FAQ

People are often concerned that changing financial advisors will be difficult, time consuming or could somehow put their affairs at risk. Some just want to avoid the awkward conversation even though they are not happy. The good news is that it is actually extremely easy and there is virtually no burden on you or need for awkward conversations what so ever. We do most of the brunt work, handling all communication and collecting all documents and information on your behalf and transferring control of any investments, products or platforms you may have.

Absolutely not. We believe in building long term relationships and making sure we are both a good fit for each other. That’s why we offer a no obligations initial meeting to get to know you and your circumstances and explain our service so you can make an informed decision if you want to proceed.

We believe in absolute independence and are completely free from any influence or affiliation with product providers. We assess products and advice based on its merits for you and not based on who owns the product. Unfortunately over the years, many in our industry have been acquired or born out of vertically integrated financial institutions who only recommend products they own or receive additional remuneration from. These financial advisors are not offering true “objective” advice and have rightly been the subject of much negative media attention. We assure all our clients that we do not have any such conflicts and remain 100% independent.

The Financial Planning Process is a holistic one that starts with getting to know you, your circumstances and your goals. From there we determine the scope of the advice and then we present a recommendation to you based on your objectives. It can be as simple as establishing some life insurance for you or constructing a investment portfolio to as complex as preparing a full retirement plan and pathway to your retirement. If you are happy with our recommendation we will then proceed to implement that for you. If you would like to alter anything along the way we will work with you on achieving the desired result. Post implementation we will work with you on regularly reviewing what has been established and adapting things as your circumstances change.

We have extensive experience in providing advice in financial markets and constructing investment portfolios designed to achieve appropriate rates of return given your stage in life, needs and appetite for risk. We monitor investment markets in conjunction with our research and investment team and continue to adapt and adjust as economic, global and financial indicators change.

We do this on a regular basis all year round and will also design an ongoing review service appropriate to your needs and circumstances.

All our fees and remuneration are quoted upfront and completely transparent. We do not receive any conflicted remuneration or revenue that you are not aware of. In a typical scenario we would quote an upfront fee for the initial advice provided and the implementation of that advice and then we would recommend an ongoing review service to ensure we can continue to appropriately manage your affairs for you. Some product providers like life insurance companies will remunerate us with commission based on any life insurance that is put in force with them. We will typically take that into consideration when quoting our fees to you and use it to offset any cost to you.

You have complete visibility over your investments (whether that be your superannuation or an investment portfolio) and will be able to monitor them at will. A platform is simply a product provider who we place the investments through and who will provide an administration service to manage that investment. Although all platforms will charge a fee for their service it is generally in your best interests to operate through a platform as they have negotiated better management fees from fund managers and provide a efficient administration and investment service that provides us with the tools to provide you thes best advice possible.

Its imperative you understand our advice before you make any decisions. If you have any concerns or don’t understand anything we will most certainly spend the time to explain it to you before any action is taken.

All financial advisors in Australia need to be licenced through ASIC. AUPFS hold the AFS Licence issued by ASIC that we operate under. Through our licencing arrangement with AUPFS they provide amongst other things, research, investment and technical support that assists us in delivering the best service possible to you. For more information on AUPFS and our licencing arrangement with them please refer to our Financial Service Guide located under each team member in the ‘About Us’ pages of this website or the footer below.

Absolutely. There is no hidden surprises, termination periods or lock in contracts. Our engagement will simply continue until you say otherwise. Of course we are big believers in keeping the communication lines open and hope that if you were ever not happy with our service, you would let us know so we can address those concerns with you, but we will always respect any decision you make.