Many of us at Morningstar have been closely following the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. I thought Peter Warnes had a nice synopsis of the proceedings in his Your Money Weekly overview from 26 April: "Justice Kenneth Hayne and his team are meticulously and embarrassingly uncovering misconduct which would make Mafia bosses blush."

I won’t try and match Peter’s always entertaining word play, but it is safe to say that many Australians are questioning if their interests are being served by the financial advice industry.

At Morningstar, we talk a great deal about independence. This certainly refers to our independence as a research provider, but more importantly, to that of our subscribers. The foundation of financial independence is knowledge, and we spend a good deal of time trying to educate our readers and subscribers on the key concepts that every investor should know.

As we state in the Morningstar Guide to Investing, a core attribute of a Morningstar Investor is the belief that: "Our first investment is in ourselves. We understand that empowerment comes from understanding the foundational investment concepts necessary to make the right decisions and hold financial advisers accountable".

The allegations coming out of the royal commission are certainly making the case that our research can be an important tool to validate the advice received from a financial planner. Our research coverage universe spans more than 200 equities and 450 managed funds, exchange traded funds and listed investment companies in Australia. This is an invaluable resource for any investor, whether entirely self-directed or reliant on financial advice. Independent investment research is truly the best insurance policy you can buy.  

Earnings Season Insights

In early April we released a special report titled Earnings Season Insights. This comprehensive 45-page report covers the full reporting season and contains commentary from our equity research analysts on each company that reported earnings. Premium subscribers can access the report on our special reports tab. 

Editorial team expansion

During April we took some important steps to continue to deliver a better product for our readers and subscribers. We added two new members to our editorial team to enhance the content published on Morningstar.com.au and the Your Money Weekly newsletter. Emma Rapaport is a new reporter that joined our team, and will be focusing exclusively on delivering great new content on our website. Emma has hit the ground running and produced some great work in her first few weeks. I especially enjoyed Emma’s timely piece on how to sniff out a bad financial adviser and her take on the how to ensure your kids are money savvy.

Lex Hall has also joined our team, and will be primarily focused on working with Peter Warnes on Your Money Weekly. Lex will concentrate on surfacing our investment research in Your Money Weekly in a compelling way that clearly articulates the steps needed to improve financial outcomes.

 

Mark LaMonica is the Individiual Investor Product Manager.

 

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