further advice soa guide v5 - mlc australia · for planner use only, not for public distribution...

AdviserCentral

Further Advice Statement of Advice Creation

Release 5

Table of Contents

i.) INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 1 QUALITY ADVICE ................................................................................................................................. 1 PREREQUISITES..................................................................................................................................... 1 THE 6 STEP PROCESS FOR COMPILING A FURTHER ADVICE STATEMENT OF ADVICE............................ 2

UPDATE CLIENT PERSONAL DATA .................................................................................3 UPDATE CLIENT PERSONAL DATA........................................................................................................ 3

UPDATE INVESTMENT & INSURANCE DETAILS .........................................................4 UPDATE INVESTMENT & INSURANCE DETAILS ..................................................................................... 4 STEP 1 - CONFIRM CLIENT’S INVESTMENT DETAILS ARE ACCURATE .................................................... 4 STEPS 2 – CONFIRM CLIENT’S INSURANCE DETAILS ARE ACCURATE.................................................... 5

ASSESS CLIENT’S STRATEGY & PORTFOLIO...............................................................7 ASSESS CLIENT’S STRATEGY & PORTFOLIO ......................................................................................... 7 ANALYSE ASSET ALLOCATION............................................................................................................. 7 ASSESS CURRENT STRATEGY ............................................................................................................... 8

REFINE INVESTMENT STRATEGY ...................................................................................9 REFINE INVESTMENT STRATEGY .......................................................................................................... 9 MAKE MINOR AMENDMENTS ON EXISTING STRATEGY (WITHOUT CASHFLOW PROJECTION) .............. 9 MAKE AMENDMENTS ON EXISTING STRATEGY (WITH CASHFLOW PROJECTION/S) .............................. 9

SELECT REQUIRED TEMPLATES & CREATE DOCUMENT.....................................10 SELECT REQUIRED TEMPLATES & CREATE DOCUMENT ..................................................................... 10 USING THE WORD WRITER TO CONSTRUCT A FURTHER ADVICE STATEMENT OF ADVICE ................. 10

CUSTOMISE & EDIT REPORT ..........................................................................................15 CUSTOMISE & EDIT REPORT............................................................................................................... 15

For planner use only, not for public distribution AdviserCentral Training

©ThreeSixty SoA Solutions July 2008 Further Advice Statement of Advice Guide Page 1

Introduction

Introduction The Further Advice Statement of Advice is one of the main reports that can be used as part of the Managing Client Reviews component of your ongoing service offering. Where major amendments are recommended you will need to prepare a new Statement of Advice (incorporating a financial plan) The Further Advice SOA can be used for your Ongoing Service and Non-Ongoing Service client groups respectively. Please refer to your Licensee Standards for a more detailed description of the report.

.

The Further Advice Statement of Advice templates within Adviser Central provide you with a framework for preparing the document, which addresses the client’s lifestyle goals with reference to their changed circumstances. Please note that you will have to edit the document in order to tailor it to your client’s particular situation.

This guide aims to outline the process of creating a Further Advice SoA using AdviserCentral. Within this guide we have provided details of the steps that you should take to review the client’s situation prior to creating the Further Advice SOA, as well as the implementation of any refinements to the recommended strategy, and the preparation of the document.

Quality Advice

The elements of the Quality Advice Programme highlight other considerations that are required within any Statement of Advice, and should always be incorporated to ensure that advice is holistic, comprehensive and appropriate to the individual client’s circumstances.

• Refer to Practice Development Manager or State Business Review Manager for further information and assistance with the Quality Advice Programme.

Prerequisites

We have assumed that all candidates have:

• At least an introductory knowledge of AdviserCentral and are able to complete data entry functions without assistance.

• Attended the AdviserCentral Client Review training course.

• An awareness of the Licensee Standards.

• Performed the ‘lodge’ function within the Portfolio Manager since preparing the previous advice.

Regular updates to the client’s portfolio should also have taken place as a result of the Client Update function in AdviserCentral.

