Our Process
Professional Consultation
Often, we see people who are not looking for a financial planning relationship and instead need answers to specific questions. We offer these people a professional consultation which usually lasts one hour. The fee for this consultation depends on who you see:
- Senior Partner ($300 plus GST)
- Partner ($220 plus GST)
- Associate ($160 plus GST)
Importantly, under Australian Law we will not be making recommendations regarding specific financial products during this meeting as this requires a Statement of Advice to be prepared. If you want specific recommendations, we will provide a quote regarding the time and cost for this to be prepared (see below). We can discuss general issues regarding suitability of strategies, aged care, savings strategies, estate planning – in fact, almost anything that does not involve us making product specific recommendations.
The Statement of Advice (SoA) is a legal document required when financial planners make financial product recommendations. It must reflect a thorough understanding of the client’s circumstances, goals, risk tolerance and any other relevant information. It must then explain what the recommendations are and why they are suitable for you as a client.
Typically, we also provide a detailed forecast and model of where we think you will get to in the future after our recommendations. This is as much a check for us that the recommendations are appropriate, as for our clients to see what the outcome might be.
Statements of Advice involve an initial meeting with our client where we will outline the information we need to complete the analysis and recommendations (fact-find), a follow-up meeting to discuss the data collection and to clarify any issues, preparation of strategies and models, production of the advice document (usually around 25 – 60 pages), a further meeting to outline the strategies and key recommendations and then we provide you with some time to read the material so you understand our strategies.
Once you have considered the advice, you are free to choose to either accept the advice (and we will implement), modify the advice before we implement, or not accept the advice – the choice is yours.
Cost for the preparation of a Statement of Advice depends on its complexity and we provide the following guidance:
- Limited Statement of Advice (8-12 hours) $1,850 (plus GST)
- Comprehensive Statement of Advice (15 – 20 hours) $3,950 (plus GST)
- Complex Statement of Advice (more than 20 hours) POA
Where do you want to be?
Probably the most important part of what a financial planner does…
What are the gaps in your financial plan?
This is where we really earn our money. We complete a detailed…
What we think you should be doing?
Having completed our detailed analysis of your current situation…
“Importantly, as well as the financial stuff, it is really important to determine if we can work together. We understand the importance of the trust you are placing in us and we don’t take this for granted. You can take all the time you need to decide if you want to proceed with us – we won’t hassle you.”