Financial Planning

What to Expect

Whether you've previously received financial advice or not, Oakwood can develop solutions tailored to your circumstances. Our financial advisers will assess your financial situation and prepare for you a detailed financial plan, known as a Statement of Advice.

Initial Meeting

The purpose of this meeting is for you and your adviser to get to know each other, discuss your objectives and to reach agreement for proceeding with the preparation of your financial plan. Once a fee estimate has been discussed and agreed preparation of your financial plan can commence.

Please note that your adviser will discuss with you your objectives in general terms at this initial meeting. Only after you have provided full details of your personal circumstances in the Fact Find phase of this process (see below) can your adviser provide you with advice that is relevant to your own specific situation.

Fact Find

To properly consider your needs and objectives and to deliver recommendations which are designed to satisfy your requirements, your adviser will need to obtain from you key facts as to your personal circumstances. A "Fact Find" document will be completed which will record your information, and will be the basis on which the financial plan is prepared. You have the right not to share this information with your adviser (see our Privacy Policy for details). In this case, they are required to warn you of the possible consequences.

Product Selection

Oakwood utilises independent research and conducts reviews on a large number and variety of financial products offered in the market place. This research is conducted to define an overall "basket" of products for utilisation when implementing financial strategies to your situation to achieve your financial goals. Due to the sheer quantity of available products, Oakwood does not conduct research on all products.

After analysing your needs and circumstances your adviser may then make a recommendation of one or more of these products. If you already have particular insurance, investment or other financial products in your portfolio that are outside of Oakwood's "basket" or potentially suitable products, we will research these prior to making any recommendation about them (within the limits of Oakwood's Services described above).

Your Financial Plan (Statement of Advice)

The report will address the strategies that are considered appropriate for the client's objectives as agreed. Report preparation includes all data collection, research, analysis and investigation that may be required to ensure that your objectives are correctly identified and the strategies needed to achieve the objectives are accurately specified.

Your adviser will explain any significant risks associated with their recommendations, as well as the risks associated with not acting on the recommendations. If they don't, you should ask them to explain the risks to you.

Any subsequent or further advice will usually be provided to you verbally, or you may request a record of this further advice by phoning or writing to your adviser. You have up to 7 years to request such a record. If there has been a significant change to your circumstances we will prepare a new formal Statement of Advice.

Additional Advice

One important aspect of your financial planning is the coordination of your financial affairs between all professional advisers (such as Accountants and Lawyers for example). Where appropriate or required, we will involve all relevant advisers to ensure that your Financial Plan operates efficiently and effectively for the best solution to your overall wealth management and financial planning requirements.

Giving Instructions to Your Adviser

We recommend that clients provide instructions to our advisers in writing by email, facsimile or post. There may be limited circumstances where this will not occur.

Oakwood has a strict policy of not handling client funds. All investment monies and risk insurance premiums must be paid to the product provider or your securities broker in the case of traded securities. Only Oakwood's own service fees (where applicable) are payable to Oakwood Financial Group Pty Ltd.

Ongoing Review

Whilst a critical part of our work is the development of your strategic financial plan and the design of the portfolio, our ongoing review services are also very important.

Our minimum standard requires the preparation of a formal Annual Review to ensure that your current strategies are appropriate for your circumstances, monitor the performance of your investments and make changes to your financial affairs as necessary.

What if I have a Concern or Complaint?

If you have any queries or concerns about our services please contact your adviser first. If you are unhappy with our service or advice we will try to resolve your complaint quickly. We encourage you to contact your adviser and talk it over with them first.

If your complaint is not satisfactorily resolved within three days, contact Oakwood on (02) 4324 9177 or put your complaint in writing and send it to us at:-

The Complaints Manager
Unit 2 3A Racecourse Road
Gosford NSW 2250

We will endeavour to resolve your complaint quickly and fairly.

If you still don'´t receive a satisfactory outcome, you can refer your complaint to the Financial Industry Complaints Service (FICS), an independent complaints resolution service. You can call FICS from anywhere in Australia on 1800 335 405, or write to them at:-

PO Box 579
Collins Street West
Melbourne VIC 8007