As a Fee-Based Financial Advisor, I charge a planning and advisory fee for the work that I conduct for my clients. Additionally, in the event that there is any implementation, e.g. purchase of a product or enrolment into a service, I may receive a commission or a trailer fee from the service provider. In both cases, my company takes a cut before paying the balance to me.

This question is likely made in comparison with a commission-based agent – which is the most common type of insurance agent that we see on the street. As I have explained in my philosophy, tailor-made financial advice cannot be made for free all the time. By and large, if you want free advice, then I’m sure that you will be able to get plenty of information from a simple search on Google. In fact, I have been sharing my knowledge and experience on financial planning via my blog.

However, why do clients pay a fee to engage my service? One reason is because they are usually busy professionals and they came to realise that it is not a straightforward process to navigate through the sea of information that they have found from the internet. Moreover, more than half of them cast a doubt on whether they can trust these answers and advice wholeheartedly.

Most importantly, after working with so many clients throughout my entire career, I noticed that clients don’t want information alone. Instead, what they need is a trusted advisor to give them personalised advice based on their needs and situation, keep them in check and on track towards their goals, and to encourage and support them during their decision-making process. And because this group of clients have paid a fee, they also become more committed to sort out their finances and to give deeper thoughts on their life goals.

Accordingly, given that the entire process for comprehensive financial planning is tedious and time-consuming (well, we are sorting out a lot of items in your life), I have to charge a fee so that I can be fairly compensated for my effort and time. In effect, this also helps to remove the inherent pressure to sell you unsuitable products and services that you do not need.

If you require comprehensive financial planning, then I charge a fee for the planning and advisory work. Thereafter, we will evaluate the situation to determine whether any implementations are required. Given that our financial planning report is purely driven by data, there is no way for us to propose unsuitable products or services. Accordingly, in the event that there isn’t a need to purchase any products or to enrol into any of the services that I provide for my clients, then I don’t earn any commission at all.

If your needs are simple, then there isn’t a need to charge a fee. Hence, yes, there are some situations when I don’t charge a fee.

I feel that this is the most holistic process to understand you properly and is also the most impartial method to determine your needs accurately. This is because when we conduct comprehensive financial planning, most of the fact-finding processes and outcomes are driven by data. This is opposed to relying on generic one-size-fits-all guidelines or a simple one-page fact-find form. As a result, by going through the comprehensive financial planning process, we strive to deliver an outcome that you will be confident with and to be able to rely upon in a safe manner.

I work with over 150 business partners to provide you with effective and affordable conflict-free solutions.