Anne Fuchs

Australian Retirement Trust (ART), one of Australia’s largest super funds, has delivered a 11.3% return for its High Growth option for the 2023/24 financial year.

It’s the second year in a row ART has delivered double digit returns for the option, cementing its place as the highest performing investment option in the SuperRatings SR50 Growth Index, ranking number 1 over the last 10 years as at 31 May 2024.

ART’s Head of Investment Strategy Andrew Fisher said the results come as the fund begins moving its younger members to a higher growth strategy.

“We are transitioning 1.4 million MySuper members under the age of 50 to be invested in a strategy that is equivalent to our award-winning1 High Growth option in FY25,” Mr Fisher said.

“Super is typically the biggest investment many of us will make and Australian Retirement Trust is committed to making it count.

“We always encourage anyone contemplating their super investment options to seek financial advice, either through their fund or from an external adviser – we know it makes an enormous difference to our members’ super balance and retirement outcomes.”

ART’s Executive General Manager of Advice, Guidance, and Education, Anne Fuchs, said Australian Retirement Trust is proud to deliver this excellent result for members and external adviser partners who have put their trust in ART.

“In addition to improvements in our MySuper strategies, Australian Retirement Trust is launching a streamlined suite of choice investment options for members from 1 July,” Ms Fuchs said.

“I’m delighted to share that we’ve listened to the feedback of our external adviser partners and have introduced a High Growth Index Option to the new look investment menu.

“As a Fund we are committed to delivering the best possible retirement for our members. We hope our continued strong performance and product innovation gives our valued external adviser partners confidence in their decision to recommend Australian Retirement Trust as their preferred choice in superannuation and retirement income products to clients.”

———-

Notes:
[1] Money Management 36th Annual Fund Manager of the Year Awards, 2024, https://www.fundmanageroftheyear.com.au/winners/2024-winners-and-finalists

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Anne Fuchs

A research article commissioned by Australian Retirement Trust (ART), one of Australia’s largest super funds, has found that the skills clients value most in a financial adviser are simplicity, trust, and confidence to work in their best financial interest when seeking advice on retirement planning.

Research from the paper found that when measuring the value an adviser brings to a client, ‘acting in their best financial interest’ (82%) and ‘simplicity and trust’ (67%) rated higher than product advice (41%) and portfolio construction (26%)^[1].

The article, the ‘Art of Science and Trust’, launched by Ensombl, combines global and Australian research with insights from industry experts, thought leaders and financial advisers specialising in retirement. It aims to provide context and a practical framework for advisers to help build trusted client relationships.

Further findings from the article include:

• Retirement is one of the most stressful times in life, ranking at number 10 of the 43 most stressful life events.^[2]
• Emotional trust has the greatest impact on overall trust in an adviser. It accounts for 53% of the trust people place in a financial adviser. After emotional trust is ethical trust (30%) and functional trust (17%).
• Trust was found to increase with age, wealth, tenure, and financial literacy. This may suggest that the more time a client spends with an adviser, the more they come to understand and appreciate the value their adviser is adding, reinforcing trust in them.

ART’s Acting Chief of Retirement, Anne Fuchs, said the resource highlighted key areas of focus for financial advisers, beyond technical skills, to support clients approaching and in retirement.

“As people approach or start retirement, they may not only be worried about managing their finances, but also feel apprehensive about the end of a job or career, or the thought of having more time on their hands,” said Ms Fuchs.

“Australian Retirement Trust commissioned the ‘Art of science and trust’ resource to give advisers a better understanding of what members are feeling as they near retirement and what they’re seeking in a financial adviser at this particularly stressful point in their life.

“The findings within the report show that it’s not enough for financial advisers to simply do what they’re hired to do – provide financial advice. Advisers also need to deliver on emotional trust, ethical trust and functional trust to build long term client relationships.

“At Australian Retirement Trust, we genuinely believe in the power of financial advice to materially change people’s lives. We know that financial advice directly improves the financial literacy and wellbeing of members and leads to improved retirement outcomes.

