The thought of going to a financial adviser is about
as attractive as going to the dentist for most people.
In some ways, the dentist is better: at least you
know that the discomfort is only going to be temporary.
Despite all the recent
public scrutiny and legislative reforms, there hasn't
been much discernible improvement in the financial
advice industry that we can see. While everyone
seems to agree that standards need to be lifted,
the three core problems remain largely intact. Namely,
- the link between financial
advice and the promotion of particular products,
- the expensiveness
of most managed funds, and
- the large number
of people who know more about sales than
investment markets.
None of these things seem
likely to change any time soon. As long as large
institutions openly refer to their financial planners
as a distribution network, you can expect to be
'distributed to' rather than advised.
Getting more for less
Nearly every decision regarding a financial product
can be broken into three parts: advice, administration
and investment.
Buying all three elements in a managed product
might sound like a good idea but often it doesn't
work well in practice. The advice stage is obviously
compromised by the adviser's lack of independence,
the administration is generally not personalised
or tax-efficient and management fees often need
to be high to subsidise the other two activities.
Even at not-for-profit organisations like industry
funds, there are conflicts because the advisers
usually only recommend the small stable of products
that their employer provides.
Another choice
At Wren Investment Advisers, we can assist you
with all three steps at a cost which is probably
less than you are currently paying. Not only that,
you can choose whichever combination of our services
that you prefer: advice and administration without
the investment selection, advice only, administration
only - it's totally up to you.
Our objective is to focus on value for money at
each stage of the process and to make the entire
process as transparent as possible.
We also have a commitment to professionalism in
all that we do. Our firm has its own Australian
Financial Services Licence (No.247124) and are
not tied to any financial product provider. We
are also a CPA Australia public practice and were
the first advisory firm in Australia to commit
to the ethical business practices promoted by
the Good Business Register™.
Taking the next step
Getting financial and investment advice is an
important decision. We encourage you to research
your options as widely as possible before making
any final decisions. If you would like to consider
our firm in this process, we would encourage you
to contact
us for further information or to arrange a
meeting.
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