Estate planning has generally been an area overlooked by the accounting and financial advice industry, as generating revenue from the service in the past was often perceived as a challenge.
Historically, estate planning services offered minimal commissions for accountants and planners and was consequently considered a non-viable service offering by many in financial services. However with the advice industry now operating on a fee-for-service basis, SMSF practitioners are increasingly seeing its value and are also more aware of its importance.
Despite this, however, a large number of practitioners still lack the confidence or knowledge required for establishing SMSF estate planning strategies for their SMSF clients or don’t comprehend the benefits of offering the service.
Townsend Business and Corporate Lawyers principal Peter Townsend says while financial advisers and accountants now have an opportunity to chase their clients to organise their estate planning a little more aggressively, “they haven’t really got into the driver’s seat in the way that they could have”.
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