AdviserCentral Training For planner use only, not for public distribution


The 6 Step Process for Compiling a Further Advice Statement of Advice



Update Client Personal Data

Update Client Personal Data

The basic details of the client’s personal and financial situation should have been gathered as part of the preparation of the initial advice. As a result, for the Ongoing Service delivery you will not have to update the client’s details and update your database with any changes in the client’s circumstances.

To assist in this process a specific tool has been developed named the Reverse Fact Find. Unlike an ordinary Fact Find document, the Reverse Fact Find is populated with existing data from VisiPlan previous entered into the system. During the review meeting, an adviser can confirm and gather further information relating to changes that have occurred in the client’s circumstances since the last appointment.

The specific areas required to be update are:

• Personal Details

• Goals and Objectives

• Financial Snapshot (including income and expenses)

• Personal and Investment Assets, and associated Liabilities

• Transactions that have occurred without the adviser’s knowledge

• Insurance details

• Estate Planning

• Tax Management Issues

The adviser can also use the Reverse Fact Find to outline any particular topics of special importance that they would like to discuss in the Further Advice SOA.

• Refer to tool: Reverse Fact Find

After gathering the updated data, it can be entered into the AdviserCentral Fact Find module by following the normal procedures.



Update Investment & Insurance Details

Update Investment & Insurance Details

Before meeting with the client, and making any recommendations with regard to refinements to strategy, it is important to gain an accurate overview of the client’s portfolio. To achieve this you must first update the investments held.

You may have originally entered in the client’s portfolio using a combination of investments that could be found within the products database (‘system’ investments), as well as User Defined Investments. The ‘system’ investments should be automatically updated from the AdviserCentral Update function, however ‘User Defined Investments’ will need to have their unit holdings / values reconfirmed.

Step 1 - Confirm Client’s Investment Details are accurate

Click on “Portfolio Manager”, and confirm details of the client’s investment portfolio are accurate and up to date.

If you wish to change/edit any of this data, highlight the particular asset, right click with your mouse, and select “View/Modify Investment” from the right menu bar.

To modify the investment detail/s, click on “Modify” and edit accordingly.



When finished, click on “Save” and then click on “Close”.

Click on “File” and select “Close” to return to VisiPlan main screen.

Steps 2 – Confirm Client’s Insurance Details are accurate

Click on “Insurance”, and confirm details of the client’s insurance policy/ies is/are accurate and up to date.

If you wish to change/edit any of this data, highlight the particular insurance policy, right click with your mouse, and select “View/Modify…” from the right menu bar.



To modify the insurance policy detail/s, click on “Modify” and edit accordingly.

When finished, click on “Save” and then click on “Close”.

Click on “File” and select “Close” to return to VisiPlan main screen.



Assess Client’s Strategy & Portfolio

Assess Client’s Strategy & Portfolio

After reconfirming that all investment and insurance details are accurate and up to date, the investment strategies currently in place may need to be reviewed in relation to any changes in the client circumstances and/or lifestyle goals identified. You then need to consider how these changes impact existing strategies and how they can be amended to cater for the new position.

This process of reviewing the strategies can involve qualitative aspects, such as determining whether the client is still happy with the strategy, and whether any personal circumstances have changed in such a way that may impact upon the strategy.

There will also be quantitative issues, such as whether the strategies previously recommended are meeting the client’s financial goals.

In each case the methodology of the review will need to be tailored to suit the specific needs of each client.

Analyse Asset Allocation

An important measure of the investment portfolio itself, which will be applicable in every case, is the comparison of the client’s actual asset allocation at the time of review to that which is recommended for the client’s risk profile.

By using the Portfolio Manager module in AdviserCentral you can quickly gain an accurate understanding of whether the client’s actual asset allocation at the review date varies from the target allocation, as well as the extent of this variance.

By examining this data you can determine:

• If the client’s risk profile, and therefore target allocation, is still appropriate, taking into account their current lifestyle and financial goals and objectives.

• If the variances of the current allocations from the target are within an acceptable minimum and maximum range.

If the answer to the above two points is “Yes”, then no adjustment of the portfolio need take place.

