On the 6th July 2012, for the first time after FAIR, MAS gave a speech on the financial advisory industry. MAS says: Why do we need financial advisers? In MAS’ opinion, financial adviser’s main roles are not to sell products. Instead, financial advisers’ roles are to impart basis financial planning skills; draw up saving plan, build investment portfolio, what kind of insurance protection is needed. A financial adviser is like a teacher. Wilfred’s comment: In the industry, it is well-known that the financial adviser is a salesperson. The evidence is that he or she is often judged by the amount of revenue brought in. Product manufacturers, agencies and IFAs run incentives purely based on sales brought in. Nobody runs incentive based on how many clients the adviser ‘taught’. Personally when helping my own clients in their personal financial planning, huge amount of time is spent on education. Once the clients ......