What does a financial adviser actually do?

Our consultants sometimes get asked this question by people who make the assumption that a financial adviser is something reserved for the filthy rich who have so much money that they need a dedicated person to look after it. Yes, those clients exist but the vast majority of our clients are ordinary people, just like you, who appreciate help with the two main elements of financial planning: wealth creation and the protection of that wealth.

What do our advisers actually do? Here’s the lowdown:

1. Establish financial goals

The odd client may have an unusual goal like buying a supercar but most of us want to purchase a home, secure a comfortable retirement and pay for our children’s education. A financial planner will help you clarify your goals. A comfortable retirement for example, is a very imprecise goal so a financial planner might help you define it – retiring at 60 with a pension pot of $1mn for example.

2. Devise a strategy for achieving those goals

How much do you need to be saving a month and how much does that pot need to grow per year to achieve your goals? A financial planner can help you work out the answers to these questions.

3. Assess your attitude and tolerance to risk

How your money is invested will depend on how much risk you are willing to take as well as how much you can afford to take. If you are retiring within a decade, for example, you need to be more cautious than a twenty five year old who can take risks knowing that there are many years ahead to recoup any losses. Our financial planners will run through a questionnaire with you to work out how much risk you can tolerate.

4. Advise on wealth protection

Protection of the wealth that you accumulate is also key so our advisers will assess your life insurance, health insurance and critical illness needs and suggest the best policies to ensure that whatever happens to you, your investments and the financial wellbeing of your family are not put in jeopardy.  We work with all the major providers so have access to a wide range of products.

5. Ensure confidentiality at all times

Of course trust is of the utmost importance in our industry as clients share the most personal details of their lives with us. You can trust our advisors to always treat this information with the utmost confidentiality.

That’s what we do in a nutshell and there is one important thing that our planners don’t do, which sets us apart from many of our competitors.  They never directly manage clients’ money. While they are well-informed about money markets and the way they work, our planners lack the in-depth knowledge to enable them to actually purchase investments on behalf of clients. We leave that to investment management experts who do have that knowledge, backed by extensive research into the performance of stocks, shares and funds.  They are much better able to make informed decisions about where and how to invest based on the information passed to them by our financial planners. Infinity is proud to be the exclusive partner in Asia of Tilney Bestinvest, a Mayfair-based, award-winning wealth manager who help our clients to make the most of their money whatever their age and however much they earn.

In our view, everyone should consider appointing a financial adviser to help them secure their financial future. If you don’t have one, or you aren’t happy with the service you are currently getting, why not contact us and let us assist you?