How to choose the right financial adviser for you
Are we the right financial adviser for your circumstances?
Because there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to financial advice
Have you recently decided it’s time to take charge of your financial situation? If so, congratulations! This is the first step towards a financially free and secure future.
The first step for many is to engage a trusted professional to guide you on your journey, often in the form of a qualified and experienced financial adviser.
But with so many financial advisers out there, how on earth do you compare and choose?
In this blog, we’ll take you through the essential steps for comparing and selecting an adviser, and we’ll explain exactly what we do and who we serve here at TruWealth.
Your circumstances are unique, so it’s important to choose the right adviser for you
ASIC has some fantastic advice about choosing a financial adviser on their website – most notably step 4, which details how to meet with and compare potential advisers.
It’s so important to meet and compare, and surprisingly, this is an often-missed step. Every single client has a unique set of circumstances, and no adviser is the right fit for absolutely everyone.
So instead of selecting an adviser because a friend recommended them, or because you came across them on Google, it’s important to take the time to get to know them and their specialties. That way, you can decide if they’re the right fit for you.
Meeting and comparing financial advisers – ASIC’s recommendations
ASIC recommends meeting with multiple advisers to compare their offerings, learn more about their specialisations and decide if they’re the right fit.
ASIC suggests you ask potential advisers about:
Their qualifications, main client base and specialty areas
What fees you’ll pay, how often and what you'll get in return
How they'll manage your money
How often you'll meet
What information you'll receive and how often
How they'll consult you on decisions
How they'll monitor and manage your investments
What commissions or incentives they receive from financial products, and how they'll choose products to recommend to you
Who'll look after your account when they're away
How they'll deal with complaints (see problems with a financial adviser to learn about the complaints process)
How to end your agreement with them (including any penalties or notice periods).
Below, we’ve outlined our answers to some of these key questions, so you can get to know TruWealth a little better.
Our qualifications, our clients and our specialty areas
When you work with us at TruWealth, you’ll be safe in the hands of experienced, qualified professionals, most notably our advisers Natallia Smith and Lauren Power.
Our qualifications
Natallia is TruWealth’s founder and principal financial adviser.
Natallia holds a Master’s Degree, Business, Banking & Finance from Monash University, an Advanced Diploma, Financial Services (Financial Planning) from FINSIA and a Bachelor of Psychology from Gomel State University.
Lauren Power is TruWealth’s associate financial adviser, bringing over 20 years’ experience in the industry.
Lauren holds an Advanced Diploma, Financial Services (Financial Planning) from KAPLAN, a Diploma, Financial Services (Financial Planning) from KAPLAN and a Bachelor of Commerce from Deakin University.
Our client base and specialty
At TruWealth, we focus on a very specific market: pre-retiree and retiree-aged single women – those who have never married, are widowed or have divorced.
We specialise in helping single women feel secure and in control about their financial matters. We do this in many ways, including:
Provision of traditional strategic financial planning, such as retirement planning and superannuation, investments advice and portfolio management
Developing financial wellbeing strategies to create a healthy and productive financial mindset.
Focusing on such a specific market (rather than trying to serve everyone) allows us to provide an extremely tailored service, build long-term relationships and deliver strong outcomes.
Our fee structure
There are a number of ways you can work with us:
Initial discovery and engagement meeting
Our consultation fee for a discovery and engagement meeting is $385, inclusive of GST.
In this meeting, we’ll get a better understanding of your situation and what you’re looking to achieve, and together we can explore how to make that happen. You’ll also have the opportunity to get to know us and get a sense of whether we’re the right fit for you.
At the conclusion of our discussion, we’ll provide you with our feedback and advise you of the next steps to help you address your personal and financial needs, now and in the future.
Fee only – requiring no asset management minimum
When we work with you on a fee-only basis, the cost of our advice will be proportional to the skill and knowledge required for the type of work, the degree of responsibility applicable to the work, the complexity of your unique situation and scope of our engagement.
Our services and fees will be set out in a formal agreement with you called Terms of Engagement. You can refer to our financial services guide for more information.
Your investment in our financial planning services requires an onboarding commitment of no less than $3,300 including GST.
Our annual fee depends on the services that we provide to you, but the fee will be an agreed fixed fee which is paid monthly – this starts at $440 per month including GST. These amounts may be adjusted based on the complexity of your situation and your individual needs.
How we manage your money
At TruWealth, we don’t work on cookie-cutter, generic solutions. We tailor a customised investment plan, specifically geared towards each of your goals. This plan considers all options, so your money works harder without taking unnecessary risks. And, we make sure everything you own is structured in the most tax-effective way and protected from unforeseen risk.
You can refer to our investment philosophy for more information.
How often we’ll meet
This is an easy question to answer – as often as required! Your situation is unique to you, so rather than slotting you into a set meeting structure, we’ll meet when a meeting is needed.
What information you’ll receive, and how often
At a minimum, you’ll receive a tailored strategy document outlining various scenarios, financial outcomes, modelling and projections.
You’ll also receive our Statement of Advice, which outlines our specific recommendations related to advice and financial products.
We’ll also provide a summary of our discussion after each and every meeting.
How we consult you on decisions
All major recommendations are delivered to you personally, via face-to-face or virtual meetings. Any recommendations we make will be supported by advice documents.
How we monitor and manage your investments
Our structure of having two financial advisers (Natallia and Lauren) working on your portfolio means we can monitor and manage your needs in the most efficient way.
Our process revolves around you, your life, your goals and your happiness. You can learn more about our unique process on page 3 of our corporate brochure.
What commissions or incentives we receive, and how we choose the products we recommend
We own our Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL). This allows us to provide completely independent advice, so we have no ownership links or affiliations with any product manufacturers.
We receive no commissions or incentives from any product providers (this includes GST).
When we recommend a product to you, we do so because we truly believe it’s the best fit for your unique situation.
Who looks after your account when we’re away
This is another benefit of having both Natallia and Lauren involved in your portfolio. When Natallia is away, Lauren will look after your financial needs, and vice-versa.
How we deal with complaints
You can read about our complaint handling process here.
How to end your agreement with us
You can end your agreement with us at any time. We don’t apply any exit fees or penalties.
We very much look forward to building a rewarding relationship, and creating a financially free and secure future with you.
At TruWealth, we empower single women to take control of their finances and feel financially secure.
If you would like to understand more about your own financial situation, please contact our team on 03 8648 6534 or email us at contact@truwealthadvice.com.au for a confidential discussion.