Well, I must admit that some of the best ideas for my videos come from you, either as a comments in relation to existing videos, or as direct email.
And today's video has been triggered by an email I received just few days ago that says
"Hi Katherine, I need to do my due diligence: Are you a certified financial planner?
Do you have a reference number I can cross-check?
What is the authorising body for financial planners?
I'm sorry to ask for this, but since the Melissa Caddick scandal and all other public issues about financial planning,
I need to do the right thing. I have no doubt you will encourage that".
Well, not only I encourage this cross-checking, but I will also go a step further to actually tell you exactly how to stay safe
and not to ever fall the victim of investment scams, people pretending to be who they are not and how to invest your money safely,
while still being able to receive the advice you need in a safe and enjoyable fashion.
My name is Katherine Isbrandt from About Retirement, I am Certified Financial Planner, and you are watching About Retirement TV,
the place that I created with the idea to assist people who are preparing financially for retirement or those who have already retired.
In the situation when you are looking for a genuine financial advice, it is better to be safe than sorry, and you do need to carry out your due diligence.
The best place to start your search for finance professionals is website of ASIC - Australian Securities and Investment Commission
This list is then published on Moneysmart website that is managed by ASIC
As you can see, if you take my name as an example, you will immediately receive confirmation of my name as a financial adviser
as well as my adviser number that was set up by ASIC when I originally started working in this profession over 20 years ago.
Therefore, this number is associated with my name for as long as I remain in financial planning profession, and I comply with all legal requirements.
If you click on my name or the number, you will get to next page, that page shows my history as a financial planner.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have been around longer than ASIC's webiste, hence it shows my appointment from 2007,
while actually started my financial planning career with employment at Westpac in 1998.
It is hard to believe how many years it's been, but obviously you can tell, I still love what I do.
And the most beautiful thing is that working as a financial planner is like wine, only gets better with time and experience.
When you get to the page of my adviser register, you can see some very important details:
My current principal place of business
Name of the licensee holder and its number
when you click on that number, immediately the page will refresh to all the details about the licensee, therefore the body that provides me
as an adviser with a license that has been issued and approved by ASIC.
For a disclosure, my business is self-licenced, and I do not have any affiliation or financial relationships with any financial institution.
What that means is that, unlike employed financial planners, my responsibility is towards my client and not my employer.
Then you can find areas of product advice that I am authorised to help you with
my previous appointments,
list of legal actions - that thankfully I had none
qualifications and training - which shows that I have become a Certified Financial Planner in 2010
failure to meet CPD requirements (Continuing Professional Development), no failure on my part
and then memberships - I am a member of Financial Planning Association
This is your very first step in your due diligence process for any adviser you wish to check.
If the adviser's name is not listed, run and don't look back
Obviously it is not an adviser that has been approved and licensed therefore you are running a big risk of being conned and losing your money.
The second step is to check professional associations members list to find out if your chosen financial planner is listed in any of such associations.
I am a member of Financial Planning Association - only a licensed financial planner can be a member of this association,
therefore you can feel very safe searching for a genuine financial planner through the FPA's website
The third step is the adviser's website or the company that he/she is working for.
As an example, let's check my website AboutRetirement.com.au
In the footer of each page or blog of my website, you can find all legally required disclosures
Adviser Profile - information about me as a planner,
my history in this profession and within what area I can provide advice, which in my case has no limits.
Financial Services Guide (FSG)
you should expect to receive FSG from every company providing you with financial advice or with a financial product.
Public Complain Policy
this is to explain the system that you need to follow in case you need to make a complaint against the product or advice provider
Privacy Policy
informing you of measures taken by the provider to keep your data safe and private
And disclaimer of all legal setup of the business and adviser registration
Depending how you organise your appointment with the financial planner.
These days the distance is no longer a limit, and lots of people are happy to have an online meeting with the preferred adviser.
Therefore, if you book an appointment with me, you can see in the confirmation email all the links to the documents I've mentioned before listed on my website.
Therefore, you can read all about me, you can do your due diligence, long before we chat.
If you have a face-to-face meeting in an adviser's office and you are happy with all the information you found online, have a look around the adviser's office.
All previously mentioned documents should be available for you to pick up or handed to you during your first appointment.
As you can see, I have them on display available to every person that walks into our office.
Then in my office, you will also immediately see the display of all legally required disclosure of business registration,
licensee registration as well as adviser registrations and memberships.
If you follow all those steps, you will not only find the financial planner professional you can trust, but most likely the one that really has your best future at heart.
As I keep saying, most financial planners really care very deeply about their clients and want to create long-standing relationships with their clients
to guide them through the years, for the best possible financial outcome with the most effective professional advice.
If you enjoyed this video, please LIKE it and SUBSCRIBE to my channel not to miss my next video.
Also when visiting my website, please sign up to my Newsletter to be kept up to date with all the changes that can impact your retirement.
And now I would like to recommend couple of videos for further watching, with the first one being
“To deem or not to deem” overview of Centrelink treatment of most assets we own.
The second video is: ”Good debt, bad debt in Retirement and Age Pension”.
There is more and more people retiring with some debt,
so you need to know how to structure your money correctly
for the best financial outcome.
I will speak with you in my next video. Bye for now.