Thoughts from advisers - Samuel Rees-Thomas

Thoughts from advisers

We reached out to some advisers and other experts in the industry for their thoughts and opinions on the job, advice they’d give to people looking to get into the financial services industry, what they’re looking forward to and steps people can take to set themselves on the best financial path at different stages.

Thoughts from Samuel Rees-Thomas, Director and Financial Adviser at Harness Financial

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Saving New Zealanders' lives. Literally. (Especially when it comes to Health Insurance advice paying off). 

If you could give one piece of advice to someone looking to get into the financial services industry, what would it be?

Go through the Financial Advice process yourself multiple times with a few different advises and take notes.

Pay for the advice if a fee is involved. Buy insurance through an Adviser, take notes.

Go through the insurance sales process at your bank, take notes and compare the experience.

Start investing in a managed fund after receiving advice. 

What is something you are looking forward to about the industry over the next 10 years?

An increase in the nation's financial literacy.

What steps can people take to set themselves on the best financial path in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s?

20’s: Read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Follow the principles. When you buy your first house, buy a 'house' because of its merit. Don't try and buy your long-term home.

"Work harder on yourself than you do in your job (but still work hard), that way your income earning potential will grow and so will your character." Jim Rohn (summarised). Buy 5 star Health Insurance and Income Protection.

30’s: Don't wait too long to have kids as you'll never have more time or energy than you do now.

Push yourself and take new career opportunities.

Make sure your retirement planning pathway and the associated disciplines are locked down and underway. Date your spouse even when you've been together for a long time.

40’s: Revisit wealth generation & retirement strategy, ensure your goals and disciplines are aligned.

50’s: Revisit wealth generation & retirement strategy, ensure your goals and disciplines remain aligned.

60’s: Revisit wealth generation & retirement strategy, ensure your goals and disciplines remain aligned.

Thoughts from advisers - Camilla Tumai

We reached out to some advisers and other experts in the industry for their thoughts and opinions on the job, advice they’d give to people looking to get into the financial services industry, what they’re looking forward to and steps people can take to set themselves on the best financial path at different stages.

Thoughts from Camilla Tumai, NZ General Manager of BizCap

What was the most rewarding part of being an adviser?

For me, the most rewarding part of being an adviser was witnessing firsthand how strategic financial planning can transform lives. Whether it was helping clients protect their financial future through insurance, guiding them toward their first home with KiwiSaver, or showing them how to live their best life in retirement, each experience was a chance to make a real impact. It’s incredibly fulfilling to empower clients with the knowledge and tools they need to achieve their dreams.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone looking to get into the financial services industry, what would it be?

My biggest advice would be to focus on building relationships and trust. Being an adviser is about more than just financial products; it’s about understanding each client’s unique goals and guiding them with empathy and integrity. Take time to educate yourself and your clients—financial knowledge is powerful, and when clients trust that you genuinely have their best interests at heart, you’ll create meaningful, lasting relationships.

What is something you are looking forward to about the industry over the next 10 years?

I'm excited about the growing focus on financial education and accessibility in our industry. With digital tools and resources expanding, more people are gaining access to personalised advice that can support them at any stage of life. I look forward to seeing an industry where everyone, regardless of their financial starting point, has the guidance they need to make empowered decisions for their future.

What steps can people take to set themselves on the best financial path in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s?

• 20s: Begin with good habits—set up a budget, start an emergency fund, and begin contributing to retirement savings, even if it’s small. Getting familiar with investing early is invaluable.

• 30s: This is a time for more focused planning. Grow your investments, increase retirement contributions, and consider insurance to protect yourself and loved ones.

• 40s: Start building wealth more aggressively while managing debt. Regularly review your financial goals and ensure your retirement plan is progressing as planned.

• 50s: Focus on accelerating savings and clearing high-interest debt. Take time to review your retirement goals and adjust investments to secure your financial future.

• 60s: It’s time to transition into wealth preservation. Assess your income sources and create a sustainable withdrawal plan for retirement.

Financial planning is a journey that evolves with every decade, and taking proactive steps at each stage creates the foundation for a secure and fulfilling financial future.

What’s the last book you read?