However, if it is deemed that the variances are not acceptable, then either the investments within the portfolio, the parameters, or both will need to be reviewed to ascertain where and what to re-balance. Comments should always be included in the document to explain why variances exist.



Assess Current Strategy

In order to assess the strategies that are currently in place for the client you will need to create new scenarios in VisiModelPlan for the ‘review position’.

Specifically, after updating the client’s investment holdings and other personal details within the Fact Find module, you should revisit VisiModelPlan to see how the changes affect the projected outcomes compared with the previous position.

In order to do this, the updated client information should be transferred to VisiModelPlan, where our ultimate goal will be to illustrate the new current and proposed scenarios. The process of inputting these changes into VisiModelPlan will be similar to that used for the initial advice.

You can choose which scenarios you wish to compare by using the arrow buttons to add/remove scenarios from the ‘comparison list’. Upon clicking the OK button you will be able to view several different graphs which can be used to illustrate the variances. This will be particularly useful during the review process as you will be able to see how any changes in the client’s position affect the projected outcomes. After assessing the client’s financial strategy and investment portfolio in terms of their stated goals and objectives (as well as any changes that have occurred in their situation) it should be possible to determine whether amendments are needed. This may include such things as increasing or decreasing a regular contribution, or redeeming funds from certain investments to add to other areas of the portfolio.

It is also a good idea to prepare some informal notes to assist you in the discussions with your client. These notes should outline your tentative new recommendations, as well as identifying other specific points you wish to raise and points that the client noted within the Fact Find.



Refine Investment Strategy

Refine Investment Strategy

Following the review meeting, you should have decided upon definite action that needs to be taken in the future, to ensure the greatest potential for continued achievement of their goals and objectives. Where amendments to the client’s strategy have been agreed upon, you will need to record these details in AdviserCentral to ensure that they are translated into the Further Advice Statement of Advice.

Make Minor Amendments on Existing Strategy (Without Cashflow Projection)

After meeting with the client you may have agreed that minor amendments to the client’s financial strategy are needed to keep them on track towards meeting their goals. If the strategy amendment does not require cashflow projection, you can enter these changes directly in “Portfolio Manager” module. This may include redemption of current investments, and the purchase of new investments to bring a client’s portfolio back to within their asset allocation parameters.

The method of entering the portfolio amendments under Portfolio Manager follows the same steps as those outlined for the initial advice preparation.

Make Amendments on Existing Strategy (With Cashflow Projection/s)

If you wish to provide a new cashflow projection within your Further Advice SOA, you will need to create a new ‘proposed’ scenario in VisiModelPlan. The actions that you need to take in ModelPlan will depend on the recommendations you are planning to make. The first step will be to open up ModelPlan and save a new scenario based on the ‘Current Position (Review)’.

Step 1: Retrieve the ‘Current Position (Review)’ scenario: Check the data to ensure it is still accurate, and enter any changes to the client’s situation.

Step 2: Go to the Scenario menu and select Save Scenario As.

Enter ‘Review Position (proposed)’ followed by the date, when you are prompted, then click OK

For the remaining specific steps that should be taken, in terms of entering particular types of transactions in ModelPlan, you should refer to the AdviserCentral SOA Guides & Samples on Adviser Point.

• Refer to tool: AdviserCentral SOA Guides & Samples

After you have entered in the strategy changes for the proposed position you can use the ‘compare scenarios’ function to again illustrate, in graphical form, how your recommendations will affect the projected outcomes.




Select Required Templates & Create Document

Select Required Templates & Create Document

You should now be ready to use all of the information you have inputted to prepare the Further Advice Statement of Advice.

The Further Advice SOA is an extension of existing financial strategy previously provided. The document brings through the client’s current investment and insurance values from AdviserCentral, as well as any other qualitative issues that were discussed at the review meeting. The report will serve as a formal document that outlines the updated advice you have given and it should therefore be compiled in line with your Licensee standards regarding the provision of advice.

