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Who do you trust with your money? Money matters top of mind for Australians this week

Mon, 23 May 2011 01:45:29 +0000

Financial Planning Week 23-29 May 2011 kicks off today with the CEO of Australia’s peak professional financial planning body, the Financial Planning Association’s (FPA) Mark Rantall, calling for all Australians to spend a moment to take stock of their financial situation and consider the benefit of seeking professional financial advice from a qualified and trusted financial planner.

Now in its 11th year, Financial Planning Week is a national initiative of the FPA with 32 Chapters taking part in their respective regions, giving every Australian the opportunity to access valuable financial advice from qualified FPA members through national and regional initiatives. These include an interactive online advisory service known as ‘Ask an Expert’ providing the opportunity of financial advice to every Australian and at no cost. The public are encouraged to visit www.goodadvice.com.au from today to find a local planner and ask a question.

This year’s Financial Planning Week comes hot on the heels of a recent historic vote by members of the FPA to pursue its vision to transform financial planning into a universally respected profession. The vote approved a landmark new three-year plan to raise professional standards, including by increasing members’ educational requirements, while emphasising the importance to consumers of choosing a qualified financial planner who has signed up to the FPA Code of Professional Conduct.

“With 94 per cent of our members demonstrating a clear commitment to lifting the calibre and standing of their profession at this recent vote, Financial Planning Week provides us with the perfect opportunity to showcase the value FPA members can add to the lives of ordinary Australians who just want to make the most of what they have for now and for the future,” Mr Rantall said.

“Building higher standards to inspire trust and confidence in the community are key parts of what we do. We are looking forward to spending the week meeting a whole range of people of different ages and from different backgrounds and sharing with them some of our expertise.”

As part of the week, the FPA offered the following five top tips to help start Australians on the road to financial security:

Manage your debts. Managing debt is a critical part of any financial plan. Don’t hide from it. Assess your current debts and consider consolidating them into a single product with a low interest rate. And then include debt reduction as part of your financial plan.
Make a budget – and stick to it. Another financial basic, and just as essential, budgeting helps you see exactly where you spend your money – and therefore where there is room for savings and growth. Write down everything you spend, including the morning coffee, the power bill, the Friday night beer, the Sunday newspapers and the birthday gift for a friend. Compare with your incomings and you will soon get a clearer picture of your financial position.
Tap into the power of compounding. Start saving early and consider products that earn compound interest. As your savings grow and you start earning interest on your interest, investment growth accelerates. What it all comes down to is that the greatest asset you have is time, and the sooner you start investing, the better off you will be. But it’s never too late to make a positive difference.
Protect yourself. Make sure you have enough insurance. That means enough to properly provide for yourself and your family and for your business too, if relevant, in case of death or disability, as well as having health insurance and general insurance on your home and its contents. Protecting yourself also means having up-to-date wills, enduring powers of attorney and nominated superannuation beneficiaries to ensure that, when the time comes your assets go to whom you want, when you want – and in the most tax effective way.
Maximise your super. Superannuation remains the most tax effective long-term retirement planning structure available to Australians. Pre-tax or Concessional Contributions to superannuation such as salary sacrifice, are generally still the most tax effective way to build your wealth within superannuation, assuming that your marginal rate of tax is greater than 15%. There are limits to what you can contribute on an annual basis and you need to also consider contributions made by your employer under the Super Guarantee Contributions type arrangements – so make sure you seek advice on this so you don’t breach the caps.

If you have any questions about how to manage your finances, make use of the free online ‘Ask an Expert’ service or to find a member of the FPA to help you with professional advice, visit www.goodadvice.com.au or call 1300 626 393.

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AustralianSuper appoints Head of Brand

Tue, 03 May 2011 00:24:03 +0000

Nickie Scriven joins the Fund in newly-created role

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AustralianSuper today announced the appointment of Nickie Scriven to the newly-created position of Head of Brand. Ms. Scriven started with AustralianSuper yesterday.

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Ms. Scriven will report to James Coyle, General Manager of Marketing and Communications.

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Mr. Coyle said that Ms. Scriven will play a key part in achieving AustralianSuper’s objective of becoming the iconic brand in the Australian superannuation industry.

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“The new position of Head of Brand has been established to ensure the AustralianSuper brand continues to develop strongly.

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“Brand strength is a key driver of growth and scale and scale is the key means by which AustralianSuper will continue to deliver improved benefits to our members. These benefits include reduced costs through scale economies and the negotiating power that allows us to provide our members with better products and services, a better group insurance offer and a better suite of member educational materials.

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“This is a very important role for the fund and I am looking forward to Nickie driving the development of our brand as the leading superannuation brand in the country.”

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Ms. Scriven has extensive experience in strategic marketing across retail and financial services. Before joining AustralianSuper, she was founder and director of investment and marketing consultancy Budding Enterprises Australia. Previous roles also include Media Strategy Principle – Strategy and Marketing for NAB and Group Advertising Sales Manager for News Limited.

