house development program that encourages paraplanners to progress to become fully recognised financial planners.

3. Industry funds

People say the highest form of flattery is imitation, and if that is the case Industry Funds Services’ ‘Compare the Pair’ advertising campaign has certainly been a resounding success.

After continuing to ruffle the feathers of financial planners in the market with the well-known promotional exercise, the Financial Planning Association (FPA) relented to the pressure of its members and produced a ‘Compare the Pair’ advertisement of its own.

The ad listed the services industry superannuation funds provide, just superannuation, against services such as managing debt, budgeting, and tax planning that a financial adviser can offer.

Not to be deterred, Industry Funds Services chair Garry Weaven welcomed the campaign, saying the new FPA advertisements were an aid to industry super funds rather than a hindrance, as they reinforced the fact that those types of funds were in a super category of their own.

4. MIR Investment Management

The fund manager converted its Money Management Rising Star Award from 2005 by being crowned the Money Management Fund Manager of the Year for 2006.

Not only did MIR take out overall honours, it also won the Australian Shares — Mid and Large Cap category and was a finalist in the Rising Star and Australian Equities — Small Cap categories for the year.

The achievement was even more noteworthy as the ‘value’ manager had provided such strong returns in a commodity-led bull market that would usually be tipped to favour ‘growth’ managers.

MIR’s managing director attributed his firm’s success to a boutique structure that aligns investors’ goals more closely with those of the business owners.

5. Macquarie Bank

The name Macquarie is generally associated with success in financial services circles, but the group’s accomplishments were further confirmed in 2006 when it was named the best fund manager by financial planners who took part in the Assirt/Wealth Insights Service Level Survey.

And Macquarie also appears to be holding its own in the platform space, with the same study ranking it third behind two Asgard products.

The group’s winning ways appear to be continuing, recently announcing a 51 per cent increase in its half-yearly profit for 2006 compared to the same result for the previous year.