When you start looking into financial advice, the official documents, like the Financial Services Guide (FSG), are incredibly important. They lay out all the formal details about services, licensing, and your rights. Think of the FSG as your comprehensive map – it’s there to tell you pretty much everything you need to know about how we work together and the options available to you. And it’s good to remember that all the regulation we have in Australia, while sometimes feeling like a lot, is ultimately there to protect you, the client.
Behind the Scenes: How Your Advice is Shaped
As your adviser, and also being a responsible officer on the board of our licensee, Platinum Wealth Advisory, I get a direct view of evolving legislation. This isn’t just an administrative detail; it helps me keep a finger on the pulse and gives a bit more control in steering the direction of Arrowroad, which is a good thing for ensuring we’re always adapting.
Getting and keeping our Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) is a serious, ongoing commitment. It’s a rigorous process, and that’s important for maintaining high standards. Part of that rigor extends to how we select products. We’ve put a lot of careful thought and time into building our approved product list, focusing on what we genuinely believe clients will find useful. This list isn’t static, though. Markets change, products evolve, and what was the best fit one year might not be the next. So, don’t be surprised if we recommend a change down the line – it’s all part of ensuring your strategy stays current.
Your privacy and security are paramount. We treat this with extreme seriousness. In today’s world, that means robust cyber protection for your information and very strict processes for how we interact with you safely.
Understanding the “Why” Behind the “What”
It’s important to understand why we operate the way we do. For instance, you might hear the term “independent.” Legally, we’re not classified as “independent” because we use a curated approved product list. We do this because we believe it’s a prudent way to ensure quality and control, rather than having an “open slather” approach to the entire market. However, our commitment is always to provide advice that’s tailored and customer-friendly to your individual needs. And if a truly unique situation arises, we can certainly seek approval to go outside that list.
The advice you receive from us is “personal advice.” This means we take your specific circumstances into account. This does involve more red tape and regulation than “general advice” (like you might hear at a seminar), but all those extra steps are there for your protection.
The Paperwork: More Than Just Pages
When you receive personal advice, you’ll get a Statement of Advice (SoA). Honestly, it’s a long document, and sometimes clients can find it a bit daunting. But remember, its length and detail are driven by the regulations designed to protect you. While it might not be the most thrilling read, try to talk it through with your advisor and understand it as best you can. It’s the foundation of our ongoing relationship and needs to be renewed as your situation changes.
Talking About Fees: Transparency and Value
Let’s talk about fees. We’re always upfront about them, and often, they can be bundled into products in a way that feels quite seamless for clients. When you look at the fee, it’s crucial to understand what you’re getting. It’s not just for a catch-up meeting once or twice a year. There’s a “cost to serve” – the expense of us remaining registered, licensed, and continuously educated.
Many of the products we might recommend are actually only accessible to you through an advisor because of the research and licensing involved. So, the fee encompasses that access and expertise. Our clients, once they’re on board and see the process, generally don’t feel their money has gone backwards because of advisor fees. In fact, research from firms like Vanguard often shows that clients who pay for ongoing advice tend to have better financial outcomes.
We always aim to quote a fair price that reflects the time and resources needed to help you and your family achieve your goals. If you ever want to discuss revising fees, we can, but please understand that the service offering would need to be revised too – they go hand-in-hand.
But beyond the numbers, there’s an intrinsic value to advice that’s harder to quantify: the reassurance, the peace of mind, knowing someone is there to help you avoid bad decisions and to flag legislative changes or new products that could benefit you. If the focus is purely on “making back the fees in returns,” you might be missing this bigger picture, and perhaps a full advice relationship isn’t the right fit. We genuinely strive to make sure you get value for money and are always looking for ways to reduce our own overheads to keep fees as fair as possible.
The Journey: Commitment and Communication
Engaging a financial planner is ideally a long-term commitment. While there’s no lock-in period, and you can try our ongoing advice for a year to see if it works for you, it’s good to be aware that if you decide to leave, some of the products we’ve recommended might no longer be suitable, as they may require an ongoing advised relationship. We’d, of course, help you navigate that.
My philosophy, and that of Arrowroad, is to build lasting relationships. I genuinely love what I do and helping clients. If there’s anything I can do to serve you better or if you just want to engage, please reach out.
If, for some reason, we feel we aren’t the best fit to help you, or if someone else could serve you better at a more reasonable price for your specific needs, we’ll tell you and even refer you elsewhere. Our goal isn’t just to take on clients; it’s to ensure you get the right help.
So, do your groundwork, find an advisor you feel comfortable and happy with, and then my tip is to stick with that person. Sometimes, it really is “better the devil you know” when you’ve found a good fit.
Thanks for taking the time to understand these perspectives. Good luck with everything!
Mark Opie
Leave a Reply