Image Source: CEX.IO Blog  I must first acknowledge a host of planners and insurance advisors, who work with integrity and in the best interest of their clients. Unfortunately, they are few and far apart.

Over the years, I have faced an ongoing ethical dilemma;

 On one hand I see my clients lose hard earned money through shoddy financial planning advise;

and on the other, I get told by the regulators, I am not licensed to comment about it.

Last two weeks of Royal Commission hearing into banks and AMP have exposed serious flaws in the financial planning sector, including dodgy advice and fee rip-offs.

"To have one bank go rogue is a scandal. When they all go rogue, it's a failure of regulation", says Jeff Morris in SMH of 28.08.2018.

Interestingly, as the revelations on greed and self-indulgence in financial planning industry have increased over the years, so has the regulations on accountants to 'not to do' anything about it. I wonder what is the cause of this inherent greed and inept control? 

Perhaps, my mind says, it is the way the financial planning industry is remunerated and rewarded. Just imagine, if an accountant was paid by tax office a percentage of the tax its clients paid, where would his interests lie? Perhaps the answer lies in strict enforcement of 'fee for service' rules recently enacted. Rebating all commissions to clients should be a rule, not an option.

Perhaps, as John Collett says in his article in SMH of 25.04.2018, the answer lies in licensing individual planners and breaking the hold of corporate institutions. A few million dollars of penalties and a few heads sacked is not going to cut it! As in law, accounting, and medicine, individual planners should be the principal licensees, and have the risk of losing their livelihood if people under them do not perform up to stack. It appears, 'who cares' best describes the present attitude in this industry.

Perhaps we should not only empower, but also encourage the trusted accountant to have an opinion and share it with the authorities when he sees something unscrupulous. After all, he sits in the shoes of a family member, just like a family doctor.

Perhaps, the answer lies in mom and dad investors to 'be in the court' and not 'in the audience'. It's easy to blame and much harder to do something about it. As they say; there's no gain without pain.

I go back to the saying on my boardroom wall;

Don't be casual
Lest you might be the CASUALTY!