How Much Does a Financial Planner Cost?
If you want to consolidate, grow, or merge your superannuation accounts the great news is that the initial consultation with a financial advisor is FREE and no-obligation.
The meeting with a planner usually goes for one to one and a half hours. In that time the planner will ask questions to discover what you want to Do, Be or Have as a result of consolidating/ merging and potentially growing your super accounts.
They will cover the areas of:
Superannuation
Who is your super with? Is it with Sun Super, UniSuper, Australian Super, Q Super, Aware Super, AMP, or someone else? Is your super appropriate, relevant, cost-effective, in the right risk profile and more
Does Your Superannuation Have Any Personal Insurances?
Does your superannuation have any personal insurances in it like life/Death cover, Total and Permanent Disability, Trauma, and Income Protection? Is this insurance enough, cost-effective, still relevant, still current, and still appropriate for you? A lot of superannuation accounts, by default, offer insurance without really knowing if it is best or necessary for you.
Are you on track With Your Super?
Do you have enough super to become financially independent or retire on? Further in this document, we have highlighted what other organisations like ASIC, Money Smart or Canstar suggest the amount of super you should have based on age to successful retire or get ahead. Please check our Other Article Here: Do You Have Enough Super?
Your Income and Expense & Their Impact On Your Retirement
What is your income, expenses or outgoings and how does this impact your ability to retire or become Financial Independent? Can you contribute more to your superannuation account? Will this help you save tax? We all know that a dripping tap will fill a bucket quickly. Even a small additional contribution if appropriate could make a significant difference.
What Savings or Expenses Can your Planner Help You Access?
Are there potential tax savings or extra income that you can access by changing some strategies? One strategy if you are over 60 years old, you may want to ask your financial adviser about is to put your super in “Pension Phase”. Another one you could ask your financial planner is should I or can I salary sacrifice and add additional into super?
There are 3 decisions you are making when you are deciding if you want to use a Financial Advisor. They are:
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Do I like him or her?
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Do I see myself working with them?
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Are they going to potentially improve my situation? In other words, do you see the value of using a financial planner?
If you don’t like them, you think they are not on the same page as you or they haven’t demonstrated that investing in them and paying their fees will result in you potentially being in a better situation than before you engaged them, we would suggest you seek a different planner. They are not for you.
A good financial planner, like those within Find Financial Advisors, will recommend that you don’t go ahead with them if they can’t add value or are not going to make a difference and potentially improve your super. You can relax knowing the planner is not looking to bring clients on board that shouldn’t be clients!
If you said yes to these questions, you should know that a planner is going to spend 5-20 hours initially on your situation. This time includes
- Comparing what they are recommending with what you currently have.
- Research all super funds that they have access to.
- Researching all insurances within your super and checking if you need it
- Getting you new insurance cover and doing all necessary the administration.
- Investigating the fees/ charges and returns from your current and their recommended super funds.
- Preparing your advice document called a Statement of Advice. All advice that is personally tailored to you must be in writing
- Implementing the advice recommended in their advice document
