Yes. Retirement advice is much more complex than traditional financial planning.

When you have the luxury of time and money to spare, it is reasonable to expect that you can rely upon probable outcomes, for example, the markets will go back up over time and you’ll make your money back.

In retirement, the luxury of patiently waiting for a recovery may not be the tool to rely upon.

It’s like taking a set of golf clubs to a cricket match. The ideal equipment is more appropriate to achieve ideal results.

Understanding the difference is a good place to start preparing.

When you are saving for retirement, you may have concerns about the movements of markets, but you have the benefit of your income and time to potentially offset this risk.

In retirement, you have more risks to confront such as:

1. How long your money will last (longevity risk)

2. Withdrawal rate risk (taking too much may reduce your balance quickly)

3. The order of returns (a sudden drop in returns early in retirement can be devastating)

4. Volatility of investments (higher fluctuations can impact your balance)

As you approach and enter retirement, we believe it is prudent to apply money management techniques that focus upon a ‘return of capital’ rather than purely a financial planning focus of ‘return on capital’.

Longevity is only a luxury if you can afford it!

Our ideal client is a person that is seriously considering constructing a comprehensive retirement plan, using an evidence-based approach.

Due to the academic nature of our retirement and investment philosophy, the following shared attributes are common for our existing clients:

1.  Generally within 5 years either side of retirement, for example, 55 to 70 years of age. However age is not a restriction. We have many clients retiring later than or even earlier than 55.

2. Combined household (eg. husband and wife) retirement assets of $500,000+  (Note: Our fees apply per household, not per person).

3.  Are respectful of advice, communicate ongoing changes in their life and seek input from a trusted adviser.

4.  Have a desire to learn more about money, so that they can participate in the decision making process, resulting in a clear understanding for financial choices.

5.  We have a high number of clients that have a professional background, ie. Engineers, I.T, Medical and Academic careers. This is likely influenced by our evidence-based, scientific approach that professionals can relate to and feel comfortable with.

Our Retirement Plan Blueprint provides you with a clear understanding and timeline of our meeting process.

Please note that for the year PRIOR and the year AT retirement, we will meet with you TWICE in that year.

This is due to the sensitivity of those 2 years at retirement and the impact it can have on your retirement savings should unexpected events occur.

Yes we are.

David’s ASIC number is 263557 and Sarah’s ASIC number is 282197.  David is also a member of the FPA, AFA, SMSF Association, Million Dollar Round Table and Retirement Income Industry Association (USA). He is also an accredited Retirement Coach.

Previously, David was a joint owner in an Australian Financial Services Licence (ie. IFA Securities).

In 2008 we made the decision to utilise the services of an external company to manage our compliance and ASIC licensing.

Our view is that as advisers, our time is better spent focusing upon modern retirement solutions.

Our vision is to be a leading world-class retirement advice service and this is where we focus our efforts upon each day.

This is why we choose to partner with Millennium3, one of the largest AFSL holders in Australia.

By aligning ourselves with a large business, you gain the comfort knowing that we are regularly audited and you have a large institution to call upon should a significant issue ever arise in the future.

Rest assured, one of the 5 core values of the team is being product agnostic.

We always place the interests of our clients first.

Prior to a meeting with an adviser, you should conduct your own due diligence.

Whether it be reading through website articles, LinkedIn, Twitter or other means.  Having an understanding of their approach to retirement advice will give you a feel for what the meeting is going to be like and whether there is any real advice difference with people aged 35 to those aged 65.

Being prepared with your own list of questions is also handy. We have a number of questions that you can use as a starting point if you like.

Click this link to download your copy of 10 questions to ask an adviser.