Kristy Smith - Financial Planner

27/06/2022

The plunge in shares & flow on to super - key things for investors to keep in mind during times of market turmoil

Sare markets have fallen sharply in recent weeks continuing the plunge that started early this year due to worries about inflation, monetary tightening, recession & geopolitical issues including the invasion of Ukraine...

15/06/2022

Inflation, interest rates, share market falls and an iceberg lettuce is $12?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/inflation-interest-rates-share-market-falls-iceberg-kristy/?trackingId=zcWcjHz3QVOnPmFehxQcvQ%3D%3D

17/10/2021

17/10/2021

Be like Cher ladies!

26/08/2021

A Blackrock study found that a large portion of women would prefer to plan their own funeral, rather than talk about money! 😡 Come on women!

That is both ridiculous and disappointing. Step up, put on your big girl pants and start taking responsibility for your financial security!

13/08/2021

A fantastic video saying all the stuff that we (financial planners) tell people. Great work Angela!

Money is not everything, but it does give you choices in life. You can’t argue with that....Take any 100 people follow them for 40 years from when they start...

18/05/2021

Senator Jane Hume Stephen Jones MP Patrick Gorman MP why is it that the ever decreasing pool of financial planners are paying an ever increasing ASIC levy, all the while our licensee and education costs are sky rocketing?

The ASIC levy is apparently in place to cover the legal costs that ASIC is incurring by taking legal action against the banks and advisers who have not done the right thing by their clients, WHILE THEY WERE UNDER ASIC'S WATCH. These are the same advisers who have left the industry (good riddance).

But the question remains, why are the remaining advisers, the ones who did the right thing by their clients, left funding the cost of ASIC's legal action? Our ability to run a profitable business is being squeezed at every turn, which ultimately translates to less money for our families, and many good advisers leaving the industry, given that most of us (those who are left) are small to medium sized businesses. I don't see any of the senior executives at ASIC taking a pay cut.

It was ASIC's responsibility to monitor and supervise. It clearly failed in its duty, so why is my family and many others, covering the cost of this?

23/10/2020

This is truly extraordinary and incredibly demoralising. I'm shocked that our regulator (ASIC) would think that it was fair and reasonable to judge our industry on the basis of a very specifically chosen sample of advisers. This is akin to the whole teaching profession being judged on the basis of a sample of teachers with poor student outcomes, or the medical profession being judged on the basis of a sample of GPs that have the highest rates of prescriptions....How could ASIC have considered the 2014 sample of advisers to be a fair representation of the industry and indeed, how did they think it was fair and reasonable to recommend very significant, industry changing, policy on the back of a very specifically selected sample of advisers?

Moreover, how does ASIC think it is reasonable to now undertake a review of the industry on the basis of more recent advice, without comparing the advice being given today to that of 2014, when the original, bogus review was undertaken, from regulatory changes were made?

One's faith in the Financial Services regulator and the Government (on both sides) continues to wither. Apparently it is acceptable for law firms to charge clients hundreds of thousands of dollars to 'help' clients with very straight forward insurance claims (widely acknowledged by the industry as often not required) and yet, ASIC Connect and politicians such as Stephen Jones MP​ have an issue with advisers receiving a largely insufficient, unprofitable amount of commission for giving personal insurance advice, that now takes, on average between 20 and 30 hours to provide. It is truly extraordinary and incredibly misguided.

For those of us who strive to absolutely do the right thing for our clients every day, for whom the "best industry duty" is not a legal requirement, but a 'no-brainer', the insurance review process used by ASIC in 2014 and in the current 2021 review, is a total slap in the face and speaks to their total lack of understanding and care, for what our industry does.

3d rendering of hefty stone question mark standing on sounding block with gavel beside on light-blue background with copy space. Lawsuit and trials. Guilty or innocent? Controversial court case. Compliance & RegulationRemuneration Quality and Context – the Challenge for ASIC October 23, 2020 2 Ris...

21/08/2020

This is a fantastic article which highlights some of the issues that our industry face and also why planners have to, unfortunately, limit the type of clients they give advice to, as well as putting up costs to stay in business. For those of you on the outside, if you understood the current regulatory regime under which we operate, you'd laugh. I absolutely agree that there needs to be a regulatory framework, but the current one is nothing short of unworkable.

Held back metaphor as a large anchor holding or oppressing an air balloon and restricting movement as a suppression business metaphor from aspiring to succeed with 3D illustration elements. Will Life Insurance Advice Disappear? August 21, 2020 0 Sydney adviser, Guy Mankey, documents in this article....

06/05/2020

A fantastic article highlighting how lucky we are with the bipartisan Government response to COVID-19.

Back in January when the bushfires were raging, I feared Australia’s luck had ran out. But right now, I thank god I live in The Lucky Country! Donald Horne’s original conception of the term in the 1964 book of the same name about Australia being run by “second rate people who share its luck”...