HOW TO FIND THE BEST ADVICE

It’s important to get professional help in the lead-up to retirement. Poor decisions can be costly and difficult to recover from once your wages stop.

Some financial advisers will charge a straightforward fee; others will charge a percentage of your assets. In between those two ends of the spectrum lie a wide variety of hybrids.

“One of the hybrids could be, ‘We’ll charge you a fee for the advice, and then to implement it, we won’t charge a fee for the advice, we’ll just charge you a percentage of assets under management and that includes annual reviews of your portfolio’,” says Daniel Brammall, president of the Profession of Independent Financial Advisers (PIFA).

Asset-based fees are charged on a sliding scale, ranging from 1% to 0.5%. “But that’s on top of the fees for the products they’ve got you into. And whatever platform those products are hosted on – they also charge an asset fee.”

Brammall says a good adviser can help you think through what the next 10 or 20 years will hold and help you maximise your financial position.

He advises getting three quotes. “Get a sense of the process. Ask the adviser, How do you work with people? What sorts of clients do you normally have? Do you specialise in particular areas? Do you have any ongoing service?”

And there are advisers who don’t charge for the first meeting.

“Someone considering retirement can go and meet with as many advisers as they like and ask for a copy of their financial services guide to get it in black and white how they charge,” says Brammall.

Members’ hourly rates depend on the age and experience of the practitioner and the complexity of the case.

“It can range anywhere from the low $200s to $500 an hour. Why then would you seek out advice of lesser quality when it costs the same?”