“The release of this resource demonstrates the value we see in working in collaboration with external financial advisers to deliver retirement outcomes to our more than 2.2 million members,” she said.

———

Notes:
[1] Research conducted by Australian Retirement Trust, August 2022, Advisers n=229, Advised members n=775.
[2] The American Institute of Stress, Homes-Rahe Stress Inventory, accessed 11 July 2023 at stress.org

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Lachlan East has been appointed Chief Member Officer, Julie Bingham has been appointed to the role of Chief of Staff and Anne Fuchs has been appointed Executive General Manager of Advice, Guidance and Education. All appointments will take effect from 1 July 2023.

Lachlan East is a highly experienced financial services executive with more than 25 years’ global experience in the investment banking, wealth management and superannuation industries. Mr East has been with ART (previously Sunsuper) for more than 10 years as Chief Risk Officer and most recently Chief of Staff. Prior to that he held a range of senior leadership roles at Credit Suisse, Barclays Investment Bank and Linc Energy.

As Chief Member Officer, Mr East will be responsible for the Fund’s member operations portfolio, member service experience, and anticipating and advocating for future member needs.

Julie Bingham has been appointed Chief of Staff. Ms Bingham has more than 20 years’ experience across a range of organisations including CitiStreet, MBF, Bupa, Mondial Assistance, the Australian Tax Office, First State Super and has spent the last six years at ART (previously QSuper), most recently as General Manager, Member Engagement.

In a sign of ART’s ongoing strategic commitment to the external financial adviser market and focus on financial advice and the power it has to materially change members’ lives in the lead up to and throughout retirement, the Fund has also appointed Anne Fuchs to the role of Executive General Manager Advice, Guidance and Education. The role will be responsible for championing financial advice across ART, seeking to influence and shape the advice industry and ensure financial advice is accessible for all members.

With more than 25 years’ experience in the finance industry, Ms Fuchs has held the role of Head of Advice, Guidance and Education at ART (previously Sunsuper) for the last 8 years and sits on multiple boards and external advisory committees. Prior to that she held roles at the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA), Pinnacle Practice, ING Australia and Bankers Trust.

ART Chief Executive Officer Bernard Reilly said these announcements come at an exciting time as the Fund approaches 18-months since its merger.

“As key members of the Fund’s wider leadership team, these roles are integral to delivering on Australian Retirement Trust’s ambition to empower our 2.2 million members across Australia to retire well with confidence,” said Mr Reilly.

“These appointments are also evidence of the calibre of amazing internal talent we have at Australian Retirement Trust.”

Following the executive restructure in March, ART will make an announcement on the newly created Chief of Retirement role in the coming weeks.

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Anne Fuchs

Australian Retirement Trust, one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, has introduced new financial advice fee caps so more Australians can access quality advice.

The fund said the fee caps will come into effect for Australian Retirement Trust Super Savings and QSuper accounts from 15 August this year.

Australian Retirement Trust’s Head of Advice, Anne Fuchs, said the change is just one example of how members are benefiting from the recent merger between QSuper and Sunsuper.

“Bringing these two funds together, our focus was to create benefits for our members, so we’ve created a whole new advice fee structure that supports more accessible advice for them,” she said.

“No matter whether you’re a young barista or university student starting out on your superannuation journey, a blue-collar worker, a nurse, or a public servant, we are providing greater flexibility to make financial advice more accessible.

“These new advice fee caps will be a key part of Australian Retirement Trust helping as many of our members as possible, including women, young people and others with lower account balances, access and benefit from quality financial advice. The inclusion of a minimum balance requirement also ensures that member’s balances won’t be eroded by financial adviser advice fees, which we believe is in their best interest.”

