Selecting a Financial Planner

There are 6 key steps that are the process for selecting a financial planner. These are:

Step One: Understand your financial concerns
Step Two: Imagine your Ideal Financial Planner
Step Three: Set initial appointments to meet
Step Four: Prepare yourself prior to the meeting
Step Five: Be Open and Honest
Step Six: Make a decision

Step One: Understand your financial concerns

Before you meet with an adviser, you and your partner need to be clear in the specific objectives that you would like to reach financially.

An example, which of the following are more relevant at your current stage in life?

Debt Reduction
Wealth Creation
Wealth Accumulation
Tax Minimisation
Risk Management
Financial Administration Efficiency

It is important to take these general concerns and to rephrase them into goals and objectives. These goals should be SMART. This is an acronym for:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time Determined

For example, your Wealth Accumulation concern may be to grow your asset base to provide an income stream of $30,000 a year in 10 years time for retirement. Or alternatively, your Debt Reduction concern could really be to pay off the outstanding debt on your Principal Place of Residence over the next 5 years to allow 5 years to fund your child’s education in private schooling.

Your Beresfords adviser works with you to help you understand what it is you are trying to specifically achieve and to what concerns it is linked.

Step Two: Imagine your Ideal Financial Planner

If you were to close your eyes and imagine the perfect relationship that your adviser could offer, what would it be like?

The best way to help understand the best adviser for you is often to begin with a pen and a piece of paper. Now list approximately 10 attributes that you value in a financial planner. We call these attributes your ‘Conditions of Satisfaction.’ These attributes must be important enough to you, that if the financial planner who you met did not have them, then you would not do business with them.

For example, some of your Conditions of Satisfaction may include:

Must respect you
Must trust you
Must have your best interests at heart
Must have been a financial planner for a minimum of 5 years
Must hold at minimum a degree in financial planning
Must not be paid commissions by a third party
Must listen to you

....As you can see the list can be endless!

The list that you create will become non-negotiable and the more financial planners you meet, the more you will be able to clearly identify those who match your profile and those who do not.

On top of this, ensure that your financial planner is qualified and educated in the industry to the highest level.

Member of the Financial Planning Association of Australia. Who are the FPA?
Certified Financial Planner (CFP) qualification. What is a CFP?
Licensed to provide financial advice through ASIC registration. Who is ASIC?

Step Three: Set Initial Appointments to Meet

There are many financial planning firms that are in the marketplace today, and they all vary slightly in the services and quality of planning that they produce. Although it may appear that they are all the same, it only takes a First Meeting with them to realise their different styles and areas of expertise. Having more than one First Meeting is highly recommended. It allows you to have benchmarks for comparison and peace of mind in knowing that the financial planner that you have chosen has been the best available.

Step Four: Prepare Yourself Prior

Once you set up a First Meeting, then you should make every effort to take it seriously and to prepare yourself beforehand. Some firms will ask you to complete a questionnaire form that outlines your concerns and financial situation while other firms will ask you to bring in various statements from home. In either case it is in your best interests to help the advisers have a very clear picture of who you are and where you desire to head. This allows the adviser to prepare for the meeting for you and to tailor the structure of the meeting around your concerns and goals.

Step Five: Be Open and Honest

The financial services industry is constantly evolving. Many firms are focusing their services back on the best interests of the clients rather than on their bottom line. As such, if you are seeking a financial planner do not be discouraged by your experiences in the past. There are many firms that are offering quality advice and assistance from qualified experienced CFP’s who are able to make a positive difference in a client’s life with value for money. Always search with optimism for a mutually beneficial partnership. Seek and you shall find!

Step Six: Make a Decision

Once you have had an opportunity to meet with Beresfords or another financial planning firm face-to-face, ask yourself, Was there a fit on 4 levels?

Relationship Fit

Was there a compatible interpersonal relationship with mutual respect and trust?

Strategic Fit

Did you agree with the company’s and philosophies, practices and work ethic?

Operational Fit

Do you approve of systems and processes that underlie the business practices and their ability to deliver the promises guaranteed by management?

Profit Fit

Is there value for money with the fees relating to the quality and two-way profitability.

All 4 of these areas MUST be met before you think twice about the financial planning firm. Otherwise where you win in one area, you will most definitely lose in the other.

Selecting the right financial planner is one of the most important decisions to be made to ensure financial peace of mind. If this decision is made right, then every other financial decision after that one will be easier, less stressful and more profitable. If this decision is not made right, then every other decision after this will be harder, more stressful and less profitable.