Atomic Habits by James Clear

The FSC has released its latest Money & You research

The Financial Services Council (FSC) has released their latest research report, Money & You: Managing Risk Through Challenging Times, which explores the attitudes of New Zealanders towards risk management. Some of the key findings are below.

• Only 41% of respondents had life insurance, 39% had health/medical insurance, 23% had trauma/critical illness insurance, 18% had total and permanent disability insurance.

• For the 12 months to 30 September 2024, FSC industry data showed 1,521,740 health insurance policies and 4,145,287 life insurance products (one person may have more than one policy e.g. life insurance, income protection insurance and total and permanent disability insurance policies).

• The majority (66%) who have life and health insurance consider it value for money.

• The biggest drivers of taking out life and health insurance policies are peace of mind and worry about financial consequences.

• The most common reason given for not having life and health insurance was that insurance is too expensive (74%), followed by being healthy and not seeing the need for it (14%), and not trusting insurance companies (13%).

• Cost of living meaning people can no longer afford insurance was the top reason given for no longer having insurance across life, trauma or critical illness, income protection, total and permanent disability and health/medical.

• For those without insurance, 64% would consider taking out an insurance policy if they had more money, 25% would take out an insurance policy if their health started declining and 18% would take out an insurance policy if they started a family. There is a gap in understanding of how insurance works, with only 3% of those who would consider taking out an insurance policy if their health started declining knew that they might not be able to get cover for certain health issues or they might face higher premiums because of them.

• The majority of health (61%) and life (77%) insurance policies are paid by individuals, with the remainder being partially or fully subsidised by employers.

• When it comes to health/medical insurance or life insurance being provided by employers, 54% really want this and a further 35% might possibly want this.

• 45% of respondents have a poor understanding of the relationship between risk and return.

2,002 online survey responses were collected during March 2024 and were representative of the NZ consumer population in terms of age, gender and income.

It is worth noting that as a low engagement product, life and health insurance is something that respondents find hard to recall accurately. That leads to interesting results - this survey contains a probable over-estimate of the number of people who own health insurance, and a probable under-estimate of the number of people who hold life insurance. But the recalled level of cover is, in itself, interesting. For example, if you think you do not have life, trauma, or income insurance, but in fact you do, you or your estate may fail to claim when you may be eligible to do so.

Readers interested in contrasting these survey results with data on the eligible population should contact us.

More news:

Partners Life has decided to stop using its Customer Outcome Matrix

Southern Cross Health Insurance appoints Grant McIvor as chief digital officer

MAS looking for a Head of Technology Strategy and Architecture

IOSCO consultation proposes responses to risks posed by ‘finfluencers’

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has proposed a raft of ‘good practice’ measures regulators can use to mitigate risks posed by finfluencers.

Globally, there has been a trend of people turning to social media for advice on making investment decisions. While getting people interested in investing and increasing financial literacy is to be commended, issues arise when finfluencers spread misleading or biased information, promote unsuitable or high-risk products and/or fail to adequately disclose any conflicts of interest.

IOSCO’s Finfluencers consultation report makes a series of recommendations including:

·         Updating legal regimes to explicitly police finfluence

·         Requiring the use of disclaimers and disclosures to help consumers understand the content they are consuming

·         Better-monitor the finfluencer community (e.g. by using data analytics of social media activities) and enforce breaches

·         Conducting joint investigations and co-ordinating enforcement actions in the case of cross-border issues

More news:

Asteron Life wins Life Insurance Company of the Year at the ANZIIF New Zealand Insurance Industry Awards

New report recommends crack down on junk food ads & takeaway shops, increasing access to weight-loss drugs

Kiwibank report $202 million after-tax profit

Kiwibank has featured in the news a lot recently, from the Commerce Commission’s recommendation that the Government should consider what is necessary to make Kiwibank a disruptive competitor, to the release of Kiwibank’s latest financial results.

Kiwibank posted a record $202 million after-tax profit for the year to June 30 2024, up 15% from the previous year. Kiwibank were able to grow their lending book by 9.3% to $32.4 billion. Impressively, home lending grew 2.7 times faster than the market and business lending grew 3 times faster than the market. Deposits increased by $2.4 billion, growing the deposit book by 9.4% to $28.2 billion

Steve Jurkovich, Kiwibank CEO, has said a $500 million capital infusion would

“give us a lot of runway to keep growing as fast as we are now, which is 9.5%, 10% [per annum], which is pretty large gains. That sort of investment over the next three, four years would give good runway.”

