Adviser News and Insights
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Latest Insights
September 03, 2020
Committed to you, your customer and the industry, today and always
Welcome to the first week of spring. As we look forward towards warmer weather, longer daylight, and hopefully happier, safer times, I want to send a big, heart-filled appreciation to our advice partners. Your willingness to adapt and change to your current environments is testament to your resilience and a signal of strength within our industry
September 03, 2020
It may be feeling more like summer, but winter is coming.
A lot of the working population are holding up pretty well financially so far during the pandemic. The chart below from Macquarie Research shows the sharp spikes in household cashflow driven by Government benefits and early superannuation withdrawals. Two elements of this – the second round of one-off $750 Government support payments and early super withdrawals - are unlikely to be repeated going forward. It is highly unlikely the early release of Super scheme will be extended, especially given calls from some union quarters that the Government should top up super for low income earners to cover their withdrawals. (Strange, I thought it was the individual who made the call to withdraw early, it wasn’t compulsory like contributions to super are). Of course, for some people this was a necessary evil to bridge the cashflow gap as (effective) unemployment rates soared. Regardless, this bounty has now come to an end.
September 03, 2020
CPD points: Cognitive Bias and Ethical Decision Making
Join Dr. Matthew Beard, Fellow at the Ethics Centre as he explores how to identify and address ethical issues in personal and professional life. This webinar will introduce you to a decision—making process to help navigate these difficult ethical decisions. You will gain insight into how you can recognise the psychological and cultural factors that can obstruct ethical decision making, and learn how to neutralise them.
September 03, 2020
Podcasts to recharge your mental health
Hosted by EQ Minds Founder and Director, Chelsea Pottenger, this podcast series has been created for busy people who want to quickly get up to speed on health and wellbeing topics and tools. Chelsea brings listeners insightful interviews with leading health and wellbeing professionals from around the world and provides you with information and tools to help reset, recharge and navigate the challenges of everyday life.
September 03, 2020
Stress – footballer’s friend, foe or depends?
Sport offers many benefits - it’s healthy, it’s social, and most of all, it’s fun! However, it can also become a significant source of stress as the stakes increase and it becomes more competitive. In part one of a two-part series, we tackle the issue of managing stress in sports.
September 02, 2020
It’s hard to believe the incredible gains that share markets around the world have made in recent months. Depressionary levels of unemployment and economic contraction have seen corporate profits plummet yet the returns from equity markets look remarkably resilient. Massive amounts of government support, negligible interest rates and promising vaccine developments have clearly helped sentiment, however beneath the surface it has been a select group of stocks that have lifted markets off their March lows.
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Life Insurance
September 03, 2020
Committed to you, your customer and the industry, today and always
Welcome to the first week of spring. As we look forward towards warmer weather, longer daylight, and hopefully happier, safer times, I want to send a big, heart-filled appreciation to our advice partners. Your willingness to adapt and change to your current environments is testament to your resilience and a signal of strength within our industry
September 03, 2020
CPD points: Cognitive Bias and Ethical Decision Making
Join Dr. Matthew Beard, Fellow at the Ethics Centre as he explores how to identify and address ethical issues in personal and professional life. This webinar will introduce you to a decision—making process to help navigate these difficult ethical decisions. You will gain insight into how you can recognise the psychological and cultural factors that can obstruct ethical decision making, and learn how to neutralise them.
September 03, 2020
Podcasts to recharge your mental health
Hosted by EQ Minds Founder and Director, Chelsea Pottenger, this podcast series has been created for busy people who want to quickly get up to speed on health and wellbeing topics and tools. Chelsea brings listeners insightful interviews with leading health and wellbeing professionals from around the world and provides you with information and tools to help reset, recharge and navigate the challenges of everyday life.
September 03, 2020
Stress – footballer’s friend, foe or depends?
Sport offers many benefits - it’s healthy, it’s social, and most of all, it’s fun! However, it can also become a significant source of stress as the stakes increase and it becomes more competitive. In part one of a two-part series, we tackle the issue of managing stress in sports.
August 07, 2020
The Zurich Adviser Portal just got smarter and more seamless
The Zurich Adviser Portal gives advisers ultimate efficiency when dealing with an insurer – and with our latest enhancements it’s smarter and more seamless than ever before.
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Investments
September 03, 2020
It may be feeling more like summer, but winter is coming.
A lot of the working population are holding up pretty well financially so far during the pandemic. The chart below from Macquarie Research shows the sharp spikes in household cashflow driven by Government benefits and early superannuation withdrawals. Two elements of this – the second round of one-off $750 Government support payments and early super withdrawals - are unlikely to be repeated going forward. It is highly unlikely the early release of Super scheme will be extended, especially given calls from some union quarters that the Government should top up super for low income earners to cover their withdrawals. (Strange, I thought it was the individual who made the call to withdraw early, it wasn’t compulsory like contributions to super are). Of course, for some people this was a necessary evil to bridge the cashflow gap as (effective) unemployment rates soared. Regardless, this bounty has now come to an end.
September 02, 2020
It’s hard to believe the incredible gains that share markets around the world have made in recent months. Depressionary levels of unemployment and economic contraction have seen corporate profits plummet yet the returns from equity markets look remarkably resilient. Massive amounts of government support, negligible interest rates and promising vaccine developments have clearly helped sentiment, however beneath the surface it has been a select group of stocks that have lifted markets off their March lows.
August 04, 2020
COVID-19 Stimulus packages - Adviser resources
With the pandemic response in Australia evolving rapidly, it’s easy to lose track of the latest information. We’ve been monitoring the situation and have developed resources to support you so you can focus on helping your clients.
April 03, 2020
Government assistance for Australians in financial stress
On 22 March 2020, the Australian Federal Government announced its second economic stimulus package designed to support those most severely affected through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This builds on the first financial package which was announced on 12 March, 2020.
July 07, 2020
What can hold back our economic recovery post COVID? Reregulation & politics
In an “upgrade” the IMF now believes Australia’s economy will only contract by 4.5 per cent in 2020, revised from -6.7 per cent a few months ago. While this is welcome news, it will be several years before we regain the level of economic activity we enjoyed pre COVID-19. This is partly due to the global economic outlook (the IMF has projected to a "deeper recession" than initially expected with a GDP contraction of 4.9% in 2020) but is also the result of our inflexible economy. So apart from the blinding obvious, what could hold our economic recovery back? Answer: Over regulation and politics.