Luke Jensen May 25, 2022 - 3 min read

Simplifying over-complicated advice

image of mt ngunngun on the sunshine coast

Sometimes I meet clients whose investments simply don’t align with their actual needs, and their financial advice has become more complex – and costly – than necessary.

 

I worked with clients who came to me with very simple retirement needs. They were paying an ongoing advice fee of ~$3,000 per annum to their former advisor and were questioning the value they were getting from the relationship. And they were right to feel this way.

These clients were receiving a full Centrelink age pension and had a relatively small, but important amount of funds invested in basic retirement products. They were seeking to move from ongoing advice to being in a position that required a review on a needs-only basis.

Upon reviewing the clients’ circumstances, we discovered that they were invested inside products that were more complex than what their current needs and objectives. Ultimately we were able to help the clients by simplifying their retirement product needs – and to the point where they were able to achieve their goal of not needing ongoing advice each year. Not only did the clients benefit from reduced advice fees, we were also able to help clients by:

  • Meeting their needs with retirement products with reduced ongoing fees.
  • Simplifying their retirement savings products to allow them to better understand what they have in place and the features and benefits available to them.
  • Enabling the clients to clients to deal directly with their product provider for simple tasks and removing the need to pay fees for advice where they felt comfortable in doing so.
  • Providing the option for clients to come back to me anytime they feel the need to.

These clients now check in with me every 2.5-3 years, rather than the annual basis they had experienced and paid for previously. The clients are happy with their current structure and are saving a significant amount in fees each year – which in turn helps prolong their retirement savings.

If you’d like learn more about financial advice that meets your needs, please contact Luke at Propel Financial Advice.