How do I choose the right financial adviser?

Okay so, you’ve decided that you need financial advice and you’re not too sure if the person in front of you is the right one for you. Below are some tips that will help you determine if the professional in front of you is the right adviser for you.

My first tip is to make sure that they are licensed or authorised to give you financial advice. There is a registry that you can check and I highly recommend you to check this registry. It is available online by ASIC and it’s the financial adviser registry. The registry will show the advisor’s qualifications, it will show the advisor’s experience, it will show the advisor’s employment history. Most importantly, it will show if there are any disciplinary actions against that adviser. It’s a great resource to have when choosing the right advisor and making sure that the person in front of you is right for you.

My second tip is to ask the adviser a few questions and make sure that they have advised clients who are in a similar situation as yourself. Ask them about how long they have been advising for and the types of clients that they advise. Also, ask them about their areas of specialty. Some advisors specialize in Aged Care, other advisors specialise in Self-Managed Super Funds.

The other thing that I also recommend you to do is; check for client testimonials or reviews. Go online and look at the Google reviews. Go to the website and see if there are any client testimonials. Some advisors I know, have videos of clients testimonies which is even better. You want to be able to listen or read as many reviews because at the end of the day, this person is going to advise you on your financial affairs and you want to be able to trust them and believe that they’ll do the right thing by you.

Finally what I recommend you confirm with the advisor is; how they charge their fees. Generally speaking, advisers either charge a commission, only a fee model, some advisers charge a percentage based fee model and then other advisers charge a fixed fee model. Personally, I prefer a fixed fee model because I know the amount of work that’s involved. Whenever I sit with a client, I know how many hours I’ll be working and can charge accordingly. So, being able to justify why I charge my fees, it’s a lot easier if the advisor has a fixed fee model.

The other thing as well is; advisers that charge commission only or a percentage, if the advice or if the fees increase but the amount of work doesn’t, the adviser needs to justify what extra advice or value, that they have provided.

So again just in summary;

The first one is; to check the websites, the financial adviser registry. Make sure that they are licensed and authorised to give you advice.

The second tip is; look at Google reviews, ask them if they advised clients in a similar situation as yourself.

And finally; again check their fee model. Again, I personally prefer a fixed fee model, purely because I know it’s a lot easier to justify my fees because I know the amount in hours that’s involved.