How are Financial Plans (Statements of Advice) Created?

A Financial Plan is the key deliverable of the Financial Planning Process. It contains the recommendations, reasons for recommendations, alternatives considered and financial modelling.

It helps show clients how the advice will put them in a better position.

The process firstly starts with the Goals and Objectives (or Discovery) appointment.

This appointment is all about explaining the Financial Planning Process, illustrating how we help clients and understanding client's vision for their ideal life by defining their goals and objectives.

The Strategy appointment allows us to hone the strategy for what will be included in the advice. For instance it may involve asking clients to prioritise their goals or articulate how their values align with their stated goals, to ensure the advice best meets their wants and needs.

It is also a good opportunity to start explaining some of the different strategy options available to clients and reflect back on how their current financial picture is looking, and what needs to improve to meet their goals.

Once the strategy appointment is completed, we typically have all the information to prepare the Financial Plan.

Each Financial Plan is unique to the individual. It often includes advice in each of the applicable service areas, depending on what the client requires. You can download a sample Financial Plan to get an understanding of the depth of these advice documents. It is common for these documents to be so detailed that they could be 100 pages long, and take 10 to 20 hours to complete.

Once the Financial Plan is presented and the client is happy with the recommendations, we also assist with their implementation and generally also work with clients on an ongoing manner via regular catch ups.

Whilst we do help some clients with just one-off financial advice (step 1 to 4), we find most client's also benefit from ongoing advice as changes frequently happen that could otherwise derail the initial advice. Our blog explains this in greater detail.

If you would like to know more you can:

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