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The HMH team led by our highly qualified chartered accountants, can assist you with a wealth of tax knowledge along with their practical experience.
Look for key providers such as the Financial Planning Association (FPA) or the Securities Institute of Australia (SlA). Principals should be "Certified Financial Planners" and members of the FPA.
The ability to apply financial planning knowledge is critical. While financial planning is a highly technical discipline, there are significant subjective elements to it - it is as much an art as a science. Skills and judgement gained through years of practical experience are essential to achieving the right outcome. Ask about years of experience and career history. Also enquire about ongoing training and keeping up to date.
Don't be afraid to ask about the "typical" clients of the planner and the nature of the work that is done for them. You need to be sure that the planner is used to handling assignments like yours.
To choose the right planner, you need to be confident that they can attend to all of your needs both initially and on a continuing basis. Licence restrictions apply to limit the advise some planners can give.
This is a very important question as it clarifies the issue of whether the advisor will be taking fees or will be paid a commission. You must understand that advice is not free - it comes at a cost, just like everything else. You should clearly identify what that cost is. This information will be in the financial services guide given to you by the advisor at the first meeting.
Advisors should be able to describe clearly the services they offer. How many times will you meet face-to-face each year? How are portfolios managed and how often are they reviewed? Who will be managing your account on a day to day basis? What is different about the service offering compared to other advisors?
This will help identify any potential conflicts of interest, as some large institutional advisors are restricted in what they can recommend to a client. You should be aware of any alliances.
The advisor should be able to offer more than one platform. If there is only a "wrap" or "master trust" platform offered, the advantages and disadvantages of this approach must be clearly explained to you.
This will determine the approach the advisor intends to take, be it by applying a strategic frame-work, by achieving high investment returns, by tax effectiveness, by ongoing management or by being a sounding board and a coach. This question is really asking the advisor about their core value proposition? If this cannot be satisfactorily answered - keep on looking for an advisor!
This may be important depending on the age of the planner you talk to. You should look for a business answer that shows the firm has the resources in place to cover any eventuality, and has several authorised financial planners who you know and who are familiar with your file.
