Our Approach To Fees
Our practice works on the basis of agreeing fees in advance with you.
We acknowledge client needs vary considerably and vary our fees accordingly. All fees are discussed and agreed prior to work commencing and outlined in detail in your Statement of Advice.
Our approach on pricing is to provide full flexibility to suit client requirements.
Fees for our retirement planning, superannuation and investment advice services are based on strategies tailored to your circumstances.
Strategies are tailored to your circumstances and our process is totally transparent from the fee structure, agreed with you in advance, to our recommendations and to their implementation.
We receive commissions for our insurance advice and our home & business loan brokerage directly from the product provider.
Our Fees
Our fees are structured as follows:
Personal Financial Advice
When we first meet and discuss your situation and your needs we have a basis on which to agree on the “scope of advice” (the areas in which you require advice). This allows us to outline and discuss the fees as they apply to your situation and obtain your agreement before proceeding.
Personal Financial Advice comprises three stages:
the initial set-up of your plan,
the implementation of your plan
and the ongoing monitoring and revision of your plan. Our fee structure differentiates according to your needs and the complexity of your case.
- Initial Advice Fee
- This is a one-off fee charged for the initial set up of your long term financial plan. Our fee is based on the agreed “scope of advice” and the amount of time required to understand your needs and the complexity of your financial situation.
- Initial advice includes data collection, research and analysis, strategy development, Statement of Advice preparation, documentation, administration, meetings with you, and other communications.
- Our initial advice fees are based on a fixed dollar amount ranging from $800 to $10,000 plus GST.
- Implementation Fee
- The implementation of an agreed long-term financial plan requires meticulous attention to detail and, in many cases, requires us to work closely with multiple product providers to accurately and efficiently set-up your plan according to your wishes.
- For this reason we may need to charge you a fee to implement the financial plan we have prepared and agreed to by you. Of course some plans require minimal implementation and therefore our implementation fee ranges from $0 to $5,000 plus GST according to complexity. See also – Ongoing Service Fees.
- Ongoing Service Fees.
- We encourage clients to participate in regular reviews to ensure their financial plan remains current and changes according to changing needs. In most cases, a comprehensive financial plan will remain effective for many years.
- Reasons for having to revise a comprehensive financial plan may include:
- legislation changes; and/or
- changes in your personal circumstances (for example – your health status, marriage, children, divorce, change of job/careers, redundancy, relocation etc).
- Our Ongoing Service Fee is transparent and the services it covers vary according to the number of services and their complexity and includes as applicable to your situation, the cost of strategy development, investment advice, portfolio advice, superannuation advice, insurance advice and insurance implementation, all documentation and administration as well as meetings and telephone and email contact as appropriate. Implementation of non-insurance ongoing advice is usually included but may require a separate fee in special, agreed circumstances.
- When we form an ongoing client servicing relationship the annual fee for service varies with the level of service required and the fee we charge will be based either on a percentage of your portfolio or a flat dollar amount and ranges from $600 to $10,000 plus GST.
- Ongoing service fees may be paid directly to us or via your investment or superannuation vehicle. It is an annual fee which may be paid monthly, quarterly or annually according to your preferences for the required maintenance of your financial plan.
- Our ongoing service fee structure is outlined in detail in the Ongoing Service Agreement which we put in place with you.
Aged Care Services
We can assist you in navigating the complexities of Aged Care Services. Costs vary according to circumstances and will be fully discussed and agreed with you before you need to commit to receiving our advice.
Transaction fees
We do not charge a fee for this service
Free Information Meeting
Our Free Information Meeting is a 1-hour one-on-one get to know each other session. (No personal financial advice can be provided during an information meeting).
Personal Financial Consultation Session
This is generally appropriate if you have a specific question or request that you would like us to help you with and it lies outside a normal scope of advice. Our fee is $250 plus GST per hour and the session typically lasts for 1 to 2 hours.
Or a combination of the above depending on what best suits you and is agreed between us. You will be invoiced directly for these fees and may elect to pay Sentry directly or have these fees deducted from your investments.
Financial Hardship cases
These are free of charge
Commission
Product providers may pay a commission directly to Sentry for some financial products. Commission payments may be either initial or ongoing.
Initial commissions are generally a once off payment made when new business is placed or additional contributions are made to a financial product. Ongoing commissions are paid whilst you hold the product.
Where possible we may agree to refuse to receive these commissions, rebate these commissions to your account, or use the commissions to offset some or your entire agreed fee for service.
- Commission on Life Insurance Products
- Initial commission may be up to 66% of the initial annual premium. Ongoing commission may be up to 50% of the ongoing annual premium. Should you cancel an insurance contract within the first two years the Adviser reserves the right to invoice you an amount equal to the costs incurred as a result of the provision of financial services to you
- All commissions are exclusive of GST.