This is our preferred method for providing advice as this holistic approach enables our clients to get the most value out of their time spent with us. Our method occurs over three interviews which are either held face-to-face or via a video chat, and are designed to ensure that we understand you, and your financial situation, as best as we can. This enables us to get to the core of what you are trying to achieve – so we can formulate the best advice to meet your goals and improve your financial wellbeing.
The three meetings are arranged as follows:
Discovery Meeting
This is our first meeting and is where we will first discuss your ‘why’. For example, Why has your current strategy been put in place? Or, as is often the case, why hasn’t a strategy been put in place? These questions tend to lead to various other questions with our aim to gain a strong understanding of your current reality and get a sense of where you would like to be. At this stage goals are very important, and we will talk about and develop these to help us better understand what you are working towards – and why? Following our discussions, we will outline of the costs involved for our services. We won’t be asking for any commitment from you at this point, just your time to come back in for our Design Meeting.
Design Meeting
Our second meeting will provide you with a recap of the findings from our Discovery Meeting as we want to be absolutely sure we are on the right track before taking the next step. We will walk you through the projects and concepts that we believe would be appropriate for you. At this meeting we will also be asking you for more details about your overall financial position and, with your approval, we will then take this away and develop your personalised financial strategy. Your approval for us to proceed will be formalised at this point with an Engagement Letter.
Delivery Meeting
The third meeting is all about providing you with our recommendations to achieve your stated goals, presented in a Statement of Advice. We are well aware that the future can be unpredictable, so we always build a degree of flexibility into what we plan, so you can be confident that we will be prepared should any changes need to be made down the track. If you are comfortable with our recommendations we will have them implemented for you and begin our ongoing relationship.
What will be discussed at our meetings?
No-one likes to walk into a meeting unprepared, so to give you an idea of the type of topics that will be covered as part of the Freya Financial Wellbeing discussions, we’ve broken them down into four key categories:
As the American proverb says: “Tall oaks from little acorns grow” and this concept is intrinsic to how we start – by covering things that can seem so simple – or ‘little’ – that many people overlook them. But we don’t. We take time to discuss and help you to really understand your cash flow, goals and budgeting (just to name a few). Cashflow is the driving force behind wealth creation and, as such, is the cornerstone to many of the strategies we will discuss. With the fundamental concepts covered, you can have confidence that you are well on your way to financial wellbeing.
It is almost certain that at some stage in your life you will incur debt – either for personal or investment purposes. We will discuss strategies to effectively reduce debt, where it is not beneficial to your situation, or ways to utilise debt to build wealth.
Reducing bad debt can free up your cash flow – to enable wealth creation strategies to be put in place, such as investments. These may range from a house deposit (an investment in your lifestyle), to education funds (an investment in the future of your children) or a passive income stream (an investment in your financial wellbeing).
Regardless of the goal, having your fundamentals in place – and reducing debt – will mean that your cash flow can be used in the most efficient way to build your wealth.
Let’s talk retirement. It doesn’t matter if you are 28, 48 or 68 this should always be a part of your plan. After all, no-one wants to work forever. Your income in retirement can be healthy if well planned and managed so it is important to get the right advice to ensure you can make the most of your assets in retirement.
Sure, everyone’s ideal retirement looks different – but the need to plan for this time in your life is the same for every person. Financial goals are great but independence is all about being able to meet your lifestyle goals – whatever they may be. Whether you are just starting your career – or you are ready to put your feet up to enjoy the fruits of your labour – there are strategies that can be implemented to build, or maintain, your retirement nest egg.
As strange as it sounds, this stuff is more important than you realise. When we talk about ‘your legacy’ in a general sense we are really talking about is ensuring you and your family are left in a financially sound position should major injury, illness or death occur.
We could tell you many stories of people who had a plan in place in regards to their legacy as a “just in case”, never thinking it would really come in to play – but it did. Likewise, there are many stories of people who did not address this area of their financial plan that were left in less than ideal circumstances due to something out of their control. Life can be so unpredictable. It is one area where we can help you sleep better at night – knowing you and your family would be taken care of if something were to happen to you.
When you spend many years building your wealth to support yourself it is nice to know that there will come a time when this wealth is transferred to someone you care about. We will take the time to assist you to maintain your lifestyle as you age whilst ensuring that when the time comes for your wealth to transfer it occurs in the most effective manner possible.
For us, legacy is all about protecting you and your family against life’s unforeseen events but also helping to manage the longevity aspects or your accumulated assets to maximise any inter-generational transfer of wealth in the future.
Once we’ve covered these subjects, we then formulate recommendations to meet your goals, both now and in the future.