"With the right support and delivery of the right business plan and right initiatives, I think we could double our size in five years.”

Jurkovich has also said it may not be essential for the bank to remain 100% NZ owned, pointing to other examples of successful majority owned businesses like Air New Zealand. Jurkovich cautions that any requirement to pay sizeable dividends could impact their ability to grow, given that capital growth to date has mainly been via retained earnings.

Mortgage advisers now account for around 35% of Kiwibank’s total mortgage book, having originated 71% of Kiwibank home loans this year. Kiwibank’s accredited advisers have grown to about 1,000 now, up from 250 at June 30, 2022.

More news:

Report on the MAS 2024 Annual General Meeting released

Antonia Watson says the big banks can't afford to be NZ owned

TSB respond to the Commerce Commission’s banking study

FinTechNZ Hui Taumata 2025 is on 11 March 2025

Investment News release their KiwiSaver annual report

Study finds a majority of New Zealanders feel financially uncomfortable

Tips on what to eat to beat high blood pressure

What advisers think of KiwiSaver

At our latest roadshows, we’ve been lucky enough to have Generate KiwiSaver Scheme join us, giving advisers insights into the benefits of offering KiwiSaver advice. We’ve also been finding out what our roadshow attendees think about KiwiSaver.

To date, the results show that for those advisers who are already offering advice on KiwiSaver investments, the top reasons for offering KiwiSaver are diversifying revenue, building a KiwiSaver book for long term value and adding value to clients. Advisers have told us that performance, ease of withdrawals and alternative fund options are most important to clients when choosing a KiwiSaver provider. And 27% of advisers were interested in additional resources or support related to KiwiSaver advice and independent research.

If you haven’t joined us already, come along to one of our remaining roadshows to find out more – along with info on KiwiSaver we’ll be highlighting some major new research, talking about two new regtech tools to help keep you safe, giving you a sneak peek at Kiwimonster, and much, much more.

• 20 August -Queenstown

• 21 August - Dunedin

• 22 August - South Auckland

• 27 August - Whangarei

• 28 August - North Auckland

• 29 August - Nelson  

More news:

Fidelity Life extend 3 months free until 31 December 2024

Michael Weston talks about key priorities at Partners Life

Jon-Paul Hale highlights the good advisers do

Asteron Life are looking for a Lump Sum Claims Specialist

Study finds three-quarters of respondents have realised the importance of financial knowledge

FAMNZ launch inaugural Adviser Elevate series on 28 August

AIA sponsor the Parliamentary Rugby Team

Charlene Overell is the Financial Advice New Zealand Volunteer of the Year

AIA celebrate 5 years of AIA Vitality

AIA have released some statistics about AIA Vitality to celebrate five years of AIA Vitality being in the market.

• To date, over 60,000 people have joined AIA Vitality.

• On average, an AIA Vitality member in New Zealand completes a health and wellbeing assessment available in the app every 15 minutes.

• AIA Vitality members have completed over 18,500 free Vitality Health Checks.

• Since becoming AIA Vitality members:

  • 79% have moved to a healthy glucose range from an unhealthy glucose range.

  • 64% have moved to a healthy cholesterol level from an unhealthy level.

  • 49% have moved to a healthy blood pressure range from an unhealthy range.

• Less than 50% of New Zealanders meet the recommended guidelines of 2.5 hours of weekly physical activity but 95% of AIA Vitality Silver+ members meet this target.

• AIA Vitality members combined have walked the length of New Zealand 1,295 times.

• Members have achieved over 86,800 Status Reward vouchers and 976,500 Active Rewards vouchers – a combined worth of $9.1 million in rewards.

To celebrate the anniversary, AIA is giving customers who activate their AIA Vitality membership by 31 October the chance to win one of 20 Woolworths Gift Cards, each worth $500. Existing AIA Vitality members who hit their $5 weekly physical activity target anytime between 5 August and 1 September, go in the draw to win 1 of 5 Apple Store Gift Cards worth $729.

