Advice is for “Life’s Defining Moments”
We often get asked about what advice is for and its value. Advice is for many things, but it all comes down to making sense of Life’s defining moments.
It may be difficult to see how this applies so here are some ideas.
Let’s look at product advice first.
Some of these life defining moments are about gaining something – how to get your first home, upgrade your house, where to invest money, how to save money, make sure your KiwiSaver is set up properly and so on.
This seems fairly basic, but at its heart good advice makes this easier and better for you. Good mortgage and house buying advice, gains you an asset you may have for life, and helps you avoid the wrong property. Getting your KiwiSaver set up properly will mean it has a higher balance when you want to buy a home, or retire, or it has less volatility so it’s comfortable for you.
Or it can be about avoiding a pain – for example getting the right insurance now means that when the life defining moment, such death, cancer etc happens, you will be protected. It’s a grudge purchase and there is a lot of information out there, but someone who can guide you with the right advice through getting the cover is key for you.
But where the rubber hits the road is when the Life Defining Moment happens to you.
If its separation or divorce, someone on your side to give you advice and run numbers for you and guide you through to your new life on your own and getting ahead as you rebuild your plan.
If the worst happens, such as death or cancer, loss of work, it’s a person who can be beside you, help you get the claim sorted, manage all the parties involved and then guide you through the financial side of recovery.
Retirement, what to do, how long it will last, how to define your life, and someone to talk to about it all, as you plan the next 35 years of your life.
And sometimes its just to have someone to bounce an idea off, even if you know the answer. Having a person on your side, who can look over your plan or idea, give feedback and suggest things you may not have thought about, to help you either avoid the wrong decision or take away the anxiety for a good decision.
Sometimes its just convincing someone to put a handrail in their house because their mobility is getting harder and helping them find the builder.
People avoid getting advice as they feel it’s a loss of control and the Kiwi DIY approach kicks in.
An adviser can only advise, you make the decision, but having a person who is on your side, who has knowledge you don’t, is not emotionally invested so can see all angles give you advice to help you has a value you will see when Life’s Defining Moments happen to you.
Alan Borthwick CFPCM
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