Clients need contact at the start of the journey

A senior sales executive at a leading financial services organisation believes financial planners need to engage individuals at the point where their superannuation contributions originate in order to ensure more people in the community are receiving much needed financial advice.

ING head of employer superannuation sales Robert Bergin said: “It’s in the workforce that the relationship with financial planners should begin with all Australians because their retirement savings experience is a journey. At some point they’re going to need advice, so why wouldn’t you get that relationship with a financial planner happening when their money is starting the retirement income journey for them.”

Subsequent to establishing the relationship with clients at this point in time, Bergin feels the services advisers can provide should be delivered on two levels.

He said the first of these levels involve comparing the merits of the different superannuation funds in the market and how the features match up with the needs of their clients. This includes an assessment of the fees that are charged, the appropriateness of the investment options offered by the fund, the fund’s performance on an annual basis, and the level of insurance cover made available by the particular fund.

“The second level of service the adviser should deliver regarding employers super is around the service package to employees. I would argue as a minimum they should be offering investment objective setting, insurance adequacy reviews, rollover aggregation, and some degree of retirement contribution strategy,” Bergin said.

Once deciding to do this, he thinks the biggest challenges facing financial planners is how to demonstrate the value they can add to a client’s situation and how to determine the most appropriate way to charge a client for these services.

In regard to remuneration, Bergin recommended advisers charge an additional personal advice fee for those clients who require a greater level of service.