3 Things to Consider When Getting Financial Advice

A financial planner’s experience and credentials are not the only things to consider when getting financial advice. It’s also important to know what you’re looking for, find an expert you get along with, and decide which financial advice approach works best for you.

At Lifestyle Led Wealth, we’ve worked with numerous clients on their financial journey, helping them with investing, lifestyle planning, and tax advice among other areas. Here’s why we’ve found these three things to be crucial to a successful outcome for our clients.

1. What Are You Looking For When Getting Financial Advice?

It’s good to have an idea of your main goal when you sit down with a financial planner. In particular, decide if you’re looking for general lifestyle planning (strategic advice) or product advice. There’s a big difference between the two.

Lifestyle planning focuses on the big picture. A financial planner gives you guidance on areas like tax strategies, super contributions, education funding, and debt reduction, to help you achieve your financial goals.

Product advice covers your overall financial picture, then drills down to specific products. A financial planner offering product advice might recommend investing in specific assets, a particular education bond to save for your child’s tuition, or help you pick an insurance policy for yourself or your business.

Consider Your Goals

The best choice between strategic and product advice depends on your goals

If your goals are general, where you’re looking for help managing your overall finances, then you’ll benefit most from strategic lifestyle planning advice.

If, on the other hand, you need help on a particular product, like choosing the right managed fund or the best investment asset to put your recent windfall into, then product advice is the way to go.  

At Lifestyle Led Wealth, we offer both lifestyle planning guidance and strategic advice. Whichever you need, we start by understanding your life and objectives. We then go deeper into your finances and tailor our advice to help you achieve the type of life you want to live.

2. Do You Get Along With Your Financial Planner?

A successful relationship with your financial planner relies on trust. After all, they’ll be helping you make some pretty major financial decisions that will affect your life.

So find someone that you get along with, both professionally and personally. Here are some specific things to consider:

• Do you feel like they have your best interests at heart, or are they only trying to sell you a particular product or service? This is particularly important if you’re getting product advice.
• What’s their communication style, and does it match yours? Do you feel like they understand you, your needs, and values? Are they open and honest? This is someone you’ll disclose personal life and financial details to, so it’s important that you feel you can communicate freely with them.
• Do they take time to understand your life goals, or do they dive straight into product advice without considering what’s best for you? A good financial planner will start by understanding where you are and where you want to go before they discuss any financial products or specific advice.

Don’t worry if you don’t get along with the first financial advisor you meet with. You may need to interview 2 or 3 before you find someone that you can comfortably talk to and trust.

3. Which Approach Suits You Best? — Hands-off vs. DIY

Some people are most comfortable having a financial planner do most of the work managing their finances. If that’s you, then let your advisor know that you prefer a 1:1 approach, where they walk closely with you in your financial journey.

If you prefer a DIY approach where the planner creates a plan and then you execute it, that’s also okay.

The best approach depends on your level of comfort and expertise in various financial aspects, like stocks, funds, insurance policies, asset protection, and tax strategies.  

Why Choose Lifestyle Led Wealth for Financial Advice

Many financial planners will go straight to the money issues, and leave it there. At Lifestyle Led Wealth, we start by understanding what kind of life you want to live and then work with you to determine the amount of money you need to live that life.

We then go deeper into financial tools, strategies, and products that enable you to enjoy your life right now while also securing your future.

Contact us on 1300 068 453 to get personalised financial advice from Justin, our financial planner.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this document is of a general nature only and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs.