Accountants looking to add financial advice to their SMSF service offering are favouring the subject of risk cover over general wealth management, according to a licensee development manager.
“Accountants are so much more open to the insurance side of things when you talk to them about the philosophy and the importance of having insurance as opposed to the whole wealth management piece where you have to sell managed funds. That’s not an area they’re interested in,” BT Financial Group Securitor and Licensee Select offer development manager Stevie-Ann Dovico told selfmanagedsuper.
Despite feeling more comfortable delivering that type of advice, Dovico said explanations about the current state of the insurance industry were still needed.
“Because of the accountants’ age group, they’re a little bit apprehensive because the insurance industry has come a long way over the last 20 or 30 years, so what they thought of the insurance industry when they were building a practice is different to what it is today,” she said.
The ability of insurance cover to protect wealth seemed to be the theme that resonated most strongly with accountants, she said.
“We tell them they talk to their clients about building wealth and making tax savings and if they’re building wealth, then isn’t it their obligation to protect it as well,” she said.
“And when they think about it like that, which is always our philosophy, they’re always much more open to the idea.”
Although they became keen to provide risk advice, they had difficulty knowing how to do so and she said that was when they needed to be shown the benefit of the current legislation.
“We let them know when you open an SMSF you’ve got the SIS (Superannuation Industry (Supervision)) Act that tells you about the need to investigate the client’s existing insurance cover and not necessarily make sure they’re adequately covered, but make sure they’ve considered insurance,” she said.
“So they can start there because they’re having that conversation already.”
