One of the great experiences of being a financial adviser is when you can create change in the financial futures of an entire family.

That’s what has happened recently with the Broad* family. I initially met with Stephen and Sue earlier in the year as they wanted some help with what to do with their super given they were retiring. Turns out they had spent many, many years in expensive super funds and to say they were shocked at how much their fees were going to drop by getting them into a better value-for-money super fund is an understatement.

We were able to model their retirement to show them how much they will be able to confidently spend each year and ensure they have the right money invested in the right investments for the right timeframes. All while paying low fees and utilising the ultimate risk management tool… diversification.

Having realised how much they’d been getting stung with fees during their working lives, Stephen and Sue felt compelled to get their adult children to come and have a chat. They have two children, both are married and both have two children. They are your stereotypical young families in their mid to late thirties… mortgage, trying to juggle work and kids, living the reality of day-to-day life and no real financial plan in place.

I met with both couples in recent months and on the back of those meetings we have got financial plans developed to address the things we can do in the short term (which will make a big difference in the long term) and relationships developed so we can keep building on the available opportunities as they work through different stages of life.

Both couples were the same when it came to super, languishing in the ‘balanced’ super option within their super fund…. The one size fits all approach that is automatically given to everyone if they don’t make their own choice.

Both couples had no real structure to their cashflow, both with no estate planning in place.

They did differ in one area. One couple had been ‘sold’ a ridiculous amount of insurance by the adviser they were encouraged to see when they took out their home loan. The other had virtually no protection in place. We were able to fix up both cases to ensure adequate protection for their families was in place at a reasonable price because no commissions were involved.

All up, the combined projected benefits to the Broad family from the recommended strategies and better value products to implement those strategies is over $1 million!

Good financial advice can change lives for the better. And when that advice is independent, you’ll not only change your life for the better, but your financial future will significantly change for the better too.

Cheers,

Daniel

*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.