Professional Financial Planning ADVICE

The purpose of the discovery meeting is for us to discover:

• Your current position and complexities
• What is important to you
• Your greatest concerns or worries
• What objectives you want to achieve
• How we can help you and add value, and for you to determine if you will value the way we work and advise.

Note: Before your discovery meeting, we ask that you complete our pre-discovery questionnaire.

The Advice Proposal outlines in black and white the scope of advice and quote for our services, including our initial advice and implementation as well as our review services. An advice proposal is only prepared on request and only offered if we feel that we can add substantial value to the success of your financial plan.

If you agree to engage our firm based on the terms outlined in the Advice Proposal, we then formalise your engagement via a Letter of Engagement.

We will ask for the authority to speak on your behalf to other professionals (lawyers/accountants) as required. This may involve correspondence with your superannuation fund or life company and ask you more questions, just so we have all the information we need to prepare your advice. We may need on some occasions to meet again before moving onto the next stage.

We will put our recommendations, and just as importantly the basis of our recommendations, into a written document called a Statement of Advice. While a legal requirement, we also consider having a formalised written ‘statement of our advice’ to you, and reasons for the advice, as an important first step in planning out how you are more likely to achieve your objectives.

Once you have received your Statement of Advice, we will meet with you to answer any questions that you may have, and importantly ensure that you understand the advice and feel comfortable proceeding with the recommendations.

When you are comfortable and happy to proceed, we will then obtain your agreement via an Authority to Proceed and will help you implement the new financial plan recommendations. We will aim to do as much of the work for you so that you do not need to worry.

Once your new financial plan is in place, we must review your plan each year (with some changes made throughout the year as required). As not only do markets fluctuate and legislation change, but your own circumstances and objectives are dynamic.

The only fee we can quote to you initially is the Discovery Meeting Fee of $495 (including GST). Additional fees may be payable if the meeting is extended.

We are only able to quote a fee for our advice and services to you after we have had the opportunity to ‘discover’ what your current position is, what complexities are in your life and if we are able to help you. An Advice Proposal is prepared after a Discovery Meeting on request and only if we feel we are able to add value in excess of our fees.

We are in the business of providing quality, tailored advice to you. We take great care and time to ensure that our advice is in your best interests, and is more likely to help you achieve your objectives with greater certainty, and this comes at a fair fee.

We believe in complete transparency, as a result only you will pay us and all fees are quoted in flat dollar amounts, not in abstract percentages. We do not receive any form of remuneration from other parties, as a result our advice will always be in your best interest.

We are available to hold client meetings on the following days:

Monday – 9am to 3pm

Tuesday – 9am to 3pm

Wednesday – 9am to 3pm

Our preference is to hold meetings in the morning, so that we are all fresher and focused on you and what you want to achieve. A morning meeting then allows you to go to continue on to your place of work, or enjoy the rest of the day in beautiful Sydney.

Please note that your Discovery Meeting will usually be 1 hour to 1 ½ hours, hence we ask clients not to make arrangements straight after your Discovery Meeting, in the event your meeting is extended.

Our policy is to not have more than one meeting per day, as we want to ensure that every person we meet with is given our undivided attention.  In the end, it’s all about making sure you (with our assistance) design a plan that makes sense – and gets you safely to your destination.

A: The world has become more complex and most people do not have the time nor the capacity to investigate thoroughly their financial position and to identify the appropriate courses of action they need to take to increase the certainty of achieving their financial and life-style objectives. Engaging a Financial Planner is like engaging a coach to help you navigate your way through all the options and to make better decisions.

A: Our fees are fair and based on the complexity of your financial affairs, and the projected time we will need to allocate to your financial plan development. We are only paid by you and are not subsidised by other parties such as fund managers and superannuation funds.

A: We can only provide you with an accurate quote after we have a thorough understanding of your circumstances, complexities and your objectives. Without this understanding we would be simply guessing and may charge a higher fee than is appropriate.

A: Anyone who is motivated to improve their financial position and increase the certainty of achieving their financial and life-style objectives and is looking for an ongoing relationship aimed at helping you to achieve your goals. Of course our services will suit some clients more than others, as we offer a tailored advice solution, which requires us to charge an associated fee.

A: We do not hold a Credit Licence. As such we are unable to recommend specific credit related products as part of the provision of comprehensive advice. We are however able to provide advice in relation to strategies to repay DEBT.

A: We provide advice across a broad spectrum of advice, while we do not specialise specifically in one area over another, as financial planning involves a multi-disciplinary approach, we do see wealth accumulation and hence portfolio and investment planning as an important element of your financial plan.

A: We have decided not to specialise in SMSF (Self Managed Super Funds), due to our view that in many circumstances SMSF are not appropriate and are very complex in their operations. In addition we have decided not to advise on direct shares as part of our investment solution, as we believe that we cannot add value when compared to a fully resourced professional fund manager. 

A: A Discovery Meeting will usually take around one to one and a half hours (after some preliminary preparation by us), the aim of the Discovery meeting is to discover as much about you and your financial complexities and to work out how we can help you achieve your financial and life-style objectives.

A: Yes, we have been FOFA compliant since we opened our firm’s doors in 2004, not because we saw future legislative regulations, but because we believed in complete transparency, fairness in terms of how we charge, and allowing our clients to determine if they wish to re-engage our services each year.