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Ms. Scriven has a Bachelor of Arts in Performance Studies and a Masters of Marketing from Monash University.

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AMP upgrades risk insurance offer for new and existing customers

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:26:40 +0000

AMP has launched a range of product enhancements and new service initiatives across its retail and group insurance offerings, effective immediately.

AMP Director of Wealth Protection Products Michael Paff said the enhancements will be offered to new as well as over 170,000 existing customers, who will be automatically upgraded at no additional cost.

“These developments are designed to ensure AMP’s insurance offering continues to be contemporary and compelling to our existing and new customers,” Mr Paff said.

Over 30 enhancements have been made to AMP Flexible Lifetime – Protection. These are strengthened by the product’s Automatic Plan Enhancement feature, which ensures claims that existing customers make after 28 March will not be denied for the new enhancements on the basis of a pre-existing condition.

Enhancements to AMP Flexible Lifetime – Protection include definition changes to Trauma insurance, changes to the Guaranteed Future Insurability feature for Income Protection and additional inbuilt Trauma features.

The Trauma insurance upgrade includes changes to five key trauma definitions, including Angioplasty and Cancer.

“Cancer is the most common form of Trauma claim with 76 per cent of AMP claims in 2010 attributed to cancer, so we wanted to broaden the cover available to our customers,” Mr Paff said.

Income Protection enhancements include increasing the maximum monthly benefit under the Guaranteed Future Insurability feature from $1,000 to $1,500 and the addition of occupationally acquired HIV and Hepatitis B or C as part of the inbuilt Trauma feature.

AMP has also made four significant improvements to its group insurance offer, including allowing Automatic Acceptance on plans with five or more members and increasing premium discounts on plans with up to 800 members.

“These upgrades are about making it easier for new group clients to gain access to insurance,” Mr Paff said.

Covering both retail and group insurance is the launch of an online claims concierge service, an extension of the phone-based service launched in May last year. This online service can be accessed via www.amp.com.au/claims and enables customers and planners to lodge a claim 24
hours a day and receive a response within 24 hours.

AMP has also realigned its underwriting teams to further enhance the support it provides its planners.

“As part of our commitment to make underwriting easier, we have recruited a number of regional underwriters and created dedicated underwriting teams for all planners,” Mr Paff said.

For more detailed information about all the enhancements please refer to http://www.amp.com.au/ampriskofferlaunch.

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AMP Planner Protection Poll: It’s not just the horses who have blinkers on this spring

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 01:36:19 +0000

With the Spring Racing Carnival in full swing, AMP research finds Australians still have blinkers on when it comes to the importance of insurance.

The AMP Planner Protection Poll found that consumer awareness of the need to protect against trauma and price sensitivity are the two primary issues impacting the uptake of trauma insurance in Australia.

When asked about specific improvements that could lead to an increase in trauma insurance uptake, 47 per cent of planners polled responded that an increase in awareness of the need for trauma insurance was crucial.

Price sensitivity is another deterrent to trauma uptake, with 43.5 per cent of respondents answering that improvements in price would be likely to increase trauma uptake amongst consumers.

When asked about product complexity, 56.5 per cent of planners did not see trauma products as too complex; however 43.5 per cent did see trauma products as too complex.

AMP’s Director Wealth Protection Products Michael Paff said many Australians remain unaware of the importance of trauma insurance.

“Many people don’t plan for worst-case scenario, they either don’t think about it, believe it won’t happen to them or they seriously underestimate the true cost associated with a serious illness or accident,” Mr Paff said.

“Sadly, personal insurance is still one of the most neglected aspects of the average person’s financial planning.

“Financial planners have a crucial role to play in educating people about the value of protecting themselves against sudden illness or injury.”

Mr Paff added: “Financial stress can be another deterrent to trauma uptake.”

“While trying to manage budgets, people sometimes see personal insurance as a cost that can be cut. While intending to reduce their financial vulnerability, they actually inadvertently increase it,” Mr Paff said.

The online AMP Planner Protection Poll was made available to financial planners across Australia and more than 170 responses were received. The poll asked two questions: “Are trauma products too expensive” and “Improvement in which of the following would most likely increase trauma uptake amongst consumers”.

Trauma cover provides a lump sum payment if a person is diagnosed with a specified ‘trauma’ condition, such as a heart attack or cancer. It is designed to help cover increased medical costs and living expenses, providing financial security during the important recovery process.

AMP Planner Protection Poll: Results at a glance

Are trauma products in Australia too complex?:

Yes – 74 (43.5 %)
No – 96 (56.5 %)
Total – 170

Improvement in which of the following would most likely increase trauma uptake amongst consumers:

Price – 74 (43.5 %)
Product features – 2 (1.2%)
Definitions – 14 (8.2%)
Awareness of the need for trauma – 80 (47.1 %)
Total – 170

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