AIA have recently made some improvements to AIA Vitality, with a new AIA Vitality app with enhanced features and functionality being launched in April this year.

More news:

AIA offer clients a chance to win a year's insurance

The FSC runs a Money Month campaign on Money and You website

Partners Life and Banqer launch free financial literacy course

AIA appoint Bianca Bettini as new AIA Vitality Coach

Andrew Bayly says the CCCFA’s director and senior management liability provisions to stay

Westpac connect Volley to their Open Banking platform

Bell Gully put together an overview of the Customer Data Right bill and the CDR framework

Finance Minister says she wants external investors for outside capital for Kiwibank

GP’s having to raise fees after insufficient government funding increase

Craig Stobo appointed as chair of FMA

Craig Stobo has been appointed as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Stobo has been appointed for a five-year term and takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April.

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly said

“Mr Stobo brings a significant depth of experience to the role, having worked as a director, diplomat, economist, and chief executive.

The FMA will benefit from Mr Stobo’s understanding of market issues and regulation, as well as the importance of informed participation from businesses and investors.”

More daily news:

The FSC brings the industry together to respond to the Contracts of Insurance Bill

Anna Schubert discusses ways AIA help advisers manage stress

AIA launch a Neurodiversity Toolkit

Southern Cross Healthcare have joined the New Zealand Disability Employers' Network

MAS is a finalist in the Ethical and Impact Investment Awards

Submissions open for the ANZIIF industry awards

Kiwibank welcome Anne Haira to the Kiwibank board

Westpac won the Corporate ESG award at the INFINZ awards

ASB has joined the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower programme

People seeking help from financial mentors jumps 40% in a year

FSC report finds 70% of kiwis are worried about money

The Financial Services Council’s (FSC) Financial Resilience Index tracker has found New Zealanders to be increasingly under financial pressure.

• The Index tracker revealed 70% of New Zealander's are worrying about money daily, weekly or monthly, the highest level since 2020 which reached 60%.

• Inflation and interest rates are concerning New Zealanders, at 89.6% and 75.6% respectively.

• Confidence in job security has started to fall, down to 85% from a high of 89% in 2023.

• More kiwis are reporting having personal debt than last year, up 6%.

• More kiwis have one month or less of savings on hand to maintain their current lifestyle should they lose their job.

• 60% of non-homeowners have reported meeting living expenses is somewhat or very difficult.  

• 48.5% were very or somewhat unconfident with the overall economy at the moment. 76.4% of respondents were somewhat or very concerned about house prices.

The survey took place in March 2024, with 2002 respondents. FSC members can download the full report in the FSC members area.

More daily news:

Fidelity Life are running e-app training webinars

FAMNZ held launch party, another in Christchurch May 30

ASB win Canstar 2024 Innovation Excellence Award for their KiwiSaver Digital Advice & Projections Tool

BNZ win Canstar 2024 Innovation Excellence Award for their Digital International Payments

Moody’s pick out the top 10 major risks shaping insurance

Submissions call for rewrite of FMA’s draft guide about outcomes focused regulation

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has released the submissions relating to it’s draft ‘Fair outcomes for consumers and markets’ guide. Chapman Tripp and Dentons Kensington Swan submissions have been released and both critique the guide, with both law firms arguing that implementing outcomes-based proposals will impose confusing and expensive compliance duties of market participants – with no legal basis.  

Criticisms include the guide being unclear on how outcomes focused regulation supports regulatory compliance; the draft guide being too vague to be readily applicable; the lack of tying high level outcomes back to actual legal requirements; and some of the draft guide lacks the authority of Parliament and risks being unenforceable or amendable to judicial review.

Suggested improvements include clarifying the scope and targeted market sector of each proposed outcome; providing detailed examples of how businesses can comply; adding more examples of expected compliance behaviour; and identifying when compliance with existing legislative requirement is sufficient to ensure delivery of fair outcomes.

More daily news:

MAS looking for a Senior Life and Disability Underwriter

AIA study finds stress is still one of the biggest issues affecting adviser wellbeing

Kelly Brough takes on new role as head of distribution and product development at Advice Link

Financial mentors and budgeting services around the country see large increase in kiwis seeking financial help