Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is financial planning?
2. What can a Financial Planner do for me?
3. Do I need advice?
4. What should I look for in a Financial Planner?

 

1. What is financial planning?

Financial planning can help you make informed decisions about your money and develop a strategic approach to managing it. A financial planner can help you determine what your short and long-term financial goals are, and provide solutions to meet them.

Other benefits of financial planning include:

• up-to-date information about changes in investment markets
• advice on recent legislation and compliance
• access to new investment opportunities
• a one-on-one relationship with an expert financial planner
• access to research and market developments

Financial planning is the process of meeting your life goals through the proper management of your finances. Your life goals may include buying a home, saving for your children's education, managing debt or planning for retirement. Financial planners use a six-step process that helps you take a 'big picture' look at where you are and where you want to be financially. Using this process they help you work out what you need to do now and in the future to reach your goals.

The six steps of the financial planning process are: 

1. Gathering your financial data - such as details on your income, debt level, and commitments;
2. Identifying your goals;
3. Identifying any financial issues - or deficiencies between where you are now financially and where you want to be;
4. Preparing your financial plan - which will identify recommended investments and will address your attitude to risk;
5. Implementing your financial plan; and
6. Reviewing and revising your plan - to ensure it stays up-to-date and relevant to the economic climate and your changing lifestyle.

 

What can a Financial Planner do for me?

The Financial Planning Association suggests an adviser can help you:

• Develop a sound financial plan.
• Use your money to your best advantage.
• Choose products that suit your needs
• Understand and communicate risk

 

Do I need advice?

You might need advice if you:

• have a portfolio and you're looking to build a strategy or plan
• don't have the time or knowledge to manage your portfolio on an ongoing basis
• have received an inheritance or windfall
• have received a lump sum
• are new to investing and want to turn your savings into investments
• have a complex financial situation
• have been made redundant
• are changing jobs
• are nearing retirement.

 

What should I look for in a Financial Planner?

In choosing a financial planner, there are several things you need to consider. The Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA), the professional association governing the industry, recommends you use the following questions to help you decide which planner is right for you.

To find a suitably qualified financial planner you should ask: 

• Whom do you represent?
• Are you or your Principal firm a Principal and/or Practitioner Member of the FPA?
• What are your qualifications and professional designations?
• What services do you provide?
• What written advice do you provide?
• How are you paid for those services?
• Is your Principal firm owned by or related to an institution whose products and services you may recommend to me?
• Do you declare all fees, charges and commissions?
• What research is done by you to support any recommendations you might make?
• What ongoing services do you provide and what is the charge for them?
• What professional indemnity insurance is maintained?

We offer the first consultation on a no cost and obligation free basis, so you can see how we operate and our consultants can assess exactly what we can do to assist you.

We are confident that one of our consultants will provide you with satisfactory answers to these questions. We encourage you to call and arrange a consultation with one of our advisers to find out if VISIS Financial Planning can help you.