Superannuation Warehouse is an accounting firm and do no provide any financial advice. All information provided on this page has been prepared without taking into account of the Trustee’s investment objectives, financial situation or needs. The purpose of this page is to introduce Trustees to the different types of financial advice in the market.
Traditional financial advice
Traditional financial advisors are usually independent practitioners who operate in a fiduciary capacity whereby the client’s interests comes before their own interest. Client are generally required to answer a series of questions allowing the financial advisors to come up with the best investment strategy for the client. With the traditional financial advice, clients are usually in constant contact with their financial advisors so that the advisors are up to date with the client’s investment goals and can therefore make the necessary adjustments if needed. There is a lot of human intervention when managing the portfolio in traditional financial services. The financial advisors will generally issue a Statement of Advice (SOA) to their clients highlighting the recommended investment portfolio the client should undertake. To see a sample SOA by ASIC, please see below:
ASIC Sample Statement Of Advice
Perceived disadvantages to using a financial planner
There is a perception that financial advisors may not be acting in the best interest of their clients. The two main disadvantages to using a financial planner are as follows:
- The fees that are generally charged by most financial planners may be regarded as overpriced
- Some financial planners make investment choices that usually benefit themselves, not the clients. Financial planners may pressure clients to invest in highly risky securities. This could have disastrous outcome for the Trustees as failed investments could mean the loss of their entire retirement Fund. The most recent scandal is the Commonwealth Bank scandal in 2016. To read about the Commonwealth Bank scandal, click on the button below:
