While we tend to focus on sharp market crashes, sudden declines that recover quickly within just a year or few are not necessarily problematic. What is far more destructive are extended periods of mediocre returns...

Communicating with clients in an effective and economical way can be tricky - especially when the news might not be crash hot. financialalert spoke with communications experts working with advisers on both sides of the Tasman about the frequency, content and types of contact advisers should be having, and the growing use of social media...

Helping clients understand portfolio risk is one of the most difficult challenges faced by advisers. Following on from my previous blog in which I looked at how often a portfolio might be falling, recovering and rising, now we turn to showing investors how often and over what periods falls might occur, how deep they might be, and how long the portfolio might take to recover...

TNP launches new professional association; guidance note for adviser remuneration disclosure; check business interruption cover; Asia-Pacific ahead in ESG ratings; site offers director of parliament and government agencies; Auckland Council ratings upgraded...

Another mystery shop of financial advisers is rumoured to be on the way. financialalert spoke with Consumer about a possible mystery shop this year, as well as advisers about the different approaches to dealing with a potential mystery shopper...

Tate explains why IFA broke from FAANZ; S&P exits fund research; NZ will top developed world growth over next four decades; New risk tolerance tool; Health insurance numbers stablising...

For most financial advisers, the next challenge in complying with regulation is continuing professional development (CPD). The good news is there are a range of organisations ready and able to assist. financialalert spoke with the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and some leading education providers about advisers' responsibilities and how they can fulfill the requirements...

Kiwi AFAs who work in the UK pension transfer space may start receiving a lot of phone calls if a new law is passed in the UK which aims to ensure any QROPs scheme not obeying the rules loses its QROPS status - leaving investors in those schemes subject to a retrospective 55% tax claw-back. But, the real hook is that the legislation is retrospective back to 2006 when QROPS first began...

Investors need to major in three subjects to get asset allocation right in 2012 - plus, they would do well to study psychology.

With 2011 so frantic for most financial advisers, 2012 looks set to be an 'interesting' year. As the new regulatory environment has pretty much settled in, advisers are keen to get back to business, and back to basics. We asked industry leaders what 2012 will bring...

2011 was a watershed year for the New Zealand financial advisory industry, as the regulation rubber hit the road. Our financialalert Person of the Year 2011 stood out for his enthusiastic, energetic leadership at a time when many advisers were struggling with the additional demands the introduction of regulation has brought as well as the challenging market environment...

We might wish our clients’ investment journeys will invariably be beautiful experiences - but we know that things will turn ugly from time to time. How do we prepare our clients for the ugly times? What do they need to know?

With regulation taking hold, many adviser practices are simply not as profitable to operate as they use to be - and some may be asking themselves if this is a good time to exit. But holding out for another five years may well pay off...

Most emerging countries were able to counter an economic slowdown in developed countries in 2008-09. Can this scenario be repeated?

We asked the fund research houses - how much (if any) of an international equities allocation should be hedged, assuming a 10-year investment timeframe?

Fueling fears of a China bubble is the rapid rise in prices of its residential property market in many of its key cities. Structurally, however, while residential house prices may be vulnerable near term, over the long term, the uptrend would appear to be underpinned...

The tectonic plates of the Arab world have ruptured and the geopolitical fault lines that have shaped and defined the region for sixty years have shifted inexorably. What does that mean for investing?

The Summer Seminar 2011 debated the following three carefully selected topics, in a Socratic learning environment: Forever blowing bubbles; Avoiding avoidable mistakes; and, Agency risk and portfolio construction...

The business, economic and investment landscape of the 21st century will be defined by the Big Rapidly Industrialising Countries, in particular Brazil, Rusia, India and China. Delegates left this Emerging Markets Masterclass with a deeper understanding of the global emerging markets and their growing role in investment portfolios - as well as hearing from the BRIC Ambassadors to Australia on their first joint appearance...

The 7th annual Portfolio Construction Forum took place in what for many professionals would be considered the eye of a financial hurricane. The news over the prior 12 months had been awful in virtually every domestic financial sector, and the world was fighting through a global credit crisis that had replaced the days of easy money and leverage with a liquidity crisis and flight to quality that threatened international returns for the next half-decade. Delegates arrived with a single mission: to deconstruct the root causes of the domestic and global meltdown, and figure out how to help their clients ride out the storm...