START HERE:
The Why, What & Who
Why: To explore if working together is the right thing for us both
What: A complimentary, no-obligation meeting to explore what you need and if I can help
Who: People, 40+ whom have $300,000 or more in combined super / investments.
Starting is Easy:
Schedule a Chat
To explore if working together is the right thing for us both, we will have an initial free 15-20 minute call. This to establish a high level sense of your needs and determine if my focus as a planner is suitable for you.
Progress to In-depth Discovery Meeting
We have a 1 hour call to explore at a more granular, specific level of your needs and how our expertise aligns with them.
Realising most people tend to be at work during the day, I understand meeting between 9:00-5:00 is not always convenient. Therefore we have (limited) out of hours appointments available.
Think it Over
There is no obligation to agree or commit to anything on the spot. After the meeting have a think, discuss it with your partner, ask any follow up questions you have. Specifically consider:
- Do we like the planner? Do we respect their approach and way of thinking?
- Are the potential benefits worth a multiple of the fees involved?
- What the planner said to us, does it make sense and resonate with us?
After a couple of days to have a good think about it all, we will contact you if you have not contacted us prior, to discuss how we will move forward.
If you feel it is not the right fit that is ok, we can refer you to other planners who may be the right fit for you. Even if you don’t become a client, we will want to see you move in the right direction.
The Fun Starts!
After deciding it makes sense for us to work together, we will arrange your client service agreement and begin the onboarding process.
As we commence we answer the additional questions you may have and set a clear agenda and expectations for moving forward; what you can expect from us and what we expect from you.
How Do You Know If You Are a Good fit?
l work best with families who are at a major crossroads in their financial situation. Their current retirement prospects are uncertain and not sure if they will have enough for retirement.
With the right strategies put in place though, they have the potential for a comfortable, dignified retirement with the opportunity to give their children a meaningful helping hand and support the (future) grandkids with opportunities not previously possible.
This is the type of family I feel I can make the most impact with. Those who are not poor nor those with “millions” already. Just good, honest and hard working Australians who just need a strategic, well constructed financial plan to ensure they capitalise on their already good progress so far.
This is the type of client we most excel at helping and working with and are:
- People who are 40+
- Children that are older than 4
- Home owner with a mortgage
- $300,000 in combined super (or investible assets)
- Recognise saving is an important factor of successfully growing their wealth
- Know retirement planning is important but simply do not have the time, experience or motivation to deal with everything required in successful planning, preferring an experienced planner to support them to succeed
Who Isn’t a Good Fit?
Who Isn’t a Good Fit?
We would love to help everyone but practically speaking, that is not possible. People who generally are not a good fit for working with us are:
- People under 40
- Retirement is not on the proverbial radar yet
- Have limited super, perhaps only just starting out in their working career
- Any savings are currently allocated for a home deposit or trying to get a large mortgage under control
- Want to be a ‘do-it yourselfer’
- For those who may not be the right fit, we can still help with a referral through our network.
Still have questions? That’s ok, keep reading…
What will we get from you?
Essentially you receive 3 things as a client of ours:
1. Financial Planning: Arriving at a destination without a map to get you there is tricky; arriving without having even defined the destination. Well that is near on impossible. Competent, thoughtful, deliberate, goals-based planning is essential for having the best chance of success.
2. Historical Perspective: Money can make people do funny things, particularly during stressful times. Having an experienced, competent, historically educated planner helps provide a perspective often missing when you haven’t dedicated your life to studying finance.
3. Behavioural coaching: The best laid plans count for nothing if you can’t follow them. This aspect here is what we are ultimately paid for. Helping you stick to your retirement plan. This is the key to everything. Clients who stick to their plan through the fears, manias, fads, worries and crises (because there’s one every other month so the main stream media tell us) is paramount. A good planner is tough loving, yet compassionate and empathetic. In times of economic turmoil and uncertainty, this feature alone makes the advice provided by us worth multiples of the fees clients pay.
How do you make money?
My ongoing advice fee is 1%pa +GST of assets under advisement (AUA). What this means in everyday language is if you have $300,000 in super, your advisory fee would be $3,300. If you had $500,000, your advisory fee would be $5,500 etc.
A common goal of people planning for retirement is increasing their net worth (so they can afford to retire on their terms). It makes sense then that we align our fees (our financial incentive) to what your primary goal may be. In doing so, we are incentivised to help you work towards a retirement that is on your terms.
It is possible advice fees can be paid via a client’s superannuation account. This is discussed with each client to determine what is the most appropriate payment structure for them. If appropriate, paying advice fees via superannuation may help with cash flow as the advisory fees do not impact on the client’s household budget.
Any fee payable as a client is fully disclosed upfront, ahead of time in the Statement of Advice (Financial Plan) before proceeding; so you are able to make an informed decision.
Do you offer hourly consulting or one-off plans?
No.
Financial plan-NING (as in the verb) is an action that is ongoing. Good planning is a dynamic process and evolves as your life invariably changes.
I do not do hourly consulting or one-off plans for the simple reason we feel it is a disservice to clients to do so.
Even a plan that would win the Guinness World Record for financial plans (if there were such a category!) without the ongoing behavioural support it would be in vein.
The plan is the road map, the ongoing behavioural support is what keeps powering the car along the road towards the desired destination.
How are you different from other financial planners or advisors?
There’s a couple of key differences here:
1. I don’t work for a bank: If you were to engage me as your planner, you would get me. You would have me for as long as we both agreed the engagement was beneficial to us both. If you were to engage one of the larger banks as your planner, it is possible from one year to the next the individual planner assigned to you may change. Through no fault of yours or the adviser you would work with, that personal relationship could be disrupted because of broad changes that can happen inside of large corporate organisations. I only work with people I want to and would like to work with for many years. For me, I need to like and respect the people I work with. It is the best way to ensure a vibrant, engaged and enthusiastic practice which benefits everyone!
2. Masters of focus, not jack of all trades: I do not try and be all things to all people. I work with couples in their 40’s who want to prepare for when the want to give up working. I focus on that area and specialise in that; and that benefits you. Cardiologists do not treat broken legs. They specialise for a reason, so do I…
3. In it for the long haul: I do not do one-off plans, I do not just look at ‘which is the best stock to buy’. I do a deep dive into how best to set up your retirement, how to protect you against the risks at play that could derail it, and chart a course to get you there AND support to see it come to fruition. If you offered me $50,000 for a one-off plan, I would politely decline; it is just not the way I work. Also, at just arriving at the age of 40 (as at Nov-21), I still have many working years left and am not looking to retire myself anytime soon.
Why should I consider hiring you?
A couple of reasons:
1. You need help: Without help you likely won’t set up the retirement you want. Most people don’t realise they need help until they are about to retire, it is too late by then.
2. You need an planner who will be there when you retire: Hiring a planner who is only a few years out of retirement themselves does not help you. I’m in my early 40s myself. I have decades left of working.
3. You need an planner who has their interest aligned with yours: Incentives matter and influence behaviour. You need a planner who’s own incentives dovetail with yours. Our business model stipulates our success is contingent upon yours, the more we help you succeed, the more we succeed.
4. You need an planner who will tell you what you need, not what you want: I do not pander I tell you how it is good bad or otherwise then help you create plans and actions to get you from A to B based on reality. Planners who pander and try to placate clients are just the worst. Respect clients enough to tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may. You will love it or not but either way you will know where you stand.