Frequently Asked Questions
Preparing for the first interview
Having as clear an idea as
possible on what it is you require will help the
Financial Planner. However, you may not know
what it is you after, therefore, understanding
what your current situation is just as
important. Think in terms of short-term goals,
medium-term and long-term.
-
Topics to consider
include:
-
Retirement planning,
your goals and objectives
-
Wealth creation
-
Savings ability on
current budgets
-
Income requirements
now, and for the future
-
Lifestyle needs
The more information you
have with you for the first interview, the
better the Financial Planner can assess your
situation and provide you with solutions. The
following documents will be helpful in creating
a financial plan.
-
Tax returns for the
last 3 years
-
List of liabilities
and debts owed. If multiple debts, include
interest rates
-
Assets, including
approximate market values
-
Personal Investments.
Include investment and superannuation
statements if available.
First consultation
Your first meeting with a
Quantum Planning Solutions financial planner is
an information gathering session. You will be
presented with a Financial Services Guide (FSG),
which is required by law. It will disclose:
-
Financial Planners
qualifications
-
Who is responsible for
advice
-
What restrictions
exist on the advice that is given
-
Complaints Resolution
-
Privacy information
-
Fees and charges
During the information
gathering stage, you will need to provide
information on your current financial situation,
what your expectations for the future are, and
answer a questionnaire to establish your Risk
Profile.
Following this meeting, the
Financial Planner will prepare a Statement of
Advice (SoA). This will be presented to you at
your next meeting, where you will evaluate the
information gathered by the Financial Planner,
and assess the recommendations
Statement of Advice (SoA)
The Financial Planner will
take you through the SoA step by step to ensure
you completely understand what information was
used to produce the SoA, and that you understand
the recommendations provided. You will need to
confirm that the information is correct before
further advice can be provided.
You may have further
questions following this meeting, or you may
decide to action the recommendations from this
point.
Execution of SoA
When you are happy with the
financial plan that you have been presented
with, you will need to sign an “Authority to
Proceed”. There will be numerous forms to
fill-in, which your planner will provide
complete assistance with. These will then be
lodged with their respective organisations, and
before too long, your financial plan will be
implemented.
Regular review and evaluation
Ensuring your finances
remain on track requires regular evaluation.
Each year we will contact you requesting a
review of your financial plan. You are not
obliged to do so, however, if any of your
circumstances have changed during that period,
this may impact your investment portfolio.
We can revise your financial
plan as regularly as you like. A well maintained
and reviewed financial plan will lead to a safer
and secure financial future.
Quantum Planning Solutions
financial planners can:
-
Help create a budget
that maximises your savings ability
-
Create a plan for your
retirement – Transition to Retirement
-
Maximise your income
for retirement
-
Tax reduction
strategies
-
Take full advantage of
your superannuation
-
Help you diversify
your investment portfolio to manage risk
-
Assist you in creating
wealth using margin lending, safely and with
managed risk
-
Implement risk
protection for work, home, and the future
When your situation changes,
financially or otherwise, you should consider
meeting with your Quantum Planning Solutions
financial adviser. Major events in life can have
a major impact on the stability of your
financial future. Some examples of major events
include:
-
A change in job, or
redundancy payout
-
A property market
shift, where you have additional equity in
your property
-
You have paid off your
home, or sold an investment property
-
You are approaching
retirement
-
You have additional
funds which you would like to invest
-
There are new
additions to your family.
Things to consider prior to
an appointment:
-
Being prepared for
your meeting with a Quantum Planning
Solutions financial adviser will help
utilise the time you have. Following are
some points you may consider prior to a
meeting:
-
Establish what goals
you would like to achieve: example; minimize
tax, prepare for retirement, increase
cash-flow. Consider your short-term goals,
and your long-term.
-
Establish the
time-frame you would like to achieve these
goals. Different strategies may be required
for the same goals, depending on the
time-frame required.
-
Would you prefer
Income or Growth investments? Your financial
adviser will help you answer this question,
however, as a rule of thumb, conservative
and/or close to retirement investors prefer
income investments. Whereas, younger
investors prefer growth strategies.
-
Ask yourself, how
would you manage emotionally should the
value of your investments rise and fall? As
a rule of thumb: investments with higher
returns are generally higher risk.
Investments with lower returns are lower
risk. Therefore, the question is really: How
risky are you?
-
Are you after tax
minimization strategies for your financial
plan? If so, this may impact your financial
objectives according to what is legally
possible.
Financial Planners are paid
through numerous methods. It differs from
planner to planner. Generally, the following
would categorise how your financial planner is
paid:
Your financial planner will
divulge as much information as you wish. They
can explain every detail of your financial plan,
or keep it simple. If you feel the information
is outside your understanding, you can ask the
financial planner to simplify and explain
further, or ask them to limit their description.
Remember, your Quantum
Planning Solutions financial planner is there to
help you.
There is not an independent
organisation governing the financial planning
industry, however, there are strict Compliance
rules governing the Finance sector.
Quantum Planning Solutions
is a corporate licensed adviser under Charter
Financial Planning (Australian Financial
Services License number: 234665). With the
introduction of the Financial Services Reform (FSR)
Act in 2002, financial advisers have a guideline
in which to operate. ASIC (Australian Securities
and Investment Commission) regulates the FSR
vigorously, ensuring the consumer is protected.
Consumers also have the
Financial Industry Complaints Service (FICS),
who is an external dispute resolution scheme,
established to provide free advice and
assistance to consumers with regards to
complaints relating to the financial services
industry.
http://www.fics.asn.au
There is, however, a
professional organisation that represents the
Financial Planning industry. The Financial
Planning Association of Australia (FPA) is a
professional body that represents approximately
12,000 individuals and businesses within
Australia.
http://www.fpa.asn.au
Salary Sacrificing is an
arrangement by which an employee agrees to
forego part of their future salary or wages in
return for their employer providing benefits of
a similar value.
A contractual agreement with
your employer to alter your salary package by
exchanging part of your future salary or wages
for another benefit is called a “salary
sacrifice arrangement”.
Source:
http://www.ato.gov.au/super/content.asp?doc=/content/38172.htm
Superannuation is a pension
scheme introduced in 1992 in Australia. It is a
compulsory element where employers are required
by law to pay a portion of an employees salary
or wages, directly into a fund, which is
available when an employee retires.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superannuation_in_Australia |
