Starting on the right foot with a financial advisor can help ensure you get the most from your meeting. YourLifeChoices has 50 useful questions you may wish to ask.
Starting your meeting
1. What qualifications or experience do you have?
2. Are you licensed to give financial advice?
3. May I have a copy of your Advisory Services Guide?
4. What can I expect from this meeting?
5. What fees do you charge?
6. Can you give tax advice?
7. What if I have concerns about the outcome of this meeting?
8. What other information is held on my file and what do you do with it?
Checking your investment options
9. How does a managed fund work?
10. How long should I keep my money invested?
11. How much do I need to start an investment portfolio?
12. When is the best time to start investing?
13. How do I know what level of risk is suitable for me?
14. How can I reduce the risk of losing my money?
15. What is the long-term benefit of adding money regularly into my investments?
16. Is it better to put extra money into my home loan to pay it off or into managed investments?
17. Can you show me how to pay off my mortgage sooner?
18. What is the difference between growth and income investments?
19. Will I be charged a fee if I withdraw money from a managed fund?
20. Do you have any tax effective investments?
22. How can I protect my investment portfolio from the effects of inflation?
23. Can I invest with other fund managers?
24. I’ve paid off some or all of my home loan and have surplus income every month. Can I use this to build an investment portfolio?
25. What are the benefits and risks of gearing and would it be appropriate for me?
26. Apart from investments, what else do you provide advice on?
27. Where can I find information about alternative investment products?
28. Can you help me invest directly in shares?
Performance and taking returns
29. How can I track the performance of my investments?
30. What ongoing information will be given to me about my investments?
31. How has the particular fund been performing over the medium to long term?
32. Can you tell me the types of investments the fund invests in?
33. Who manages the fund, how long has it been operating and how big is it?
34. Should I reinvest my returns or take the income from my investments?
35. How often would I receive income from the fund?
Taking the mystery out of superannuation
36. What are the benefits of investing in super?
37. How can I contribute to my super?
38. Am I putting enough money into super?
39. How do I know that my super is invested wisely?
40. Should I consolidate my super into one fund?
Getting ready to retire
41. When should I start planning my retirement?
42. How do I know if I will have enough to retire on?
43. How can I structure my investments to make sure that I have enough to live on in retirement?
44. What happens if I die – who will get the money?
45. What tax will I have to pay when I remove funds from my super account?
46. How should I structure my retirement income so I can still receive social security entitlements?
Making sure you have the right insurance
47. Can you calculate and recommend how much cover I should have?
48. If I become sick or injured and cannot work what type of insurance would cover living expenses such a mortgage repayments?
49. Can you help me make provisions for my family should I become disabled, get sick or die?
50. How do I know if my superannuation includes insurance?
