INVESTING STRATEGY
Effect of ASIC ruling on online financial discussions
What are everyone’s thoughts on ASICs recent ruling around online financial discussions (https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/financial-services/giving-financial-product-advice/discussing-financial-products-and-services-online/)? Could it extend to this type of forum or handing out our Pearler referral code? Having gotten into investing later in life than I’d (in hindsight) would prefer to have, the wealth of information out there now has been a massive help. I don’t feel like it existed years ago outside big financial/investment institutions or published works such as “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. While I’m sure some of the discussions on the internet today are influenced by referrals or other biased ideas, at least the conversations are (were) being freely had.
5 Comments
nick nicolaides
PEARLER
over 2 years ago
Hey Stuart,
This is a really important topic, would love to hear the community’s thoughts but just wanted to share some thoughts the Pearler team bringing together for an upcomming blog to get the ball rolling. I’ve split this up into a few posts below.
- Who are the new guidelines aimed at?
We think scanning the guidlines for key words and then asking yourself if they relate to you is a helpful step. Here’s a few we picked up on:
Social media influencers «This information sheet (INFO 269) is for social media influencers who discuss financial products and services online». Whilst there may be some grey area for some people, you should be able to figure out with some confidence if it relates to you. It’s probably helpful to also ask yourself «will my friend see me as an influencer»…
Carrying on a Business? «Carrying on a financial services business without an AFS licence is an offence». Again, this one should be pretty straight forward. There is probably an edge case here that I can’t leave out: Let’s say you are a professional adviser casually helping your friends – this sounds like one of those cases you’d see on Today-Tonight (is that show still running?) where a friend sues another friend for something they mentioned over beers. If you are a professional, let’s just assume you have a legal department you can check with.
Balanced «your content is accurate and balanced». So when chatting with friends ‘accurate and balanced’ might seem not to fit. Perhaps ask yourself, am I being honest?
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Replynick nicolaides
PEARLER
over 2 years ago
2. Could this extend to this type of forum
We think that we as a community should be aware of any place we are sharing information online. This is not just social media, but forums, comments under blog posts, comments under YouTube etc.
That’s why we have created the Pearler Exchange. Everything that ends up on the public site goes through a review process. We want this to protect everyone and give comfort that if your comment makes it onto the exchange, that it is educational or general in nature and delivered as part of the Pearler experience.
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Replynick nicolaides
PEARLER
over 2 years ago
3. Could this extend to handing out a Pearler code (or any code really)
So this is hopefully covered in my first response, but here’s a quick list of True or False questions to ask yourself to see if you could be doing something wrong. If you want to share your invite code, can you answer True to each of these:
a) You’re not a social media influencer
b) Your friend wouldn’t possibly see you as an influencer
c) You’re not carrying on a business
d) Your friend wouldn’t possibly see you as a professional adviser giving them advice
e) You’re being honest
f) Your friend wouldn’t feel like you have left out something important just to get a perk
Appreciate this isn’t a yes or no answer, but hopefully it’s helpful!
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Replynick nicolaides
PEARLER
over 2 years ago
4. conversations are (were) being freely had…
This isn’t really a question, just a topic close to my heart… So, the sharing of personal finance experiences online has helped spread the Financial Independence Retire Early community, which inspired much of what you see on Pearler today.
We think online forums have been one of the most important levelers for wealth creation in perhaps all of history. And we each share these amazing resources that can help us make sense of this life with money. So let’s just say without the likes of Reddit, FB or Instagram, there would be no Pearler.
Like with everything online, though, there are amazing pockets and terrifying pockets and plenty in between. Just like forums. They’ve certainly helped me on occasion; they’ve probably helped you, too. As long as everyone looks after themselves, treats threads with a healthy dose of skepticism, and can ignore the snarky answers, then you get what you pay for.
There are massive forums and I don’t think the Exchange is going to compete with, Facebook groups, Reddit or Discord. When we thought about how we could help, it occurred to us that it’s been nearly 20 years since Facebook and Reddit launched. With this in mind, we realised it was time to have a crack at something new. It may not be as exciting as some other forums, but at least you know who you’re talking to and there won’t be a dodgy stock tip in sight…
Thanks for your question. Let me know if this was helpful or if there’s still some stuff on your mind.
Nick
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