Why Seek Advice?
If you’re unsure about how your super is performing, if you’re in the right investment option or the right fund, whether you have the right amount of insurance, whether you should make additional contributions to super or if you want to map out a plan to get you to retirement, then speaking with an advisor could be very beneficial. See why it pays to seek advice on superannuation for more information.
Key Areas Of Super Advice
Good advice on the below areas will give you a good understanding of where your super is now, where it’s heading and give you the confidence to manage your super going forwards. Seeking good advice will also help you understand superannuation investments, and some potential reasons to invest in super while you’re young!
Understanding your risk profile
An adviser can help you understand the risk return trade off and help you determine whether to invest your fund into a high growth, growth, balanced, defensive or secure risk profile. You can read more about risk profiles here.
Understanding returns and fees
An adviser will be able to explain what investment returns are, what’s a reasonable rate of return for your risk profile and how your fund and investment option compares v’s the rest of the market. Same goes for fees
Choosing a super fund
This can be a daunting decision for anyone and it’s where an adviser can really come in handy. Choosing the right fund can literally leave you hundreds of thousands of dollars better off by retirement. An adviser can analyse the market and make a recommendation on a fund that is best suited to your needs.
Assessing your insurance needs
If you’re unsure about how much life, TPD or salary continuance you should have or what these terms even mean then a chat with an advisor could be illuminating. You can read more about insurance in super here. An advisor would explain each of the different types of insurance, conduct a needs analysis with you and can make a recommendation on what cover type of cover, the amount of cover and which provider is best suited to you.
Making additional contributions to super
Depending on your situation contributions to super can save a decent amount of tax and boost your super fund. An advisor will be able to discuss the different types of contributions, help you understand the benefits and can recommend the most suitable options for your situation. You can read more about contributing to super here.
Ongoing Assistance
Having a personal adviser on call to provide advice in relation to your super can be very handy. You could also expect a minimum of an annual review as this is now a legal requirement.
An annual review would most likely include; a review of your funds performance, a reassessment of your investment options in relation to the current market conditions and a reassesment of last years strategy.The exact details of any ongoing service would be stipulated in an ongoing service agreement with your adviser.
Types Of Advice
You can speak with a financial adviser face to face, over the phone or via video conferencing software such as Zoom. Or you can get Digital/ Robo advice on your phone or computer. See below benefits of each.
Financial Advisor
More personal – You can ask more questions and you will be asked more questions. An adviser might pick up key information while in conversation that may not be identified with digital advice.
More comprehensive – Although digital advice can be suitable for more basic advice such as choosing a super fund, or insurance within super. For complicated advice such as self-managed super funds, tax or personal insurance held outside of super then speaking with an advisor is really the only option as this is usually outside the scope of digital advice.
Digital / Robo Advice
Lower cost – Cost varies between providers but as a rule of thumb you could expect to pay around half the fees for digital advice compared to a financial advisor.
Proceed at your own pace – Read through the advice at your own pace without the need to make a decision and sign forms by a deadline.
Quick turn around – The traditional advice process from initial consultation through to Statement of Advice typically take weeks. Whereas the same process through Digital/ Robo advice typically takes days.