Whilst the Banking Royal Commission was making headlines earlier in the year and for much of last year, our team have been crunching numbers, and now that the data is in, we can’t help but think our clients were the winners in 2018!

When we created the Australian Advice Network in March 2015, we became part of a growing trend of advice firms moving away from the banks and institutions.  Advice firms have been making the decision to leave the banks for a range of reasons, however, for us this step has meant that we can now really push back, ask questions and be your advocates in more ways than we ever could.

With a great deal of anticipation and no small amount of speculation, Commissioner Hayne has released his findings and recommendations from the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.  

He has made 76 recommendations and other than one contentious point in regards to mortgage broking and up front commissions, both of the major parties have said they will accept and implement them.

AAN Asset Management and its investment committee work closely with managers such as Vanguard (See Video) who have a proven track record in achieving index returns and delivering cost reductions to clients. Utilising  Vanguard with active managers allows us to provide very competitively priced solutions without sacrificing return.

Lower prices do assist returns but active management can add far more value when successful. This is in positive markets but even more so in negative markets.  The committee specifically look for managers that have a strong track history of performance in negative markets to add to the index performance provided by our passive solutions.

Adding to this value, AAN has negotiated substantial discounts with the managers and SMAs in our models to increase the likelihood of outperformance across all market environments.

100% of savings are passed back to the investors and the only fees paid to the practices are signed off and approved by you.

AAN is privately owned which means we have no alignment or commercial interest in any of the fund managers or SMAs we select. The whole universe of product is available to us and the committee has no commercial incentive to choose one investment solution over another.

Paul Forbes and Troy Theobold accepting the award for the group

CEO, Paul Forbes, acceptance speech

Australian Advice Network (AAN) was awarded the ‘Independent Financial Adviser- Best New Licensee’ on Friday 12 August 2016.

“This award recognises the financial planning Licensee that has created the most effective business from start-up phase.  Based on business growth metrics and the support of individual advisers, the award considers the activities, strategies and actions of the group in terms of adviser recruitment and retention, as well as the success of individual advisers in supporting the groups overall growth and development”

Excellence Awards Evening

AAN is our license, which we started in March 2015, as part of our strategy to retain an advice business  that is not aligned with any bank, financial product manufacturer or institution. The license provides our framework for providing personal financial advice, both by meeting all our regulatory requirements and also protecting you through the training, monitoring and supervision of our advisers.  Sixteen months in, we believe this is recognition of the quality of the license we have built and its achievement of its primary goal which is a license that truly demonstrates its independence.

Thank you to all our clients for their patience through this transition and hopefully this endorsement by the IFA will give you additional comfort that we are on the right track.

Best Regards

Paul Forbes

CEO Australian Advice Network

We now have an election result which in normal circumstances would mean we have a clearer understanding of the policy direction over the next few years.  This result, however, means there will be a lot of negotiation before we see the final position on issues such as the controversial superannuation changes proposed by the Government during the May budget.

Comparison of policies summary

The linked table gives a quick update on the key financial services policies so you have a concise view of the policy positions of the likely MPs and Senators.

Fundamentally the Australian Advice Network is opposed to any changes that can be deemed as retrospective as this undermines the confidence of contributors to superannuation.  If you can’t be confident of the treatment of your savings when you retire, why agree to lock it into an environment where you have very limited access until age 65 or beyond.

We and our industry bodies as well as accountants and their industry bodies continue to lobby government for changes to their proposed policies so this is not a done deal. The Senate will be a very difficult place for legislation to be enacted and Mr Turnbull and his government cannot begin to pretend they have a mandate for their policies.

Paul Forbes

Chief Executive Officer