The Academy of Financial Services 35th Annual Meeting

behavioural competency, empathy, lived experience

Financial planning in Australia has been the subject of extensive reform. The introduction of a mandatory code of ethics as a result of this reform has been challenging for financial planners to implement. Many financial planning concepts are quantitative in nature, however, the financial planning process involves combing this information to formulate important qualitative strategies for clients. The Birkett report, commissioned by the Financial Planning Association in 1996 outlined important behavioural competencies that financial planners should have, one of these was empathy. Using empathy is implied in the new code of ethics, however, how to implement it is still in contention. This study will use the lived experiences of financial planners and their clients to distil patterns in the information gathered. Guided by the findings, financial planners will be invited to co-design a bespoke resource to promote empathic financial planning.