ANNUAL REPORT 2021 - 2022
Project Showcase
Financial Advisers: The Facts and The Fiction Video
'Getting Financial Advice' is the most viewed money guide on our website, adfconsumer.gov.au and the Centre receives a lot of questions from members and families on finding a financial adviser. These questions are understandable, particularly given the widespread problems in the financial advice industry, as uncovered in the recent Financial Services Royal Commission.
The Centre reproduced the video Financial Advisers: The Facts and The Fiction to help our audience decide if they need financial advice and how to choose a suitable adviser. This video is the 2nd most viewed video during 2021-2022, behind the Transition video in first position.
First Nations Development Program
Working with the Indigenous Development Program, the Centre created a bespoke pre-recruit training program tailored to the more nuanced needs of Indigenous recruits, assisting them to get their finances off to a good start and get them ready to start their initial training and have a successful ADF career. The program consists of a presentation delivered by the Centre and printed workbook with information, tools and activities to be completed during the session.
By Defence. For Defence.
The ADF Financial Services Consumer Centre (the Centre) operates in accordance with a Charter from the Chief of Defence Force.
The primary objective of the Centre is to provide financial education for members and their families in order to help them improve their financial literacy (or understanding) and capability to manage their money, achieve their financial goals and avoid common mistakes which can cause financial problems.
Our charter from the Chief of Defence (CDF) is to:
- Provide independent, professional financial education (not advice) to ADF members through their careers;
- Act as an advisory body to the CDF, Service chiefs and other leaders on consumer matters related to products and services;
- Foster professional and positive relationships with regulators and industry bodies, including:
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC); and
- Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Highlights and Achievements
Digital Engagement
The Centre delivers a comprehensive online educational service supported by a program of face-to-face seminars. Our publicly available website is at the forefront of our services and has grown 215% in website users over the past four years, achieving 43,301 users to the site in 2021-2022.
The educational content across the Centre's website has been developed to engage the differing and preferred learning styles across ADF members and their families. From videos and blog articles, to longer financial guides and career stage relevant information.
Average Website Users
Monthly
Yearly
3m 7s
average time on page
18.44%
bounce rate
410
online enquiries
e-Newsletter
Your Money and You is the Centre's monthly e-Newsletter, distributed to a subscriber list of over 2300 users. In 2021-2022, we cleansed our database of over 634 users who have not been active in the last 12 months. Despite this, our database has continued to grow and the engagement rates are increasing year-on-year. The e-Newsletter content shares important news updates relevant to Defence members and their families along with short blog articles on consumer financial educational topics.
12
Editions
2305
subscribers
27.5%
open rate
2291
website session
2m 48s
avg website session durations
As a team, the Centre have produced 31 blog articles during this past year which have been promoted and distributed via the Centre's e-Newsletter. Leveraging data analytics, our article topics and content are curated with our audience front of mind. We gather feedback from our readers when they subscribe to our e-Newsletter as well as throughout the year via a feedback request form. Popular topics are Superannuation, Tax Tips, Property and Housing, and Salary Packaging. The e-Newsletter is a successful driver of qualified traffic to our website with users spending on average 3m26sec on the article pages and this section achieving an extremely low bounce rate of 0.25% suggesting users are viewing more than one page per session.
2305
article page views
0.25%
bounce rate
3m 26s
average time on
an article page
Face-to-Face Education
2021-2022 saw the Centre return to face-to-face seminars and our team have travelled nation-wide throughout the year to present at over 156 seminars, supporting over 11,000 members attending ranging from recruits to senior leaders across all career stages including Indigenous pre-recruit programs and transition. Despite travel resuming throughout the year, our education services have also been delivered via virtual seminars and video conferencing. This hybrid model is set to continue throughout 2022-2023 as it does suit some circumstances.
Locations for Face-to-Face Education:
Initial Training
During Career
Transition
Force Prep
Post Deployment
One-on-One Briefings
Leadership
Tools and Resources
The estimators and calculators on the Centre’s website each achieve a position within our top 10 pages visited each month. Collectively, these tools have been used over 6,500 times during 2021-22, and usage analytics indicate that members spend adequate time to complete these tools and save their results for future reference.
+6,500
times our tools have been used
| Page views | Avg. Time on Page | |
| Employment Package Estimator | 3,358 | 9m10s |
| Budget Calculator | 1,598 | 5m53s |
| SERCAT Estimator | 1,592 | 6m14s |
Have any questions or wish to find out more information?
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