Mr Whiteley told InvestorDaily there is significant evidence that demand for advice is now at a price point of around $200 to $250, and that initially, people generally seek advice around their super.
“For advisers, the opportunity there is either working for a superannuation fund or connected with a superannuation fund,” he said.
“In the first instance, to be providing advice to people about their super and over time, when people see the value of advice, then we can expect that a certain proportion of those members and clients will seek more comprehensive advice as their finances dictate.”
Mr Whiteley said an increasing take-up of scaled and intrafund advice would lead to an increase in employment opportunities not just for advisers, but for ancillary service providers that will support the provision of scaled or intrafund advice, such as technology firms.
“It’s my expectation that how people will get advice will be completely transformed. Technology will be a huge driver of it,” he added.
“I expect many people over time will get a fair proportion of advice over the internet,” he said, using the example of people seeking a medical diagnosis from the internet rather than a doctor.
“There will be technology which enables people to get much greater information and advice to make decisions about their financial affairs. There could be processes there where they can still get some advice over the phone, online or face to face to confirm the decisions they want to make, but what we’ll see is technology making advice more accessible and cheaper for consumers, which means more people will get advice, which is a good thing,” he said.
Noting requests from some parts of the advice sector for changes to Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms, Mr Whiteley also pointed to a need for the superannuation and advice sectors to work together – but also said FOFA needed to be given a chance to work before requesting changes to be made.
“There are elements within the financial planning industry that are looking for some tinkering. There are other elements that are looking for a significant dilution of the reforms,” he said.
“It’s worth pointing out that these reforms are 45 days old and a fair proposition of the reforms won’t be fully implemented for another year or more. I don’t think it’s an unreasonable proposition that the reforms be given an opportunity to deliver rather than just immediately advocate for change because the advice industry doesn’t like them,” he said.
He said the financial services industry would be best served sitting down, discussing the terms, giving the reforms time to operate, and allowing a period of implementation before the industry starts lobbying for change.
