Why it is important to deal with a privately-owned practice…
According to the ABC’s Four Corners program, banks own or control up to 80% of the country’s financial planners. And of the 20% that are not owned by banks, the vast majority of them make money from selling and/or recommending investments to you.
How comfortable would you be if your family doctor’s medical practice was owned by a pharmaceutical company? No doubt that it would make you feel a little uneasy.
If you are going to put your trust in an advisor, make sure they are not owned or licenced by a bank or product provider. Make sure that they have nothing to sell you – other than their advice. It is only when the advisor has no vested interest in the advice outcome that you can truly trust the advice. As Warren Buffett says “don’t ask the barber whether you need a haircut.”
Would you like to be in a financial position that you could do whatever you wanted to do without worrying about money?
Imagine being in the situation where it was entirely your choice of how much you work (or don’t work). You have full control over how and where you spend your time, be it working, time with family and enjoying hobbies such as traveling the world and so on. Never having to worry about money again. How would you feel if you were in that position today? Secure? Liberated by the freedom of choice?
Securing financial independence doesn’t have to be a dream. As the Chinese proverb says, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. And the most important step is the first one. That first step will give you a clear understanding of what you need to do over the coming years and decades. This will give you confidence that you are in control of your financial future and doing everything possible to secure it.
A goal without a plan on how you will achieve it is really just a dream. Successful people don’t leave important goals to chance. They develop a smart plan and surround themselves with the right team to help them implement it. This is where most people fail when it comes to wealth building.
Trying to figure it out by yourself? Frustrated?
Most people don’t prepare their own tax returns. The reason being that it would take too much time and energy to work it out themselves and making a mistake could be painful. It’s just easier to pay someone else to do it.
The same is true with financial planning. Too much is at stake to risk making a mistake. Mistakes cost money but worse still, they cost time. Smart people learn from their own mistakes, wise people learn from others.
The most valuable thing an advisor can share with you is their experience.
Start with the end in mind…
Most people know they need to do something but often don’t know where to start. Invest in property, contribute into super, share market investments, or something completely different. With so many options and little direction they get paralysed, feel frustrated and avoid making any decisions. Sometimes it feels easier to postpone making an important decision than risk making the wrong one.
The truth is that building wealth is actually quite simple. People tend to over-complicate it. Invest in the best quality assets you can afford, do it regularly without procrastination and allow time and patience to do its thing. It truly is that simple.
But you need to have a plan. When we leave home in our car we have a destination so it’s easy to work out the best route to that designation. Investing is no different. The plan might be as simple as retire at age 60 or something more detailed. But if you aim at nothing, it is most likely that’s exactly what you will achieve.
With simplicity, there’s nowhere to hide. A simple plan is very transparent. A simple plan is low risk and often lowest cost. And because simple plans are easy to understand, they make people feel comfortable and empowered. So complexity should be avoided wherever possible but not at the cost of generating less wealth.
A financial plan should be designed to be as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Introducing our Wealth Coach service
Wealth Coach is a service that provides personalised ongoing financial advice about any matters which ultimately help you achieve your lifestyle and financial goals. This service is provided personally by our founder, Stuart Wemyss and his team.
The Wealth Coach relationship typically starts with developing your One Page Financial Plan. This document sets out what you need to do to achieve your financial goals e.g. invest in property, direct cash flow towards the repayment of your home loan, how much you should contribute into super and so on.
Once we have a clear appreciation of your goals and a plan on how to get there, we move into the implementation phase. Stuart will guide you through the implementation process bringing in his panel of trusted professionals wherever necessary (no monetary or other benefits are ever accepted by Stuart or ProSolution for making referrals or recommendations to Wealth Coach clients).
The Wealth Coach service suits clients that want to develop a long term relationship with an advisor that can guide them through the important wealth building years, navigate the inevitable changes that life brings and help transition you into retirement.
Short term profit does not create long term value for anyone.
Our investment philosophy and approach
Our proven investment philosophies are routed in academia and supported by empirical research. We don’t speculate with our clients’ monies. The aim of investing is to achieve the highest return for the lowest risk. Click here to learn more about our safe investment philosophies.
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A few more testimonials
About Stuart Wemyss
Stuart has 20+ years experience in the financial services sector. Stuart is a licensed and qualified Chartered Accountant, financial advisor, mortgage broker and tax agent – which means he is able to provide holistic financial advice.
Stuart founded ProSolution Private Clients in 2002 and is a passionate advocate for the provision of holistic financial advice.This recent blog explains what drives him on a day-to-day basis.
Stuart is married to his beautiful wife Doreen and has two 16 year-old twin sons, Ryan and William. He is a loyal and passionate supporter of the Geelong Football Club and loves red wine.