financial planners

not specifically property related but would welcome comments.
we have had the same planner for many years and he was in position to be well versed in our private financial affairs.
out of the blue last week we received a letter from a company we have had no direct dealings with to say our planner had been made redundant. it went on to say someone from the company would be in touch to discuss our portfolio.
we were not happy.
1 who gave them the right to our information?
2 why would they think we would be interested in doing any business with them?
3 what happened to our planner and why did he not have the courtesy to inform us of any changes?
of course we realise that in this time of financial ups and downs all sorts of things happen but nevertheless we are not happy with the way we have been treated.
we have done some checking and will not be dealing with this new company.
we written to them and told them.
our super fund has been deducting monthly amounts to the advisor as recently as june 1.
we have written to them to stop further payment.
we now have to start all over again or do things ourselves.
any one else had similar experiences?
 
Beleive it or not, you're a client of the firm your advisor works for, not the advisor himself. The same thing happens when you use a property manager.

Your account is an asset of the firm. If your advisor leaves (either resigns or is made redundant) your account stays with the firm.

If the firm is bought by another company, your account is transfered to the other company as it is an asset which can be bought and sold. Of course, you are entitled to your personal information (under the privacy act) and you can move your business to another firm at any time.

If your previous planner was made redundant it's likely he'd be under a non-competition clause and wouldn't be allowed contact you. The new firm has done the right thing by informing you in writting. You can also contact them to discuss your concerns directly.

I've had several property managers go through the same firm. Every six months we were dealing with another person which was quite frustraiting. Then the rent role was sold to another company which we really didn't want to deal with, so we did our own research and found a company to handle our property management that we liked.
 
thanks for that answer. so it would appear our planner has sold his business/share at sometime and we have been passed to this company?
as said we have written to this new company and said no thank you to being their clients. also written to our super people and said do not pay anymore to the advisor as we were no longer his clients.
will this be the end of it or should we also move the super elsewhere?
we will be wiser next time and anticipate this possibility.
 
thanks for that answer. so it would appear our planner has sold his business/share at sometime and we have been passed to this company?
Yep, he has either sold his business/book of clients (if he 'owned' his client list) or has moved to another licensee if didnt own the book of clients.
Either way as Peter has said the new company has done the right thing.

as said we have written to this new company and said no thank you to being their clients. also written to our super people and said do not pay anymore to the advisor as we were no longer his clients.
I'm not sure whether writing to the super company and instructing them not to pay any more fees to the new company will cut the mustard as you are still 'using' their advice. It wont make a difference to you either way. Your super company wont give you anymore if they dont pay any commision's to a FP. I'm sure PT Bear or another FP here would be able to tell you if this is sufficient.

will this be the end of it or should we also move the super elsewhere?
End of it? I dunno.......should you move your super? Not without talking to your financial planner:rolleyes:

we will be wiser next time and anticipate this possibility.
There's really not much to anticipate...It happens and there aint nothin you can do about it other than just be aware that it can happen.
Alot of FP's will build up a book value of a hundred of million or so of funds under management and retire of the commission and just accept the 5% atrician rate.
Another lot of FP's will build up their book value and sell it on retirement.
 
I'm not a financial planner so I can't say for sure, but I suspect that unless you do move your super, or at least engage another financial planner, they will continue to get paid.

With most things, it's often the individual you deal with that makes it right for you or not. You could try to find where your previous planner went.

On the other hand you could give the new group a shot. They may be offering something the previous planner didn't?

Also keep in mind that engaging a new planner might not yield the best result. Depending on how the planner is paid, they may want to shift your super simply so they can be paid more. Supidly enough, many institutions don't pay for retaining business, they only pay trail for the maintenance of existing business and up front commissions on new business.

A new planner may want to shift your super to a new company. This could be a good thing, it might be a better product for you. But make sure you are aware of any exit penalties and any setup costs if you do move.