From 15 August 2022, Australian Retirement Trust advice fee caps (for Super Savings and QSuper accounts) will be:

• Maximum fee of:
  • When a member commences a new advice relationship with a financial adviser, the financial adviser will be able to deduct an initial advice fee, up to, $1,500 (including GST) if the advice relates to superannuation. This initial fee will contribute to the costs associated with the preparation of an initial Statement of Advice upon entering a new advice relationship with a financial adviser.
  • Members can authorise their financial adviser to deduct an advice fee up to a maximum of 2.5% p.a. of their account balance, capped at $8,800 p.a. (including GST), to cover the associated costs of advice such as advice implementation, ongoing assistance with managing their account, ad hoc advice, and annual reviews. The cap will be applied for a rolling 12-month period and is applied to the sum of all advice fees paid.
• Minimum balance of:
  • A member must hold a balance of $25,000 across all accounts and no individual account can drop below $6,000 (after any advice fee payment).
• Caps are applied across the total of all advice fees paid from a members account; there are not separate caps for different advice fees.

Ms Fuchs said “Australian Retirement Trust’s increased size and strength has enabled the fund to further promote – both within the industry and wider community – the super fund’s belief that quality financial advice can change people’s lives for the better”.

“This is a great opportunity for Australian Retirement Trust members to pay for financial advice they need to make sure they get the most out of their super, without having to worry about funding it from their household budget, because we know the cost of living is challenging for many of our members.

“Likewise, financial advisers trust us to service them and their clients in an easy and timely way, with dedicated adviser servicing teams specifically trained to support advisers,” she said.

More than 4,000 financial advisers have chosen to register with Australian Retirement Trust for their Super Savings account clients, and nearly 1,000 financial advisers are able to charge advice fees to their clients with QSuper accounts.

“Importantly, this benefit is for all Australian Retirement Trust members. If financial advisers have clients who have a Super Savings account, we encourage them to contact us and register for this consistent advice fee cap service as well. For financial advisers who have clients with a QSuper account, please talk to their licensee to register their interest,” Ms Fuchs said.

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Speaking at the AFA’s recent EVOLVE Conference, AFA National President, Michael Nowak said that due to COVID-19 restrictions and being unable to host a face-to-face conference, the AFA’s traditional adviser awards program was postponed, however the AFA still wanted to celebrate its belief in great advice.

“The AFA Great Advice Awards are about acknowledging great stories from financial advisers about the successful outcomes they have delivered to clients,” he said. “Advisers share stories that demonstrate the financial, behavioural and emotional value that their advice has provided.”

Each state had a winner and a finalist.

The NSW winner was Terry Johnson from Keyman Financial Services in Parramatta, NSW.

“Terry has many claim stories of which to be proud,” Mr Nowak said. “Not only has he administered pro bono claims, but he always shows the utmost care to his clients when they need it the most.”

The Victorian winner was Adrienne Rush from iCare Financial Advisory Pty Ltd in Melbourne.

“Adrienne is such an impressive adviser. She has been recognised as a finalist in the AFA’s Female Excellence in Advice Award twice,” Mr Nowak said. “Adrienne’s great advice story demonstrates both the financial and psychological benefits of advice.”

Gayle McKew from Prosperity Planning Partners on the Gold Coast was the Queensland winner. Gayle’s great advice story highlighted many interconnecting elements of holistic client and family financial care. “This included intergenerational wealth advice, estate planning and wealth transfer advice, portfolio management and retirement planning.”

South Australian Simon Capp from Treehouse Financial Planning in Adelaide won the award for a story which demonstrated the great care he exhibited in helping a client in distress after a family loss and empowering the client to continue a journey towards achieving their goals.

AFA Inspire National Chair, Dawn Thomas, from Integro Private Wealth in Perth was the Western Australian winner. “Dawn’s great advice story demonstrated her ability to build trust with a client who had previously received poor advice. She restructured the client’s financial affairs and provided guidance to help the client achieve independence and work/life balance.”

The AFA thanked Sunsuper for supporting the Awards and for their ongoing support of advice.

