Opinion
I have considered the financial advice provided on the website of my super fund, and it’s clear that I will need a real person to understand my situation. There are too many variables to be covered by a quick questionnaire, including non-super matters.
So how do I choose a good financial planner? When we meet, what do I prepare to get the most out of the meeting? What kinds of plans should I expect, and how, and when do we measure success and review the strategy?
Thanks for your question, and great to hear that AI and the web haven’t made us financial planners irrelevant quite yet!
Regarding finding a planner, most people would start by asking friends and family if they have someone they’ve found to be good to work with. You could also use the Find a Planner tool provided by our professional body.
There will be an initial meeting where you share your goals and current financial position. Often planners will send you a questionnaire before the initial meeting, so they have your basic details in advance to ensure your meeting time is not wasted getting these down.
It would certainly be helpful if you attended that first meeting knowing your financial basics such as the balance of your super, mortgage details, and investment balances. The one I find people most often can’t easily come up with is how much they are spending (and want to spend in future), so if this is a blind spot for you, perhaps put some time into this before the first meeting.
Based on this information, the planner will provide you with a quote to undertake your project. You should not expect to receive any advice in this first meeting.
Your planner and their team will then get to work, and three or four weeks later you will have a second meeting, where they will present their findings and recommendations.
Central to this meeting will be a document called a Statement of Advice, which is the legal format through which financial advice must be delivered. Planners may also have other supporting material to help you understand the basis of their advice, including projections so you can see the long-term outlook.
You would then take some time to digest the plan and come back to the planner with any clarifying questions. Assuming you elect to adopt the planner’s recommendations, they would then assist you with plan implementation.
Most financial planning practices conduct annual reviews with their clients, although some offer more frequent meetings. During these meetings your original goals are reviewed, an assessment of progress is made, and consideration is given whether these goals require any updating.
Action items then flow from these reviews, such as cash top-ups, investment changes, or fresh projections to ensure the long-term position remains robust. Each financial planning practice will have their own process, but this outline should be fairly consistent with most.
The regulatory requirements to be a licensed advisor are very high. Check that your financial planner is registered via the Financial Advisers Register.
With this box ticked you can be confident in their technical proficiency and ensure access to the high levels of consumer protection that Australia’s system provides.
Your priority should be to find someone with whom you feel comfortable having open and frank discussions. You want to form a working relationship with someone who will tell you if you are about to do something stupid.
Paul Benson is a Certified Financial Planner at Guidance Financial Services. He hosts the Financial Autonomy podcast. Questions to: paul@financialautonomy.com.au
- Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.
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Paul Benson is a Certified Financial Planner, and host of the Financial Autonomy podcast.
