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Financial Adviser Second Opinion: Find Out What You Are Really Paying.
If you pay a financial adviser every year, there is a good chance you do not know the total. Not the adviser's fee: the total. A second opinion adds up every layer in dollars and tells you honestly whether you are getting value for it. It starts with a $330 consultation, which comes off your advice fee if you go ahead.
$330, credited against your advice fee. If you do not need advice, I will tell you.
Four consultations a week.
Five Questions For Your Current Adviser
If you already pay an adviser, ask these before your next review.
1. What do I pay in total each year, in dollars: your fee, the platform, and every fund on it?
2. What would you earn if you recommended an industry fund instead?
3. After all fees, how has my portfolio done against a plain industry fund balanced option over the same years?
4. What did you do for me last year that one phone call to my super fund could not?
5. Would you give me this advice once, for a fixed fee?
If the answers are uncomfortable, that is your answer.
What You Are Probably Paying For
An adviser's fee is only the one you can see. Underneath it sit the platform's administration fee, the fees of every fund on the platform, and often a cut of the interest on your cash.
| Comparison | Advised Wrap Account | Low-Cost Industry Fund |
|---|---|---|
| Adviser fee | Ongoing, usually a percentage of your balance | None, unless you ask for advice |
| Platform administration | Charged on top | Included in the fund's fee |
| Fees inside | Each managed fund or portfolio charges its own fee | One all-in fee |
| How the fees are paid | Deducted from your account automatically | Deducted once, shown on your statement |
| Who can run it | Usually built to need an adviser | You |
A general comparison of how the two are structured. Your own costs will differ, which is the point of checking.
This Is Not About Your Adviser Being A Bad Person
Most advisers are decent people. Yours may well remember your kids' names and return your calls. Some of what you pay has bought advice that was worth having.
The question is narrower than that. What do you pay each year, what do you get each year, and could you get the same result by paying once?
How A Second Opinion Works
1. Book A Consultation
Forty-five minutes by Zoom, Teams or phone. It is not an advice session: it establishes whether a full review is warranted and what it would cost.
2. Tell Me What You Have
After booking you fill in a short form: which platform or fund you are in, roughly how much, and what you pay your adviser if you know it.
3. I Add It Up
Every layer of fees, in dollars, and how your returns compare with a low-cost alternative.
4. You Get It In Writing
A Statement of Advice with a straight answer: stay, leave or renegotiate, and exactly how. Fixed fee, paid once.
What Are Ongoing Fees Costing You?
Put in your own numbers.
Adviser, platform and fund fees together. Enter your own total.
- Fees you would pay each year now
- $12,000
- Your balance with ongoing fees
- $1,785,981
- Your balance with one-off advice and a low-cost fund
- $2,011,947
Illustration only. Assumes both options earn 7% a year before fees, no contributions or withdrawals, no tax and no inflation, and a comparison fund costing 0.6% a year. It ignores any value the ongoing advice adds. Not a forecast and not personal advice.
Will my adviser know I asked?
Not unless you tell them. You can request your own statements and fee disclosure at any time.
Can I leave my adviser?
Yes. You can end an ongoing fee arrangement at any time, and your super fund or platform generally must stop paying the adviser when you tell them to.
What does it cost to leave a wrap platform?
Sometimes nothing, sometimes transfer costs and capital gains tax. It depends on what you hold and whether it is inside super. I work that out before recommending anything.
What if I just want lower fees, not a new adviser?
That is most people. One-off advice gets you set up in something you can run yourself, with no adviser attached.
Is $330 enough to review everything?
No. The $330 consultation establishes whether a full review is warranted and what it would cost. The review itself is a Statement of Advice, for a fixed fee, and your $330 comes off it.
General advice only. It does not take your objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it.
Book A Consultation
If you do not need advice, you find out for $330, not $6,600.
- 45 minutes with the adviser himself, not a junior
- A fixed quote on the call, if advice is warranted
- The $330 is credited in full if you proceed
Why $330 and not free? A free first meeting is usually paid for later, through ongoing fees. I would rather you paid once for my time and owed me nothing.
Pay $330 now. A consultation, not an advice session. Reschedule up to 48 hours before.