Whatever you do, make sure you ask enough questions to ensure that whoever you engage is putting your interests first.
 
thanks for the reply.
it would seem the clients of planners are not treated ethically?
even if there so called anti competion rules it would not have prevented the planner from writing to say he was leaving and suggesting an alternative?
we have since learnt from a close relative who was also a client, that they were rung by the planner this week and told the new company were asking him to increase his fees.
he refused to do so saying most were longterm clients and retirees etc.
anyway was is done is done.
we have other super elsewhere so may simply roll it altogether and that will be the end of it.
that will be the end of the trailing commissions i would think.
i guess our private info will just gather dust as will the various financial plans complied and paid for over the years.
but it is a shame after having had a long term relationship etc.
but at least we were spared the misfortune of the likes of storm financial investers!
and we still have property that never was controlled by the planner despite noises/suggestions to sell up and put it all in super!
we will be wiser when next we seek advice.
regards
 
If that is the case then theres no reason that you cant move your stuff to be back under the old advisor.

To explain...
A planner I knew used to work at an accounting firm. He rang me up one day and said he was going into business for himself and ditching the accounting firm, and he needed some money for an office and car etc which we sourced for him.

Similarly, I deal with people not the company. Now at the time he had some money of mine under management so I rang him up, and we filled out a form and transferred the management out of the accountancy to his new practice.

Wasnt hard at all.

But the thing is he could be limited contractually to tell his clients he's moving along as the company they used to work for would then suffer a loss if all these people started transferring their supers etc

So its not like he didnt want to, its probably more like if he did do a goodbye letter then he'd get the pants sued off of him.

So perhaps use the power of google or ring the FPA to find out where he is.
 
a bit off topic but thought id share it. My wife deals printing companies as part of her job in publishing she was contacted by a company she deals with to say the rep had been moved to customer service and she would be assigned a new rep and he would be flying in to visit her from Malaysia. She called the company up and complained that she only wanted to deal with the original rep and they shouldn't waist an airfare sending some one out to meet her. They re-instated the original rep that afternoon.
 
Hi there,
I've been in financial planning for about 10 years now, so I've seen a lot happen. It's quite possible that your former planner is under a legal agreement to not contact you for a period of time - this is often the case when a planner sells their business to ensure that the buyer gets the best possible value from their purhcase, and not just an empty filing cabinet becuase the former planner has walked off with the rest of the clients. What isn't acceptable is that there was not communication with you at all about the changes. There are possible regulation breaches as a result of this as there is a very good chance that some of the company's policies and procedures changed such as privacy etc and you are required to be told about it.
For the super, depending on what super company you are with - you may or may not be able to stop them paying trail. Best to call them - the financial planning firm will have no incentive at all to stop receiving payment, so you're best doing it yourself. For rolling your funds over, you're best to seek advice about that and see what your right options are. Trying to find someone independant otherwise you'll may just get flogged a product that they are related to, and could end up with either the same or worse position than staying where you are.
Hope that helps!
 
thanks for those replies.
yes we were disappointed and surprised how we were treated but must move on.
we are looking at rollover into other products that we familiar with at present and keeping an open mind.
we do not want any money to go to the company that gave us the news.
as i said we have done some research and do not think they would suit us.
we had a very personal and satisfactory relationship with the last planner over many years. at least that was our perception!
there are a lot of planners to chose from and it looks like there will be changes a foot re how they will be paid etc.
we like to keep things simple and easy to understand.
if govt keeps fiddling with the rules re super/tax/pensions, we will need advice down the track, to optimize our position like everyone else but at present we are ok.
we are lucky to have built up investments over the years.
forums like this are valuable to share and read experiences.
thanks again. regards.
 
financial planners/super update

update.
we were contacted by the super fund, following our letter to them re no longer having a fin planner.

we were told yes, the planner would no longer be paid but from today the percentage fee paid/deducted would change from 1% to 4%, and will be deducted and be paid to the super fund, from our funds.

not happy of course so we have organised forms to be faxed to them to rollover the funds to our other fund.
no exit fees thank goodness but the 4% fee will be deducted.
hopefully it will not take too long.
i think a lot of people will be looking more closely at fees and charges re super, especially with returns being poor.
regards
 
a bit off topic but thought id share it. My wife deals printing companies as part of her job in publishing she was contacted by a company she deals with to say the rep had been moved to customer service and she would be assigned a new rep and he would be flying in to visit her from Malaysia. She called the company up and complained that she only wanted to deal with the original rep and they shouldn't waist an airfare sending some one out to meet her. They re-instated the original rep that afternoon.

