1. Before your first meeting with Optimo
Length of time: a few hours
Before your first meeting with Optimo, you should gather your financial information and identify your financial goals and issues as best you can.
Your financial information should include:
- Your salary
- Other income (from investments, etc)
- Your debts (mortgage, other loans, HELP debt)
- Your super accounts and balances
- Your assets (bank accounts, family home, investment property, shares, managed funds)
Your financial goals and issues could include things such as:
- Planning for retirement
- Paying off your mortgage or other debts
- Saving for holidays or home improvements
- Estate planning
2. Your First Meeting with Optimo
Length of time: 2 hours
In this free meeting we get to know you and your financial situation and give you an opportunity to decide if we’re the right planners for you. We want to understand your financial situation thoroughly before giving any advice, so we will review your information, discuss your goals and go through our financial services guide (FSG) with you. And, of course, we are happy to answer any of your questions.
If you decide to use our service, we will decide what level of plan you require and explain the cost. Then we will ask you to sign a ‘permission to proceed’ form so we can start working on your financial strategy. If you would like some more time, then you can get back to us after the meeting.
To get a general idea of our pricing see the Services and Pricing page.
3. Optimo prepares your financial plan (called a Statement of Advice)
Elapsed Time: about 1 week
Once we have all your financial details (income, assets, debts), your risk profile, the investments you are willing to consider and your financial goals, we use our Pathfinder® software to produce three optimized financial strategies, as required by ASIC regulation. These strategies explore variations on the base information we have - for example, we might compare selling a house in different years. Our Pathfinder® software uses mathematical optimisation to take best advantage of tax rules, government incentives and different classes of investments.
We may liaise with you to clarify a range of matters that our initial analyses may highlight.
We then put all of this information into a complete Statement of Advice (SoA) document and arrange a meeting with you.
4. Optimo meets with you to present your Statement of Advice
Length of time: 1 hour
In this meeting, we will go through the SOA including reviewing the financial details and goals you gave us, the strategies we explored and the one we recommend, including the supporting evidence. It will also outline the fees we charge and any costs associated with implementing the advice. We will answer any questions you have and discuss any changes you wish to make. If you ask us to make any minor changes to the Statement of Advice, we will do so, and then we will give it to you to review and sign. If you ask us to do substantial additional work, there may be an additional charge involved.
5. Optimo will implement the recommendations based on your financial plan (optional)
If you ask us to help you implement your financial plan, such as opening a new investment account or applying for insurance, then your planner will liaise with you to get this done. Optimo charges extra for implementation, so you don’t need to pay for it if you don’t need it. Implementation will also require further payment from you to the product providers (such as insurance premiums or fees); however, Optimo Financial does not receive any of these.
6. Optimo sends you an invoice for the financial advice
Once we have received your signed SoA, we will send you an invoice for the amount we told you on the ‘permission to proceed’ form at the start of the financial planning process. You can pay by cheque (payable to ‘Optimo Financial Pty Ltd) or direct transfer.
7. Review and revise the plan at regular intervals or when circumstances change
If you have also signed up for the on-going service then we will contact you when you are due for a review. Some people’s financial situation will require less frequent reviews, so you are also welcome to come back to us later, even if you haven’t signed up for the ongoing service. If you return within a year, we will give you a fifty percent discount, even if you did not sign up to the initial service.
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