Today I thought I would change a topic a little and discuss with you an interesting article that I read the other day titled: Why do investors keep their financial advisers around? Well, before I discuss this article and the research findings and my view from many years of providing financial planning service and advice, I would love to know what your answer to this question is. and please do not make any changes to your answers after having watched the video till the end. You might be surprised about the findings. My name is Katherine Isbrandt from About Retirement. I am Certified Financial Planner, and you are watching About Retirement TV, the place to gather all the information you need when you are preparing for your retirement or if you have already retired and would like to improve your financial outcomes for a better quality of life during your retirement. So today we are talking about why some investors, in my case people preparing for retirement or those how have already retired, why would they decide to keep an ongoing relationship with the financial planner year in and year out? Here are the findings by the Morningstar research: 5. 9% of respondents said that they continue their relationship with the financial planner because of a specific financial need or goals that they have, therefore a financial planner can perform specific financial transactions as needed for clients to reach that specific financial outcome. 4. 12% of respondents said that they work with a financial planner because of returns: “He/She makes me money” 3. 16% of respondents said that they are working with a financial planner for guidance, to confirm the financial step that they want to take and that those steps are correct and beneficial for their future financial outcomes. This could be during the time of stress and most certainly preparation for the time of retiring from work and going into a little bit of the unknown retirement territory can be stressful and daunting, especially not knowing the best financial set up, I’m not sure if you have enough funds to continue your life into your retirement at the lifestyle level that you envisaged. 2. 22% of respondents said that the reason they continue working with the financial planner is the quality of advice provided, such as consideration of things that otherwise maybe would not have been taken into equation, a good example is tax minimisation, government benefits and maximising government benefits, creating investment portfolios, dealing with market volatility, paying attention to your estate planning needs. 1. The biggest number of respondents – 37% said that the main reason for working ongoingly with a financial planner is a Peace of mind, for example if a person feels discomfort handling own finances, and trusting the financial planner has the ability to work for the best interest for the client. And honestly, I believe this is a spot-on reason, I never promise my clients the best returns, how can I? this is outside of my control, and if anyone promises such a thing, think hard what is the reason for such a promise and what is the probability of delivering that promise? But just because I don’t promise the highest return, does not mean that the returns are poor or mediocre, actually you could ask some of my clients and they will tell you that investments returns have been more than satisfactory. What I can promise is that I will always act in the best interest of our clients. I will always be available for assistance; I will always try to find the way to improve your financial situation or your outcomes. Those are the things that I can control, as they are based on my knowledge, expertise and experience. Markets, I cannot control, and nobody can, not even the biggest superannuation fund as per one of my latest videos: ‘AustralianSuper makes a monster investment loss’ So how does your answer compare to those of Morningstar research? What would be your reason to keep your financial planner around? I hope you found this Morningstar research findings interesting and thought provoking. If so, please give this video THUMBS UP and SUBSCRIBE to my channel not to miss any of my future videos. And if you would like to learn more about finances and how to be retirement ready, please visit my website AboutRetirement.com.au, where you will find 100s of articles, videos, calculator, eBooks to keep you busy and learning. And when you are on my website, please sign up to the Newsletter that will keep you updated with all the changes that can impact your retirement. If you would like to see what working with the financial planner is all about, on my website there is a button BOOK A MEETING that will take you to my personal calendar where you can book the day and time when we can meet and discuss your personal needs, strategies or goals to see how you are travelling when preparing for your retirement or during your retirement. And now, please watch that previously mentioned video: ‘AustralianSuper makes a monster investment loss’ as you can see, financial losses can happen to anyone. The second recommended video is last week’s ‘What’s new with Age Pension’ all the update you need to stay updated with the Australian Age Pension rules. I will speak with you in my next video. Bye