Your wife's companby must be a big account for the pringtin company if it to forced that change - someone took on a new role, in a new area, and they pulled him back into his old role..... In Pully's situation, this supposedly self employed FP was made "redundant".....if he worked for soeone else, theyd have to re hire him, but by admission of offering a redundancy, there is no position to re hire him into... Pully, did your FP work for someone ? How does one get made redundant if not ?
 
hi jaycee
it is a bit confusing re the status of his employment.
we have had a relationship with him for many years.
during that time he appeared to be in a partnership with other parties but we were not privy to the details.
i think a lot must have happened in the past 18 mths or so.
during that time it would appear he may have sold his share and moved on to the financial planning company that contacted us and who told us he was now redundant.
we are not really clear on financial planning companies and how they are structured. we vaguely know about them needing to be associated with a dealer group etc, and that from time to time planners change their dealer group.
we know some are tied to banks etc, and some are not.
this one did not seem to be.
it seems there will be many changes re super and the fin planning industry, from what is being discussed in the media etc.
at this time i doubt we will be seeking to engage another in the short term or in the future.
things are pretty well sorted now.
it is rather disturbing how many parties seem to feed off the financial management system we have at present.
regards
 
Keep in mind that when someone starts a business, it's not something they're going to do forever. Sooner or later most people retire but most businesses are being built as an asset which can be sold. If they're not being built as an asset to be sold, there's an arugment that they're not being run very well.

In the case of personal services businesses, it's great that clients often develop good relationships with an individual within that business. It's also fair to say that eventually that person will move on. They might shut the business down, it may faile, they could sell it to someone else, or pass it on to someone else via succession planning (their kids take it over).

It's unfortunate that you've lost a trusted advisor, but it doesn't really sound to me that anyone has done anything wrong.
 
even if there so called anti competion rules it would not have prevented the planner from writing to say he was leaving and suggesting an alternative?

Unfortunately, this is standard practise for most professional organisations.

Case in point; when I left GGA nearly two years ago now, I was not able to contact anyone that I had dealt with there, despite the relationships built up over the many years previous. Even though that clause was only for twelve months, I still haven't made first contact with anyone. To me, it's a matter of integrity.

Instead, it's simply been a case of waiting for those people to track me down. Many have, and others have chosen not to. That's business.

I daresay that if your old planner is still in the industry, he'd be rapt to hear from you.
 
Your financial planner may be under contract not to contact his clients, but there is nothing to stop you contacting him.

Do you have a mobile number? address? mutual friend?

If so, ring and find out what is happening if you are concerned. He may well be working for a different company. If so, he may be under contract not to have business dealings with a previous client for a period of time, usually 12 months. You may be prepared to sit tight for that time if you wish to continue using his services.

He has acted honourably and ethically in abiding by his contractual obligations.
Marg
 
thanks for those comments.
we understand professional codes/ethical practice etc.
can appreciate keeping to contracts signed, to avoid breaches and potential legal outcomes that may not be favorable.
i expect not all professions have the same ideas about duty of care to clients.
we were disappointed to be told we no longer had a planner.
to be contacted by a company we had no connection but who had our details was a little disconcerting.
we had considered our fin affairs to be private.

but we are moving on, rolling the super into another we have.
this will take time and forms etc.

we thought it maybe useful to share our experience, and it was very good, as always to hear comments related to this matter.
 
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