Sometimes you have a question about a financial matter and just want an answer, not a relationship.
That is why Cornish Wealth Management offers one-off financial advice — also called situational advice, episodic advice or event-driven advice. Many people don’t want an ongoing advice relationship. Some can’t justify the cost. Others simply don’t see the value in it. But there is real value in the peace of mind that comes from having had a question answered properly, by someone independent and unbiased.
What brings people in
Most people who come to us for one-off advice have had something change. Common reasons include:
- Approaching retirement
- Receiving an inheritance
- Getting married, or divorced
- Having children
- Wanting a second opinion on advice received elsewhere
- Simply wanting to know whether you’re on track
If that sounds like you, you don’t need to commit to anything ongoing. You should pay for the advice you actually want, and nothing more.
Everyone starts with the same meeting
Whether you want a single answer to a single question, or a full financial plan, we begin the same way — with an initial consultation.
This is not a lesser version of our advice. It is how we work out, together, whether you need anything more. Until we understand your situation, neither of us can sensibly judge whether a full financial plan would leave you better off. We are not willing to sell you one on the assumption that it will.
ASIC classifies this meeting as general advice. That term does us no favours. It suggests something generic — the kind of session your super fund runs in a conference room, or a meeting where nothing much is said because the adviser is holding back until you commit to something. That is not what happens here. Our aim is that you leave with everything we can lawfully tell you.
What we cannot do in this meeting is recommend a specific financial product. Where a recommendation involves a product, the law requires a written Statement of Advice, and that is separate work with a separate fee.
If the conversation makes clear that a Statement of Advice would benefit you, and you choose to proceed there and then, we deduct the consultation fee from the Statement of Advice fee. You are not charged twice for the same meeting.
Initial Consultation — $220
Our fees are published in full, and this is the lowest-cost way to get advice from us.
We charge for this meeting deliberately. Most advisers offer the first meeting free, and someone still pays for that hour — usually whoever’s product ends up being recommended. Charging a modest fee is what allows the meeting to be about your situation rather than about what we might sell you afterwards. It is the same reason we take no commissions, no percentage-based fees and no referral fees.
And if you don’t get value from it, we won’t invoice you. That’s your judgement to make, not ours.
The limitation is real and worth stating plainly: general advice does not give you personalised recommendations or specific actionable steps tailored to your circumstances. Nothing said is intended to imply a recommendation or opinion about any particular financial product. It simply provides factual information.
Within those limits, it is genuinely useful to a great many people.
Clients who come in for an initial consultation typically then:
- Go on their way, and we never hear from them again
- Make contact a year or two later for another consultation
- Decide a Statement of Advice would be worthwhile, and progress to that
All three outcomes are fine by us.
If you’d like the detail, ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 244 sets out the differences between factual information, general advice and personal advice.
Statement of Advice — $1,980
Personal advice is tailored and specific, given only after your objectives, financial situation and needs have been properly considered. It is recorded in a written document that ASIC calls a Statement of Advice and everyone else calls a financial plan.
The process:
- A meeting to discuss your current situation, including your attitude to investment risk
- Investigation of your existing arrangements relevant to the advice — a superannuation fund, for instance
- Preparation of the Statement of Advice
- A second meeting to go through it in person and answer your questions
Our post on what financial planning involves covers what a plan might address.
Clients who come in for personal advice typically then:
- Go their own way, and we never hear from them again
- Ask for our help implementing the advice — opening accounts, processing rollovers
- Return in a few years for further conversation or another Statement of Advice
- Sign up to our annually renewable Annual Service Agreement
Again, all of those are fine by us. Our objective is well-researched advice that complies with the reams of legislation the federal government is so fond of, while also being of practical use to you.
We will usually offer an Annual Service Agreement — we’re generally required to — but we won’t expect you to accept it, and we won’t be offended if you don’t. We are very happy to provide one-off advice, and in doing so we are staying true to the reason we got into financial planning in the first place: to help people.
Whatever the reason, if you see value in receiving financial advice from a fee for service, independent financial adviser, please feel free to make contact.
