Others purport to be single independent advisers and yet place all or most client investments onto a platform or wrap service or an independently managed account service. We do not.

At the scale of our business, we have recognised that there are savings to be made for our clients by much of the necessary administration being done locally.

This materially widens the range of investments available to be considered and enables efficiencies in managing client's total cost, which usually has four components; cost of advice, transaction cost, other investment management management cost and administration cost including preparation of information for tax purposes and the compliance requirements for Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs).

While we assist clients make many transactions and are well placed to do this very cost effectively, in most cases our own remuneration is not materially impacted by those transactions or influenced by the nature of the recommendations we provide.

Our fee arrangements with clients are always agreed to in advance. We are very sensitive to the fact that you don't need surprises in this area.

Fees will usually be set at an agreed rate; usually for an initial three year period, and then reviewed annually; or alternatively, be aligned with the outcomes of our advice, on a basis which is agreed upon before implementation of advice.

If you are over 54, and choose to draw a pension, the assets in your superannuation fund are taxed at a zero rate. This is hard to beat, and is a key element that must in our opinion be considered in seeking out optimal strategies.

Further, pensions derived from the superannuation fund are also taxed at a zero rate if you are over 60.

From age 55 until the year you turn 60, a portion of a pension may be taxable; but that portion has an associated tax offset (rebate) corresponding to 15% of the amount that is taxable.

For an individual earning less than $134,000 who is over 54, the decision to pay tax at a rate higher than 16.5% (the rate that applies up to $34,000 taxable income) is a choice; not an obligation.

The use of Self Managed Funds is one of the fastest growing areas of superannuation in Australia.

The term Self Managed Superannuation Fund(SMSF) is in our opinion a contradiction in terms.

We provide comprehensive services to ensure that clients who choose to use SMSFs as a preferred form of owning their investments meet all the compliance obligations required of them by the Government who after all, makes these tax concessions available. Failure to do so can be very expensive. This service is provided for a fixed fee, agreed to in advance.

We believe that a major motivation for the use of a SMSF is the range of available investment alternatives. In simple terms, more ways to achieve the right balance between risk and likely return and to manage your costs if a husband and wife (but in practice up to 4 people) have in excess of $600,000 in superannuation.

This will usually embrace all aspects of your financial life, starting from identifying and challenging your goals, assessing your current circumstances (particularly your consolidated balance sheet and cash flow), evaluating your current strategies to achieve your goals, in the context of the alternatives available to you.

Our financial planners are:

• all university trained.
• have complementary skills,
• work with their support staff as a team
• have a wide range of life experience and
• will call on each other's skills and the skills of external experts

Generally speaking, we believe that the elimination of debt for which the interest is not deductible is one of the most important decisions a young family can make.

Further, that it rarely makes mathematical sense for someone over 40 to have debt for which the interest is not deductible.

However, financial choices are about the amount of equity in your personal balance sheet, and individual circumstances can sometimes relegate such debt clearance to a lower priority.

Otherwise, we believe that judicious use of debt (where applicable) is as much about timing as it is about time-in; that the time to take greater risk is when risk is less than usual for reasons that can be identified and that when greed reigns, whether in the share or property markets, it is usually time to be reducing debt, rather than increasing it.

Timing by definition is seldom perfect, but in the Warren Buffett's words, "It is better to be approximately right than precisely wrong"

We believe that better outcomes are the result of a team commitment & knowledge - not just blind trust