Who is the best professional to see regarding strategy?

Thanks Angel for your kind words. Yes the name came about when I first joined after reading as a non-member, I found this page semi confident in my small amount of knowledge, then I realised how big the property world is and How we are barely at the starting line. But it's all good and enjoyable, and I spend more time reading here than I do my uni set readings - whoops!

 

Thanks New Town, sometimes it's easy to over think and over complicate things.

 

None generally.

 

Why would anyone expect a financial plan for free? That kind of thinking baffles me - they want to create wealth and need advice to do so - but don’t value it enough to pay for it even though the advisor doesn’t get remunerated any other way.
And if they get advice and don’t use it, it’s hardly the advisor at fault. An ongoing mentoring situation would help in that regard.

 

Having previously operated as a financial planner I think people generally don't expect it for free, a plan, but expect it to be very cheap which would not make it worthwhile to do as a business. This is especially the case with property focused investors. Perhaps they are more conditioned by brokers not charging.

Also it seems most woukd rather buy a new property with a kick back rather than pay a fee which is say 10% of the kickback.

I love the financial planning stuff but as a business it just doesn't work for me

 

Because newbies dont understand value. That forces people to get paid by transaction. The nature of property doesnt help. How do you get paid for an investment you buy every couple of years or less?

 

The problem is that most people in just about all professions are average-to-useless, and this industry is worse than most and probably the dodgiest of all industries.
The idea of paying $5,000 without knowing if what you get is worth $5,000 or $50 is the concern. I've seen someone's financial plan that they paid $6,000 for and it was hardly worth $50, and over 90% was just text from their standard template. Absolutely disgusting.

The problem is not in expecting it for free, but expecting it to be worth the cost, Paying $150 and having it end up being worthless is not so much of a problem, but paying $5,000 is a too much to pay when considering how dodgy this industry is and when there is a very high risk that this large amount of money could be more effectively used for wiping your ass with.

 

This is true. I’ve seen the same.

 

@Clueless86 I don't have anything to add, other than to say I find you quite inspirational. You and your family have an amazing achievement, and I look forward to reading more about your success.

 

Years ago I spent 3k on a financial plan, they told me to sell an apartment and take out a margin loan. It was around 2009 so that actually that might have been feasible. I always felt that it was pretty expensive though.

I have heard differing views on whether accountants or financial planners are better for planning SMSF strategy.

 

What did you do with the margin loan and how it did turn out?

 

I didn't act on it, was too far outside my comfort zone a year or so post GFC. I feel like I was not very financially literate then either.

 

Go see Ben Kingsley at Empower Wealth in Melbourne. Half their business is geared towards specific property investment planning with the other half (BA) geared towards implementing the plan in conjunction with their planning division. As ethical and experienced operators as you’re going to find in this space. We’ve had a lot of dealings with Empower Wealth and they’re fantastic.

Mortgage brokers are an incredibly important part of a team and I usually run ideas by mine for input and as a sounding board, but I would never expect them to assist with strategy overall. Their area is too specialised and they’re usually no more qualified to provide advice than your average investor.

 

Therein lies the problem.

I know a great financial planner in Brisbane. Does lots of property deals himself, also a licensed real estate agent so he well and truly understands the space. But he costs money and people seem to be happy to pay for advice on shares but not property.

 

One who is both may be sensible. Strategy needs to encompass all aspects.

 

As someone else said, a Financial Planner, Accountant, Mortgage Broker, Lawyer would be great for clients. BUT not sure how that would work for them from a business perspective.

 

I think 4 is possible but you would need to focus on a particular area - such as estate planning so you cover that from 4 different angles. But financial planning is very costly to run and not many want to pay the high fees which are needed to be licenced.

 

Agreed. Would need to be narrow area across the 3 like TW suggests below