Your financial plan

How a financial plan is put together

A financial planner’s process takes quite a few steps. The financial planner will work with you to take your needs and wants into account.

Most of the time a financial planner will take these steps:

Step 1: Develop an understanding of your financial situation and discuss their fees and costs.

This is the getting-to-know-you phase. Everything begins with a chat. Your financial planner will want to understand how you think about money, your approach to spending, saving and investing. They should be keen to learn what level of risk you feel comfortable with when it comes to investing. They’ll also talk through how they can help you, what they charge, the fees and costs you’ll pay for their advice.

Step 2: Help you define your financial goals

Based on their understanding of where you’re at financially, your financial planner should help you define your goals. Afterwards, they’ll help you work out your short, medium and long term financial priorities and goals.

Step 4: Provide you with a Statement of Advice (SOA)

Once your financial planner has developed the advice, they will present you with a Statement of Advice (SOA). The SOA is the financial plan based on where you’re at financially and where you want to go in the future and should include all the information you need to know about the advice. How your finances are structured and what your investment options are will be detailed in the SOA by your financial planner. Your financial planner would have spent significant time comparing a variety of different strategies to determine what will work best for you. They would also have looked at a plethora of financial products before determining which is best for your situation.  

Make sure you read it!

Step 5: Discuss the SOA with you

This is where you get to ask questions you may have about your plans going forward. You can also tell your financial planner what it is you’d like to prioritise because it may not be possible to do everything at once.

Step 6: Help you implement their recommendations

Your financial planner can assist with any paperwork needed to get started on new financial strategies or products you want to use.

A few more facts about financial planning

Survey-based research¹ conducted in 2014 showed that:

^{1 From The Gamma Factor and the Value of Financial Advice (Aug 2016)  Cirano}

Want to learn more about financial advice and what financial planners do?

^{Fees may apply. Super SA has engaged Industry Fund Services Limited (IFS) (ABN 54 007 016 195 AFSL No 232514) to facilitate the provision of financial advice to members of the super schemes administered by Super SA. Advice is provided by financial planners who are Authorised Representatives of IFS. Further information about the advice services that can be provided is set out in the relevant IFS Financial Services Guide, request a copy by calling 1300 162 348. IFS is responsible for any advice given to you by its Authorised Representatives. 
Super SA does not recommend, endorse or accept responsibility for products or services or products provided or recommended by third-party organizations, including IFS. 
Super SA does not accept liability for any loss or damage caused by the products and services or products provided or recommended by IFS.}