Delivering advisers cost-effectiveness through scalability

There is a rise of new solutions to help advisers meet the retirement income objectives of their clients.

Betashares believes the need to deliver on objectives under the Retirement Income Covenant will spur greater adoption of managed accounts by financial advisers.

The fund manager is bolstering its own capabilities for financial advisers as they gear up to meet the needs of their clients created by changing government policy landscape, the need for lower cost solutions and more advanced platform technology.

What is more, Betashares Executive Director and Head of Portfolio Solutions Vinnie Wadhera said managed accounts  address a number of challenges facing the financial adviser community.

“Managed accounts are attractive and scalable for advisers – because they allow advisers to serve more clients at scale which in turn makes financial advice more accessible to the community. This solves the pressing need for the growing number of Australians who would benefit from receiving financial advice.”

As the industry continues to implement the Retirement Income Covenant, financial advisers will play a key role in supporting many Australians approaching retirement.

“The accessibility and affordability of financial advice is a critical ingredient to ensuring the health of our retirement system and meeting the objectives of the Retirement Income Covenant,” Wadhera said.

While the industry is in agreement on the issue at hand, Betashares has taken it a step further by building out a range of portfolio solutions to help advisers expand the valuable role they play in the community.

“Both the financial adviser and the end client benefit from financial advice and professionally managed SMAs, as they become more widely available on lower cost platforms,” he said.

“There are a number of clear benefits for clients having their retirement savings invested in a SMA vehicle. In particular, clients not only benefit from receiving professional financial advice from a trusted source, but also the transparency, beneficial ownership of the underlying funds and liquidity that comes from an ETF-based SMA,” Wadhera said.

On top of this set of benefits, Betashares also offers additional services to provide more support to financial advisers

“We’re packaging up a lot of the IP within the Betashares business including capital markets analysis, dynamic asset allocation, portfolio construction and a best of breed ETF selection and making it available to financial advisers.

For advisers, Wadhera says the overall value is compelling and cited an example of an account balance of, say, $500,000 generating an all-in price of 45bps before the advice service fee.

“That 45 bps comprises the underlying investments, portfolio management and importantly platform administration costs,” he said. “That level of all in cost coupled with the embedded investment benefits plus the service and support makes the value proposition compelling.”

A number of prominent platforms launched lower-cost and lighter admin versions of menus last year and Betashares Managed Accounts have been included on those slimmed down menus.

“This now allows lower-cost, yet highly effective solutions within a SMA that is going to be of benefit to more advisers – they can access wider client bases which has the double benefit of improving efficiencies of financial advice practices and improving accessibility to advice.”

Beyond the investment benefits and value for money, Betashares is also adding a broader level of business level supports to assist financial advisers grow their practices.

“We’re not only delivering a robust investment solution, but also looking to take a partnership approach with advice businesses to the next level with additional levels of service and support,” Wadhera said.

This includes genuine practice management support tools, business planning, client value propositions, investment philosophy documentation, and marketing support leveraging off Betashares’ own processes and practices.

“These are the key differentiators of the Betashares whole of portfolio solution. The service proposition is equally as important as the investment proposition.”

“Betashares Managed Accounts are a natural evolution for us as a business as it builds on our ETFs which advisers have come to know and trust. With this comes an opportunity to deepen our service and support offering to financial advisers,” Wadhera said.

Sponsored content produced in partnership with Betashares  

Betashares Managed Accounts are accessible via various investment platforms. Consider the offer document and Target Market Determination (TMD) for the platform, and the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and TMD for any underlying investment (including any Betashares Fund), and consider whether the product is appropriate. Betashares Capital Limited (ABN 78 139 566 868 AFSL 341181) is the issuer of the Betashares Funds. The PDS and TMD for each Betashares Fund is available at www.betashares.com.au.