Sunsuper’s Head of Advice and Retirement, Anne Fuchs said, “We were proud to support the AFA Great Advice awards in 2021 and would like to congratulate all the winners and finalists. Sunsuper has 1.4 million members and close to 4,000 registered advisers, therefore we understand and deeply value the role financial advisers play in helping Australians achieve their retirement dreams.”

A list of state winners and finalists appears below.

Winners:

• Adrienne Rush (VIC)
• Gayle McKew (QLD)
• Dawn Thomas (WA)
• Simon Capp (SA/NT)
• Terry Johnson (NSW/ACT)

State Finalists:

• Tim Hall and Simon Green (QLD )
• Donna Lee Powell (WA)
• Nikola Radoicic and Paul Katranis (SA/NT)
• Craig Phillips (NSW/ACT)
• John Cachia (VIC)

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Anne Fuchs

In a new report by one of Australia’s biggest super funds, Sunsuper has found that financial advice could help a young family enjoy more lifestyle choices and be $240,000 better off at retirement.

Sunsuper commissioned CoreData to conduct research and modelling of milestones and scenarios to better understand the value that financial advice offers Australians throughout their lives and into retirement.

Sunsuper’s Value of Advice Report ^[1] shows of how financial advice could help Australians fund lifestyle goals, like family holidays, private education and trauma cover.

For example financial advice helped case study one: a 34-year-old Australian couple maximise their money to pay for six additional years of private education for two children, 32 years of trauma cover and a family holiday every year until retirement.

CoreData surveyed more than 1,000 working Australians and found that those who received advice 80% said it gave them more confidence to make financial decisions and 77% said they feel prepared for retirement.

Of those who had not received financial advice 42% said they believe they will rely on the age pension and only 16% said they believed they would have a good standard of living in retirement.

Sunsuper’s Head of Advice and Retail Distribution Anne Fuchs said the research validates the value of services financial advisers provide to Australians in helping them achieve their financial goals and retirement dreams.

“Most Australians have a pretty good idea of the lifestyle they want to live now and in retirement. But a lack of financial literacy could be blamed for what people believe they can achieve and what their actual financial situation will be in the future.

“The extensive modelling by CoreData shows in all three case studies of couples at different life stages financial advice improved their current situation and allowed them to take additional holidays – meaning they had the financial freedom to spend money on things they enjoy.

“We also looked at the affordability of trauma cover because we understand that added financial security is important for many families should they become seriously unwell – especially when by 2020 it’s estimated that there will be 150,000 new cases of cancer diagnosed in Australia.^[2]

“The modelling found that with advice the couple in their 30s could afford trauma cover for 32 years and the 50-year-old couple could enjoy 10 years of cover.

“We know nearly nine million Australians have unmet financial advice needs ^[3]. So we hope that by better understanding the value of advice, more Australians will get the help they need to achieve their financial goals to have a better lifestyle today and set them up to enjoy their retirement.”

CoreData Principal Economic Researcher, Andrew Inwood said modelling milestones and scenarios that most Australians experience helps to realistically define how couples are better off now and in retirement from seeking professional financial advice.

“Good advice does of course make you wealthier at retirement, but it also adds value all the way through your life in the choices you can afford to make about schooling, insurance, holidays, housing and personal interests.

“The important thing to measure is how it adds value to every life stage and enables individuals’ life aspirations – that’s what we have modelled.”

Sunsuper launched the Value of Advice Report at the Association of Financial Advisers annual conference on the Gold Coast today and hopes the report assists financial advisers to help more Australians achieve financial wellbeing now and in retirement.

Sunsuper manages more than $46 billion in funds for more than 1 million members nation-wide.

Additional findings:

CoreData and Sunsuper surveyed those who received financial advice and those who have not, and found of those who received advice:

• 93% are sure they could fund three months out-of-work (compared to 77% never advised)
• 84% always pay off their credit card each month (compared to 60% never advised)
• 75% of Australians believe financial advice is worth more than it costs
• Only 7% of Australians believe they’ll need to rely on the age pension in retirement (compared to 42% never advised)

Read the report here.

