To give you an idea of what a financial planner can do for you, we asked the three finalists in this year’s Financial Planner of the Year competition about their approach to financial planning.
Personal Finance: What value do your clients get for the fees they pay?
Donovan Adams: Chartered Wealth has specialised in retirement planning. Our clients benefit not only from our wealth of knowledge about retirement and a carefully worked out retirement plan, but also from numerous workshops and presentations on life and money in retirement.
Our planning process enables us to get a good window into our clients’ worlds before we give holistic advice based on needs, dreams, goals and creating efficiencies. This tailor-made financial planning adds much value.
Retirement can be one of the most stressful transitions in life, and we help our clients to prepare for it emotionally and financially.
How do you charge clients for your advice?
We charge fees only and do not earn any commissions. This allows for transparent, independent and unbiased advice.
Clients pay a once-off fee for a series of meetings consisting of life planning and financial planning. At the end of them, a client has a unique retirement plan that could be implemented with any financial services provider.
The fee means the client is under no obligation to implement any advice.
If a client asks us to implement any recommendations in their financial plan, they pay a fixed once-off fee.
An ongoing financial planning fee will apply to any funds under management to facilitate the ongoing review meetings and advice, which is vital in the ever-changing financial environment.
Do you spend time with clients in line with the fees they earn for you? In other words, do certain clients get more time than others?
No, all clients go through exactly the same initial planning process and review process.
Do you believe your fees will pass the Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) test, and if so, why?
We have always treated our customers fairly and welcome the new guidelines that will be put in place next year. We have tested our business for compliance with the TCF principles and remain confident that all is in order.
How much time do you spend coaching clients about their finances, talking to them about themselves, their goals and their attitudes to money? How much time do you spend developing a financial plan for them?
All the planners at Chartered Wealth are either trained coaches or life planners, or are enrolled in a coaching course. Coaching allows a planner to ask the right questions, and that makes our work much easier. During our life-planning sessions, clients are made more aware of themselves and their attitudes to money.
How many clients do you personally look after?
I have about 400 clients who I assist on an ongoing basis.
Who is your ideal client? Are some clients unsuitable because they have too little money or won’t take your advice?
Our ideal client is anyone approaching, or in, retirement who is serious about their future financial well-being and believes that money is a means to an end.
I have a full spread of clients, from high net wealth to average net wealth. We certainly don’t believe that there is anybody who we cannot assist in some way, but our financial planning fee is often a barrier to the lower net-wealth market. To counter this, we try to do free financial planning sessions to assist people who otherwise cannot afford the luxury of our expertise.
What will you be doing for Financial Planning Week?
I will be writing a blog for the Financial Planning Institute (FPI) and responding to public queries on the FPI’s Facebook page and on Twitter throughout the week.
CV
Qualifications: BCom Honours; Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning; advanced diplomas in financial planning, estate planning and risk management.
Previous jobs: Consolidated Financial Planning; Sheltem railway company; Aberdeen Asset Management (London).