Viewpoint: Focus on the positives
By Renato Mota, General Manager, DistributionThere is a lot of doom and gloom out there in the media. Investor sentiment has hit its lowest point in seven years, with confidence lower than it was during the GFC1. Treasurer Wayne Swan blames excessively pessimistic reports in the media for negatively influencing Australians’ confidence2. Whether you agree with the Treasurers’ political views or not, it might be time to take a page out of his book and start talking positively. He believes that Australia can handle whatever is thrown at it and that we should not be blind to any new opportunities which come our way.
New committee on superannuation
In the interests of being positive, let’s hope that the new committee on super comes out with some decisions that look to fill the holes in the retirement income segment of our industry that will play an increasingly important role in the asset allocations and strategies of our ageing clients. Australia is well behind the rest of the world in this segment and I look forward to contributing to this debate.
Positive messages
One of the key steps in fighting the negative sentiment is to reinforce within our communities, especially with clients, all the hard work and support that advice and advisers provide. We need to acknowledge that there continue to be headwinds, but there is a lot of good within our industry. This will only be effective if we band together and be heard.
IOOF is committed to supporting positive advice messages:
- IOOF has been doing a lot of work with industry groups and peers. This means we are looking at issues from multiple points of view and helping to support the importance and credibility of the industry.
- IOOF Pursuit Focus is a good example of where IOOF has used initiative in a tough environment. Focus was launched to provide value to investors and to allow advisers to better compete with other parts of the industry, such as industry funds and bank distribution channels. We designed Focus for advisers through adviser feedback.
- Our national advertising campaign is about helping others, including advisers and investors, to be their own success stories. There is more to come and we look forward to celebrating success stories within our communities.
I look forward to working with you to achieve mutually successful outcomes throughout the rest of the year.
Sincerely,
Renato Mota
General Manager, Distribution
1Source: Burning Pants http://www.burning-pants.com/2012/01/25/cliff-jumping/
2Source: The Age, Swan wants ‘excessive pessimism’ to stop (http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/swan-wants-excessive-pessimism-to-stop-20120130-1qoo2.html)
