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The article examines the impact of the financial crisis on financial planners in Australia. It reveals that there are almost 15,000 planners in the country, looking after about $405 billion in savings. About half of the country's financial planners work for a big bank or former life insurers Axa Asia Pacific Holdings or AMP. The article reports on the retail net fund flows from 2003 to 2008.

The article reports on ANZ Financial Planning's offering of rewards to its planners with subsidized trips to conferences based on sales volumes despite the FPA/IFSA soft-dollar code banning conference rewards based on volume sales of particular products. However, ANZ Financial Planning has restricted its planners to using its in-house OneAnswer investment platform.

The article reports on the launch of a financial planning advisory group service by Hayes Knight for firms in its professional network. Hayes Knight director Greg Hayes claim that they plan to get a bigger market share in the wealth management sector for the accountancy profession, thus prevent the drain of clients to financial planners.

The article focuses on the forecasts of Paul Resnik Consulting Group executive Paul Resnik on the financial performance of financial planners under the proposed highly tax-effective and simplified superannuation system in Australia. Resnik believes that astute financial planners will examine the proposed provisions to identify new opportunities for their clients. Significantly, the budget opens new superannuation strategies for financial planners. Finally, those advising ordinary income earners will concentrate their advice on cashflow, investment portfolio development, and producing supplementary retirement income.