Hello, I’m from ASIC and I’d like you to justify the advice fees you charge? Are you ready for this question? Reminds me of the gag about the tourist in Ireland who asks a local for directions to Dublin. The Irishman replies: “Well sir, if I were you, I wouldn’t start...
“When you’re up to your armpits in alligators, it’s difficult to remember that the original objective was to drain the swamp.” The Hayne report was an anti-climax. When our Treasurer announced the report with “From today, the banking sector must...
It was a simple question and I knew I didn’t do it justice when it was asked. In fact, I didn’t realise it’s significant until afterwards. I blurted out a quick response which didn’t properly answer it. I’ve thought about it since. In fact, I’ve thought a lot about...
Got a call last week from an old client for whom we did benchmarking work fifteen years ago. His son joined him in business about five years ago. Sensibly at that time, they made the hard decisions required to setup a sustainable foundation for their future making the...
Finding it hard to get to those important but non-urgent projects? Happy with activity, but still hoping it will soon reflect on your bottom-line? Feeling lost as to how others seem to find time that you can’t? Blaming your software, systems, procedures or people for...
Whoever came up with the idea that selling work by the hour is a mark of a professional really should take a bow for being one of the greatest professional illusionists that ever lived. I’m still amazed when I hear advisers confidently talk about how they quote a...