WHY USE A CERTIFIED FINACIAL PLANNER?
Financial Planners are different from other financial advisers you may have worked with because they take the holistic approach.
A Certified Financial PlannerCM Practitioner, as a member of the Financial Advice New Zealand, has achieved their world standard mark through experience, education and knowledge.
Seven things that govern their Financial Advice New Zealand membership:
| Integrity | Being truthful and trustworthy |
| Objectivity | Acting in your best interest |
| Competence | Maintaining the necessary skills, knowledge and business expertise |
| Fairness | Respecting others |
| Confidentiality | Protecting your private information |
| Professionalism | Maintaining an ethical reputation |
| Diligence | Delivering - promptly and thoroughly |
A financial planner is a person who has the knowledge, skill and impartiality to assist a potential investor design an appropriate investment programme to achieve goals, implement that programme and provide for its on-going reassessment. Financial planning examines the whole financial position of a client - assets, liabilities, income, expenses, risk management, investment, savings and estate planning. Only once these aspects are examined can a planner design a plan to suit the individual client.
A financial planner has a unified approach to planning and may work with other professional advisers - lawyers, bankers and accountants - to achieve common objectives in the planning process. This process involves six steps:
- Collecting and analysing all relevant data
- Identifying financial problems
- Identifying financial goals, objectives and priorities
- Providing a written report, recommendations and alternative solutions
- Co-ordinating and implementing recommendations
- Providing periodic reviews and plan updates.
Investment advice is usually what is first sought from a financial planner, but this is only part of the picture. While not all the elements above need be incorporated into every plan, they must be taken into account when designing a plan.
