How a financial adviser can help with life’s milestones

A financial adviser is there to help you make financial decisions and plan for your future.  Whether it’s planning your savings or helping you once you’ve retired from working, it’s best for your plan to be personalised for you. Using someone with specialist knowledge in the area is a great first step.

Selecting your financial adviser

It’s important to work out what you want to get from the advice. An adviser should take the time to discuss what’s important to you and ask about your short and long term goals before they make any recommendations.  And importantly too, your adviser and you need to be able to work well together.  You both need to be comfortable, have a rapport and develop trust with each other for the relationship to be mutually beneficial.

When first meeting the adviser, there are a few things you should aim to learn:

You’ll likely be asked to give a brief overview of your financial situation on the first consultation. Following this, you’ll need to prepare a host of information so that you can make the most of the advice you’re getting. This will likely include personal information (like your age and relationship status), your assets, debts, income, expenses and your insurance policies

How to set (and achieve) your goals

Having provided your information, the next step is to figure out some realistic financial goals you want to achieve.

Your goals will be dependent on where you’re at in your financial journey. If you’re just getting started, this might involve creating an investment strategy to make the most of your savings – or figuring out how to best save for a house while maintaining a comfortable lifestyle, or what your insurance needs might be. For others, your focus might be on maximising the return from your long-standing investments or planning for retirement.

Your financial adviser will be able to provide you with options catering to different risk levels. You can use these to inform your decision, then begin working towards a healthier financial future.

Once you’ve worked out an approach, they’ll then provide you with a financial plan that is known as a Statement of Advice (SOA).

What’s in a SOA?

A good SOA should:

You and your adviser should review your goals regularly and  assess if you’re on track. Ideally, your life shouldn’t be disrupted by the financial decisions that have been put in place as part of your financial plan. 

If you need to find an adviser in Australia, visit the Financial Advise Association and in New Zealand, you can visit the Financial Markets Authority.