The Initial Consultation

The personal financial planning process is one that begins with defining your needs, objectives and your current situation. Once these are established, your financial planner is able to devise a plan to meet your financial goals.

A financial planner will typically tell you what you need to bring with you to your first meeting. You will also need to fill in a fact finding questionnaire about your current situation and personal details before this meeting takes place.

Pre-meeting Preparation

To assist you in preparing for your first visit to a financial planner, you will need to have the following details on hand:

• Income – your salary details, as well as any dividends or interest

• Expenses – consider annual payments like insurance, groceries, rent, electricity, gas, water, rates etc

• Assets – existing investments, including property, vehicles and shares

• Liabilities – details of outgoings other, including principal residence mortgage and other property mortgages, motor vehicle debt, investment loans, credit card debt and personal loans

A document checklist will be provided to you by an Intellichoice financial planner, so that you are clear on what you need to bring with you to the meeting. Even though you will not require copies of the documentation that details this information (eg. mortgage documents or title deeds), you will still need to provide an indication of the current value of all your assets.