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1. www.sunsuper.com.au/valueofadvice
2. Australian Cancer Council, http://www.cancer.org.au/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/facts-and-figures.html
3. Investment Trends. Financial advice report 2015

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Anne Fuchs

“While we are disappointed that Anne is leaving the AFA, we acknowledge that the role with Sunsuper is an outstanding opportunity, based in Anne’s home city of Brisbane and we wish her all the very best,” said AFA CEO Brad Fox.

Ms Fuchs has a long history with the AFA. Before taking on the CCO role, she worked with the association on a consultancy basis for over four years. “The contributions Anne has made to the AFA over the years and her passion and enthusiasm for our profession will be sorely missed,” Mr Fox said.

Ms Fuchs said she remains a keen supporter of the AFA. “I am really excited to be joining Sunsuper but I remain extremely supportive of the AFA,” she said. “The AFA, as a professional association, and the broader AFA community are both very dear to my heart. I am also a passionate believer in the AFA’s Your Best Interests initiative, which I believe has the power to transform consumer confidence in advice.”

The AFA is now exploring options to fulfil the duties performed by Ms Fuchs.

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Anne Fuchs

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) has partnered with PortfolioConstruction Forum to offer practitioner-focused investment content at the 2014 AFA National Adviser Conference to be held in Cairns, 12-14 October.

AFA Chief Commercial Officer, Anne Fuchs, said the partnership with PortfolioConstruction Forum will ensure that advisers have a clearer understanding of their obligations to clients with respect to investment recommendations. “The front-of-mind question for most advisers now is, what are my obligations as an adviser in this new world of best interests duty, where the practicalities remain largely unknown and untested? Advice being developed now around longevity risk is opening the door to innovative investment strategies that are very different to the old solutions and so we recognise a clear need to help our members protect the retirement savings of their clients.”

Ms Fuchs said many advisers are feeling uneasy about traditional strategic asset allocation and the AFA wants to encourage its members to think differently about model portfolios and their role in recommending them. “The best part about the investment content at the Adviser Conference this year is the realization of the need to live by the AFA theme for 2014, Innovate: Think. Create. Act. Advisers need to be thinking differently about how they invest their clients’ hard-earned savings so that clients have the really dignified retirement they aspire to have.”

ASIC Deputy Commissioner Peter Kell will also present at the AFA National Conference on a range of topics including putting forward ASIC’s view of the adviser role in the investment process. “Mr Kell will look at areas such as dynamic asset allocation and how advisers manage risk during an economic downturn,” Ms Fuchs said.

Technical experts from Perpetual and Australian Unity, who are the Australian market leaders in developing thinking about investment philosophy and advice strategy implications, will provide investment curriculum content. This will be moderated by Graham Rich from PortfolioConstruction Forum.

More than 80% of AFA Members include investment advice in their service solutions.

“When our delegates walk away from the 2014 AFA National Adviser Conference, they will have a much clearer idea about their Best Interests obligation, what it means to them, what it means under the law, what their investment philosophy could be and how they can best protect their clients’ money,” Ms Fuchs said. “This is market leading content and we are very pleased to make it available to our conference delegates.”

Register here for the AFA National Conference in Cairns from 12-14 October, or to view the program.

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Anne Fuchs

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) has appointed Anne Fuchs to the new role of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

Ms Fuchs will be charged with the responsibilities of income generation and servicing of AFA’s commercial stakeholders being members, licensees and corporate partners. The role also carries responsibility for AFA’s Consumer Brand campaign, Your Best Interests (YBI).

