There are four distinct areas of the financial planning process. They are:
- The Initial Appointment
- The Recommendation
- Implementation
- Review
The Initial Appointment
Preparing for the initial appointment
Prior to the initial appointment, it is recommended you consider your financial and lifestyle objectives for the short, medium and long term.
These may include:
- Wealth creation
- Savings capacity
- Income requirements present & future
- Retirement planning
- Lifestyle needs
In addition, we recommend you compile the following documents for the initial appointment to enable your financial planner to obtain a clear understanding of your present financial position.
- Personal investment details including investment and superannuation statements
- Tax returns
- List of liabilities eg. amount and applicable interest rates
- Additional assets
Initial Appointment
On first meeting with a financial planner will provide you with a Financial Services Guide which outlines their;
- Qualifications
- Responsibility for advice given
- Restrictions applying to advice given
- Fees and charges
- Complaint resolutions schemes available
- Privacy information
The initial appointment objective is to ascertain current position, expectations, future objectives and risk profile. This is achieved by asking a series of personal and lifestyle questions supplied in a client data form.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the financial planner will seek your commitment to prepare a Statement of Advice (SoA) that addresses your financial situation and will detail any fees that apply to this process.
The Recommendation
After the initial meeting, your financial planner will prepare a strategy based on your financial and lifestyle goals, taking into account your present financial position. The strategy will be presented to you in the form of a Statement of Advice (SoA).
Statement of Advice
After preparing the SoA, your financial planner will meet with you to go through it step by step and answer any questions that may arise. You must also confirm that the details within the SoA are correct.
At the conclusion of this meeting, your financial planner may schedule a follow-up to answer any further questions.
Implementation
If you are happy with the recommendations and wish to implement the SoA, your financial planner will ask you to sign an 'Authority to Proceed' that formally documents your consent.
Your financial planner will assist you with the implementation process including completing forms and lodging the applications.
Review service
Maintaining ongoing review and service of your financial plan is vitally important to achieving the optimum results in your financial future. Many variables in your life can change over time impacting on the suitability of your investment portfolio.
At Sheridans Accountants and Financial Planners we have four distinct fee for service packages to help you remain on track to meet your financial and lifestyle goals and objectives.
