Financial Services Guide: Financial Advice

Version 12 (updated 31 May 2023)

About ProSolution Private Clients: Wealth Advisory

ProSolution Wealth Advisory Pty Ltd (herein referred to as “ProSolution Wealth Advisory” or “PWA”) provides financial planning advice to clients. PWA is an authorised corporate representative of ProSolution Group Pty Ltd, Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) number 238449.

The Corporations Act 2001 defines various financial products and regulates the way in which consumers can be advised about those products. ProSolution Group Pty Ltd has a list of approved financial products which is made available to all authorised representatives. This list of approved financial products is extremely comprehensive. PWA’s financial planning practice is privately owned and is not bound in any way to only use financial products provided by a particular product provider. If you would like to view the approved financial products list, please contact us. Unlike many other financial planners, PWA is allowed to recommend investments such as directly held residential or commercial property. This means that we are uniquely placed to be able to provide holistic and balanced financial advice. ProSolution Group Pty Ltd maintains professional indemnity insurance at all times that satisfies the requirements of Section 912B of the Corporations Act.

How we deliver Our Wealth Advisory Service

A number of elements must come together in order for an effective financial plan to be developed and implemented. We have developed a systematic process which enables us to ensure that our advice is as well-informed and relevant to your situation as is possible. As a client of PWA, you can expect the following process:

1. Getting to Know You

We believe financial advice is provided via a long term and trusted relationship (a transactional arrangement doesn’t work). For this relationship to be successful and productive we seek to engage with people with whom we share common values and where we feel we can add a lot of value to your circumstances. In order to be able to give you advice that best suits your circumstances, we take the time to gain an understanding of all aspects of your financial profile. We do this by completing, in conjunction with you, the client questionnaire (available on our website).

We ask you to complete our client questionnaire before your first meeting with us. When it comes to financial planning advice, the more information we have upfront, the better we can assess if we can assist you and that we are a good fit. So, please take the time to think about each element of the questionnaire and help us to ensure that we are as well-informed as possible. As part of the ‘getting to know you’ stage of our work, we will meet with you at least once. Meetings can be more frequent if required.

2. Engagement and Analysis

Once engaged we commence with a thorough understanding of your financial and personal information. This includes reviewing your personal cash flow budget (or assisting you to develop one) and a comprehensive goal setting workshop to help you define and prioritise your financial and personal aspirations. We then conduct rigorous analysis and modelling to develop an astute and conservative financial plan that is designed to assist in helping you towards meet those goals.

This process is interactive and includes your input to ensure you are comfortable with the strategy as we go – we don’t just unveil a finished product to you.

3. Delivery of Advice

Once we have finalised your strategy, we will take the time to prepare a ‘Statement of Advice.’ Your Statement of Advice will contain all the information that you need in order to understand the advice that we are providing to you and the basis upon which we think it will meet your needs.

In addition to the Statement of Advice, we will provide any other documents which you need in order to fully understand what we are proposing for you. These documents may include educational material or the ‘Product Disclosure Guide/s’ for any financial products recommended by us.

The Statement of Advice may be delivered in one of three forms: in a face to face meeting, electronically via email or via the post. It is important that you realise that our service does not end with the delivery of advice. In many ways, the delivery of the advice actually represents the beginning of our journey.

Working together we will decide upon an implementation plan to ensure that our advice becomes more than just a good idea.

4. Implementation of Advice and Ongoing Management of your Strategy

In order for our advice to be effective, it needs to be properly implemented. We will continue to work with you to ensure that the advice is properly implemented. In addition, circumstances arise which may require review or adjustment to your strategy. As a minimum we need to review your strategy and circumstances at regular intervals to ensure that things are going to plan and take appropriate action where necessary. We see our role here as that of a financial mentor where we act as your first contact for all financial related decisions, including referral to trusted specialists where required.

Getting Started

Getting started is easy. Simply contact us to complete our client questionnaire and arrange a time to meet to discuss your circumstances further. This initial consultation is complimentary and you should allow an hour for this meeting.

In addition to the information requested in the questionnaire, we would appreciate being provided with the most recently completed copies of the accounts and tax returns for you and any entities which you are using (for example a business or a self-managed superannuation fund).

Please also feel free to provide us with any other information that you feel is relevant to your circumstances. There is no such thing as ‘too much information’ when it comes to the provision of financial advice.

Dispute Resolution

All providers of financial services are obliged to offer dispute resolution services to their clients. This obligation is a key tenet of the consumer protection principles of the Australian Financial Services Licensing system.

If you have a complaint about our service, the following process is available to you:

1. Contact Stuart Wemyss, the director of ProSolution Private Clients, on (03) 8624 4600 to explain your situation.
2. If this does not resolve your complaint, please put your complaint in writing to Disputes Resolution, ProSolution Group Pty Ltd, PO Box 475, Collins Street West, 8007.
3. If your complaint is not resolved by this stage, you can access our external dispute resolution scheme. ProSolution Group Pty Ltd is a member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). AFCA can be contacted on 1800 931 678 and here. This is a free service to complainants.

Fees

PWA charges clients fees for financial planning services. These fees will be communicated to you prior to PWA commencing your strategy. In general terms our fees include:

  • A strategic plan fee – this is a fixed fee for preparing your financial advice/plan. This fee typically ranges form $6,500 to $20,000 including GST. However, depending on the complexity of the advice, our fee may exceed this range. All fees are explicitly agreed with you prior to preparing any advice.
  • An ongoing fee – we typically charge you a fee for provision of ongoing financial advice, implementation, and reviews. This fee will be charged to assist and help you towards achieving your specific financial goals and objectives and to ensure your financial strategies and products remain current and appropriate to your needs. This fee is fixed (not a percentage) and payable on a monthly basis. This fee typically ranges form $500 to $1,000 including GST. However, depending on the complexity of the advice, our fee may exceed this range. All fees are explicitly agreed with you prior to preparing any advice.

PWA may refer you to other related entities for the provision of certain products (e.g. mortgages, insurance, etc.). It is possible that these related entities will receive a commission for establishing these products. Any and all commissions will be disclosed by these entities to you in writing.

In addition to our fees you may incur third party fees for specialist legal or taxation advice or in respect of fees/commissions for insurance and investment products. We will not commit to any of these fees/commissions without your prior consent and these will be fully disclosed to you. These will only be known once we have completed your strategy. Examples of these costs include:

  • Insurance premiums and cost of implementation;
  • Legal fees such as company registration charges;
  • Payments to service providers such as buyer’s advocates, etc.

You can find our (1) dispute resolution policy, (2) CPD policy, and (2) privacy policy here.