Using the Word Writer to Construct a Further Advice Statement of Advice

Further Advice SOAs can be created through Word Writer (under Financial Planning Tools). Within the Word Writer you can access all available SOA templates, and ‘populate’ these templates with the data you have entered into Fact Find and/or Model Plan.

Overall, the process of constructing a Further Advice Statement of Advice and a Statement of Advice within AdviserCentral should be similar, and should follow the same main steps. In both cases the user will select the appropriate Master Report within Report Writer and then use the Format Wizard to populate the figures and tables within the document.

For a more comprehensive guide to creating a Statement of Advice you should refer to the AdviserCentral SOA Guides & Samples on Adviser Point.


Click on “Word Writer” from the VisiPlan main screen. Before opening Word Writer, you are required to close ALL Microsoft Word documents.

A blank page will open in Microsoft Word. Click on “Report Writer” tool bar and “Master Reports Wizard” will open.



Click “Next” to continue.

There are five system templates ready to be used. Select the appropriate “Further Advice SOA” template based on your recommended advice / amendments.

After selecting the appropriate template, click on “Next” to continue.



On this screen, you can rearrange, insert and/or remove the pre-arranged templates, where appropriate.

To rearrange templates’ order, you need to highlight the specific template and move the template using “Move Up” and “Move Down” in the centre of the window.

You can also insert and/or remove templates by highlighting specific template and click on “Add” and/or “Remove” in the centre of the window.

Click on “Next” to continue.

To start merging VisiPlan Data onto the Further Advice SOA Template, click on “Format” to open “Report Writer – Format Wizard”. Click on “Next” to start the process.



Follow the instructions; click “Run” under “Word Writer” to replace codes.

Click on “Yes” to confirm your action for replacing codes with values.

Once Word Writer has completed replacing codes with values, click “Next” in “Report Write – Format Wizard” to continue.



The “Corporate Authorised Representative” screen will appear. Edit/Modify details if required. When finished, click on “Next”.

Click on “Next” to apply formatting to the report.

Once formatting is completed, click on “Close”.



Customise & Edit Report

Customise & Edit Report

By this stage, the framework for your Further Advice SOA will have been created and the last stage will be to customise the report. The prompts that appear in red throughout the document have been inserted to guide you through some areas of completing the report, however, they SHOULD NOT be viewed as an exhaustive list of options when completing your Further Advice SOA. While you are working within the Word Writer you should remember the following key points:

• As with any MS Word document you should continue to save at intervals throughout the customisation process.

• Where table data is irrelevant for the selected client, the table will be deleted in the formatting process, however the table headings will still appear As a result, you should ensure that you delete the headings.

• Please ensure that you delete ALL the red prompts (e.g <<prompt text>>) before you finalise the document. These have been inserted to remind you of important issues, they should be deleted before presentation to the client.

• You should also ensure that any red example text (e.g. <<example text>>) that you wish to include within the document should be converted to black before completing the document.

• When you Exit, all your other MS Word documents will be closed as well. You should therefore ensure you save any other documents that you have open before clicking the Exit button.

Please refer to your Licensee Standards and Quality Advice guidelines for further information on completing the Statement of Advice.

Disclaimer

This publication is produced by ThreeSixty, a division of GWM Adviser Services Limited ABN 96 002 071 749, solely as an information service for financial advisers within the National Australia Group and other financial advisers supported by ThreeSixty. It has not been prepared taking into account any person's particular investment objectives, financial situation or individual needs. It should not be relied upon as a substitute for financial, accounting, legal, tax or other specialist advice. Reliance should not be placed by anyone on this publication as the basis for making any investment, financial or other decision. This publication is based on information considered to be reliable, on Three Sixty’s understanding of Government press releases, legislation and other publicly available information at the date of publication. Opinions constitute our judgement at the time of issue and are subject to change. Neither ThreeSixty nor any of the National Australia Group , nor their employees or directors give any warranty of accuracy, nor accept any responsibility for errors or omissions in the publication. The source document for each article is included and users of this publication should refer to that source for further information.

further advice soa guide v5 - mlc australia · for planner use only, not for public distribution...

Documents