New research from Ernst & Young* has revealed that only 20% of people trust their banks to give them unbiased advice that puts their interests first. WHAT? My mind boggles. That means there are actually 1 in 5 people who believe their bank would give them unbiased advice!

And when it comes to advice from a financial planner, the numbers are just as scary. State Street Global Advisers (SSGA) recently conducted an online survey of advisers and clients based in the United States and found that only 33% of clients felt they understood the fees they were paying. The really scary part though… only 53% of the advisers believed their clients understood the fees they were paying for their services. That means HALF of the advisers were happy for their clients to not understand the fees they were paying! With all the financial planning scandals we’ve had in Australia in recent times, you can be sure the results here would be similar, if not worse.

If you are using a financial planner, do you know exactly what you are paying for the advice you receive? Many people still believe the advice is ‘free’ because the fees don’t come out of their bank account, but instead are paid from their investments, super or via commissions.

Question everything! There is no such thing as free advice.

And if you’ve never used a financial planner or chose not to go ahead with their advice… you may well have dodged a bullet. There are now business opening up the landscape to transparent, client-focused advice. At Wealth Train, what you see is what you get!

Cheers,

Daniel

* 2016 Global Consumer Banking Survey