WealthO2 responds to increased Super Simplifier demand with lower fees

This reduction comes as more advisers are adopting WealthO2’s Super Simplifier into their practice, creating scale benefits that WealthO2 is passing on to members, according to Shannon Bernasconi, managing director of WealthO2.    

“WealthO2’s philosophy is to align its business with that of advisers and their clients, and this fee reduction is in line with that philosophy. As our business has grown, our ability to reduce the overall fund costs has increased, and we are passing on this scale benefit to the many advisers and their clients who have helped make this happen,” Ms Bernasconi said.

“This fee reduction, coupled with no minimum fee, makes Super Simplifier a very cost-effective product for those advisers looking to provide a market-leading advice offering for super and pension clients, as well as provide a profitable service to the typically lower-balance adult children of existing clients.”

Ms Bernasconi noted, however, that while price is an important factor when choosing a super fund, an adviser’s best interest duty requires more than a focus on cost.

“Super Simplifier gives members the personalisation, transparency and flexibility of an SMSF but for a fraction of the cost,” she said

“It is the only low-cost offering of its type in the market, and offers full transparency of assets through the use of the HIN structure and managed accounts.

“Unlike traditional platform offerings, all listed assets managed on WealthO2 are in the member’s designation name on HIN at a broker. All managed funds are held beneficially in a segregated WealthO2 uXchange account and all term deposits and at-call funds are held in the member designation name through an Australian money market account.”

In any adviser practice, Ms Bernasconi said the total cost to clients comes from both the cost to access the platform and the cost the adviser charges.

“The resulting profit margin for the adviser comes from how much the upfront advice document and process costs, and how efficiently that ongoing advice is managed,” she said.

“When it comes to lowering advice costs and increasing practice profitability, only the newer technology platforms like WealthO2 can afford to shift the margin from a product-led/product-paid approach to an advice-led and advice-paid focus.

“Platforms that haven’t kept up with the latest developments in technology have a higher cost of operation that is often recouped through hidden or layered fees. Hence, the newer investment platforms like WealthO2 that don’t rely on cash fees, MER uplift or SMA fees for revenue can lower the overall cost to the client even further.”