|
Written by Wilfred Ling
|
|
Thursday, 30 July 2009 |
|
Financial adviser: The phrase “financial adviser” refers to the company that provides the financial services regulated under the Financial Advisers Act (FAA) which include advice and marketing of life insurance and investment products. The phrase “financial adviser representatives” refer to the individual persons representing the firm in carrying out the work of advising and marketing of life insurance and investment products. The FAA focuses mainly in the manner life insurance and investments are sold to the individuals. The FAA set a legal standard which representatives must adhere to. Unfortunately, this standard is very low. Because the standard is so low, those representatives who are able to meet this minimum standard would still have a long way towards obtaining professionalism. Moreover, many consumers would still find the conduct of their advisers to be unsatisfactory despite them able to meet the legal requirements stipulated by FAA as the legal standard is quite low. Financial Planner: In addition to life insurance and investment advice, a financial planner provides a more comprehensive and wholistic financial services including cash flow analysis, balance sheet analysis, tax planning, children’s education planning, estate planning and retirement planning. The planner is also required to adhere to a strict set of process prescribed by the professional standards. However, the work of the financial planner is not regulated by any legislation (other than those specify by FAA). However, the conduct and the work done by the financial planner are judged by the professional standard set by the industry. One of the important qualities of a professional is to be able to surpass legal standards and not just merely fulfilling it. Two professional standards that are common in the industry are Certified Financial PlannerTM (CFP®) and Chartered Financial Consultant® (ChFC®). These professionals are required to fulfill stringent requirements in areas of competency, experience and ethical conduct. |
|
Last Updated ( Sunday, 21 August 2011 )
|
|
|
Written by Wilfred Ling
|
|
Thursday, 30 July 2009 |
|
The benefits of a comprehensive financial plan are: - Provides direction;
- Instills discipline;
- Gives positive emotional health; and
- Creates a future you can look forward to.
The opposite of a comprehensive plan is a piece-meal plan. The dangers of piece-meal plan are: - Directionless;
- Ad-hoc – addressing problems only after those problems suffice;
- Negative emotional health; and
- Uncertain future – you live day by day not knowing what will be happening tomorrow.
|
|
|
Written by Wilfred Ling
|
|
Saturday, 09 January 2010 |
|
Financial advisers and Financial Planners are distinct occupation.
Most financial advisers earn a living by selling products. The “sales cycle” that an adviser employs is usually group into three stages namely: (1) Prospecting or leads generation, (2) Presentation and (3) Closing.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Wilfred Ling
|
|
Thursday, 30 July 2009 |
|
Firstly, it is not true that financial advisers are not planners. Many financial advisers are already helping their clients to do budgeting, tax planning and estate planning. However, this is often done on a “by-the-way” basis and may not be conforming to the professional standards. Secondly, for a comprehensive financial plan to be conducted, it will require significant time and effort. For those who are commission-based may find it not worthwide to do a comprehensive plan for their clients because there is no guarantee clients would purchase products. Moreover, there is a good chance that the output of the plan does not require purchase of products. If the client do not purchase product, significant time and effort to develop the plan would have been wasted. Thus for practical reason, a fee is normally charged to develop a comprehensive financial plan that adheres to the professional standard which the planner subscribes to. |
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 30 July 2009 )
|
|
|
Written by Wilfred Ling
|
|
Sunday, 17 February 2008 |
|
Under the Securities and Futures Act, an accredited investor means (i) an individual — (A) whose net personal assets exceed in value S$2 million (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) or such other amount as the Authority may prescribe in place of the first amount; or
(B) whose income in the preceding 12 months is not less than $300,000 (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) or such other amount as the Authority may prescribe in place of the first amount;
(ii) a corporation with net assets exceeding $10 million in value (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) or such other amount as the Authority may prescribe, in place of the first amount, as determined by — (A) the most recent audited balance-sheet of the corporation; or (B) where the corporation is not required to prepare audited accounts regularly, a balance-sheet of the corporation certified by the corporation as giving a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the corporation as of the date of the balance-sheet, which date shall be within the preceding 12 months;
|
|
Last Updated ( Saturday, 08 August 2009 )
|
|
|
FAQs 
