You can never be too early or too late when it comes to planning for your future. Retirement Planning is ideal if you want to achieve a particular lifestyle during your senior years. However, many believe that going through will be complicated. While true to an extent, the good news is that you can work with a financial adviser who can simplify matters and guide you through the process.

For financial advisers, retirement planning is one of their primary services. This is because they understand that retirement planning is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. It can vary depending on a person’s unique circumstances. Ask your financial adviser to help you create a retirement plan tailored to your retirement needs and goals.

As this is such an important aspect of your life with long-term consequences, it is critical for you to find an accredited financial adviser who you can have an open and trusting professional relationship with. For this reason, people shouldn’t hire the first financial adviser they find – do your due diligence to ensure your needs will be met and you are comfortable working with your chosen adviser.

Questions to Ask Your Financial Adviser

1. What is Your Experience?

This is the most critical question to ask a financial adviser. The reason is that you want to work with someone with extensive experience in the areas of advice you require. This way, you can have confidence that they know what they’re doing and have the skills to solve your problems. They will be able to provide you with good advice and help you achieve your goals.

2. What Are Your Qualifications?

This is another critical question to ask a financial adviser. You want to work with someone who has the proper qualifications. You want to work with someone with the proper education, certifications, and licenses to adequately handle your finances and achieve a great result for you.

3. Who Will Manage My Investments?

Different financial advisers have different approaches to investing, so you need to find an adviser whose approach aligns with your own. For example, some advisers recommend an evidence-based investment approach, others will advocate an active investment strategy, whilst some prefer a passive investment strategy. Make sure you find an adviser who can present different options for a diversified investment portfolio and you can understand what your recommendations are based on.

4. How Do You Plan to Protect My Assets?

This is a critical question because your goal is to work with a financial adviser who can help you protect your assets whilst simultaneously growing your wealth. This means they need adequate experience and knowledge of both investment portfolio strategies that can help you protect your capital as well as an acceptable understanding of insurance products.

5. Will Anyone Else Work with Us?

Typically, the financial adviser and investor are the ones who work closely together. However, other people may be involved, such as investment managers, paraplanners, support staff and other professionals. Get familiar with everyone on your team along with how/when you should communicate with them.

6. How Will Your Services Be Paid For?

These days there are only a few ways that financial advisers get paid for their services. The most common way is through a fee for advice. This means the adviser charges you a fixed price for their services, regardless of how much you make. You should communicate with your adviser to ensure transparency of fees, and that you understand how much you will pay before you proceed with the initial advice and possibly an ongoing service relationship.

It All Begins With a Conversation…

IOOF’s The True Value of Advice Report found many long-term benefits can be gained from a positive relationship with a financial adviser with 90% of advised clients saying that accessing financial advice has left them in a better position financially and 89% reported that receiving advice allowed them to live their desired lifestyle.¹

Working with a financial adviser for retirement planning is a great way to ensure that you are prepared for your future. However, you should ask your adviser critical questions to ensure you can trust them, have confidence in their advice, and get the best service possible. Making investments are risky, and you need to ensure that your adviser is looking out for your best interests.

If you’re looking for a trusted financial adviser on the Central Coast, the team at Central Coast Financial Planning Group are here to help you! We place a lot of importance on getting to know you and your family’s lifestyle goals before we get started on developing your personalised financial plan. Call us or book online to secure a meeting with our advice team today!