Would you regard a product recommendation from a Toyota dealer or Apple store as ‘advice’? Do you think bias makes a recommendation less valuable? Do you think it matters?

Consider the ‘advice’ members of Australia’s second-largest superannuation fund - QSuper - will now receive after the fund dumped its ‘holistic advice’ offer. Nearly 600,000 QSuper members will now only receive superannuation ‘advice’ from their superannuation fund. They are welcome to obtain ‘holistic advice’ elsewhere.

What’s wrong with that?

Nothing, according to QSuper CEO, Michael Pennisi, because the dec...