Ms Fuchs, who took up the position today, has for the past four-and-a-half years consulted to the AFA on their strategic partnerships.  She has a 17-year career in financial services, including 11 years in business and practice development roles with ING Australia, Colonial First State, and BT Financial Group and, more recently, five years heading up her own venture, Pinnacle Practice. Two years ago, Pinnacle Practice launched the highly successful, MyDealerGroup, a matchmaking service for advisers and licensees offering advisory services to financial planners and licensees around their AFSL strategy, client value proposition and fees/terms.

AFA CEO Brad Fox said he is delighted to have someone with Ms Fuchs’ wealth of industry experience and in-depth knowledge of the AFA join the team. “Anne has a unique understanding of financial advisers, licensees and the industry as a whole,” he said. “She has already demonstrated her energy, commitment and passion for the AFA and the advice profession and in her role as CCO will be able to further grow and develop the AFA’s widening spheres of influence and reputation as the association of choice for advisers.”

Ms Fuchs said she feels privileged to have been a part of the AFA’s journey so far and welcomes the opportunity to pursue a career which allows her to impact the bigger picture. “I have a high conviction for public policy and am looking forward to working in a position of influence with a professional association whose core purpose is to influence the fabric of the financial advice profession and the broader financial services sector to achieve great advice for more Australians. Anyone who knows me knows that is where my heart lies.

MyDealerGroup has been sold to Forte Asset Solutions, headed up by Steve Prendeville. “I am delighted to hand over MyDealerGroup to Steve,” Ms Fuchs said. “We have a strong alignment in our business model in working with advice firms and licensees to achieve their growth objectives. With a relationship extending back to when I worked at ING, I know that he also values professional reputation, has expertise in understanding what business owners want and a strong track record of performance.”

Ms Fuchs said she will be working with Forte Asset Solutions through the transition period to ensure the continuity of quality service for MyDealerGroup clients.

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“What advisers are looking for when they come to me seeking a new dealer group is independence from institutional influence,” Ms Fuchs said.   “Unfortunately that part of the market is shrinking at an alarming rate of knots. The number of truly non-aligned dealer groups, that are well-established and have a good track record, is now so small I can count them on two hands and have fingers left over.”

Ms Fuchs said many non-aligned dealer groups have institutional ties via wraps and platforms and institutions are increasingly taking strategic shareholdings in boutique groups that are running IFA models, in order to attract more advisers into their dealer groups.

Ms Fuchs also said advisers don’t seem to fully grasp the ownership structure and commercial realities of non-institutional licensee businesses. “They need to understand what it costs to run a dealer group and the impact of FoFA and conflicted remuneration legislation on commercial terms,” she said. “There is an absolute mismatch between what advisers want, what they think is available at the price they are prepared to pay and what is actually available.”

Part of the problem, Ms Fuchs said, is that advisers currently working with institutionally owned dealer groups pay heavily subsided dealer fees and have access to extraordinary resources.

“I am not sure many advisers in these aligned networks truly appreciate this,” she said. “In many cases the penny only drops about how little they have been paying once they have decided they want out. They then have some very commercially difficult decisions to make.  It is not uncommon to see advisers decide that the cost to be non-aligned isn’t worth it.”

Shrinkage of the non-aligned advice market is one of the unintended consequences of the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms, which Ms Fuchs thinks is very sad.

“The fact is that the non-aligned market was not this small this time last year,” she said. “What the government and ASIC probably haven’t foreseen is that the loss of this whole section of the advice market depletes consumer choice.”

Ms Fuchs said this contraction of choice means major institutions now control the industry; advisers, who really want to act independently of institutional influence, have fewer places to go and consumers have narrower service models to choose from. “I question if that is in keeping with what FoFA originally set out to achieve for consumers,” she said.

While the industry must accept legislative and cultural change, Ms Fuchs said it should not stifle genuine business enterprise at a grass roots level.

“Most advisers these days are university trained and highly skilled. They are seeking  something that will support their business model, which involves a deep understanding of the client’s goals and objectives and always puts the client’s best interests first,” she said. “It just doesn’t sit well with their business and professional values to deliver a standardized, one size fits all approach to financial advice.”

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