Professionally, Wilfred Ling is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC). The ChFC designation originates from The American College established in USA since 1927 as an accredited, non-profit education institution providing graduate and professional education. The ChFC is a designation for Financial Planning Professionals who are:

• Educated – Completed a comprehensive curriculum of 8 subjects namely in

1. Fundamentals of Financial Planning and investments
2. Risk Management, Insurance and Retirement Planning
3. Tax, estate Planning and Legal Aspects of Financial Planning
4. Investment Planning
5. Plan Construction, Practice Standards and Ethics
6. Planning for Business Owners and Professionals
7. Wealth Management and Financial Planning
8. Financial Planning Applications

• Qualified – Passed a serious of examinations (consisting of cumulatively 21 hours), assessments and attended compulsory tutorials.
• Experienced – Have met specific experience consisting of at least 3 years of full-time relevant business experience in financial services and related industries.
• Ethical – Maintained ethical standards prescribed by The American College Code of Ethics consisting of The Professional Pledge & The Eight Canons.
• Knowledgeable - By earning re-certification every two years thereby ensuring  informed on the latest developments in financial services. ChFC holders are required to complete a minimum 30 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits every 2 years.

 As a licensed financial adviser, Wilfred Ling passed the following examinations:

1. Capital Markets and Financial Advisory Services Examination – Rules and Regulations for Financial Advisory Services
2. Capital Markets and Financial Advisory Services Examination – Collective Investment Schemes
3. Capital Markets and Financial Advisory Services Examination – Life Insurance and Invesment-linked Policies
4. Certificate in Heath Insurance (Singapore College of Insurance)

Prior to working in the financial service sector, he worked as a Research & Development (R&D) Engineer for 10 years. He graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering in Second Upper Honors from the National University of Singapore.

The following is a table showing the difference between Wilfred’s professional practice compared with others:

Reason 1: Overheads

Nobody provides advice for free. All advisers charge a fee – either indirectly through commissions or directly by stating the fee upfront. It is impossible for any advisory firm to provide free advice. The fee you pay – either in commission or agreed fee is meant to help offset the large amount of overhead as illustrated below (Note: not drawn to scale):

No, you will not be charged a fee if you speak to me.

Any fees have to be agreed beforehand. The exact nature of the service to be rendered has to be agreed in writing. Unless these two matters are put in writing, I will not and cannot charge fee to clients.

Many prospecting clients want to meet me first before deciding whether to go ahead with the financial service. If they come to my office to “check me out” and to know more about the service provided and as well as to find out about me in person, they will not be charged a single cent.

Before coming to my office, please make an appointment.

Since we charge based on an hourly rate, wouldn’t the fee be potentially unlimited? Implied in the question is the possibility of being overcharged. You will not be overcharged because we will be fair to you:

• Fairness among different clients - It is true that the Initial Planning fee is based on an hourly rate. This is the fairest method as a simple case will mean cheaper than a complicated case. All clients pay according to level of complexity of their own case. There is no cross subsidy among clients unlike a commission based model in which clients who buys products actually subsidizes those who do not.
• Fairness is about reasonable. We will not charge time spent in research that can be recycled for other cases. For example, if the planner spent time reading up on CPF rules, that amount of time spent will not be charged to the client since this research is applicable for other clients. Instead, only time spent on matters that are not-recycleable and non-reusable for other clients will be charged. Reasonable will also mean that we will not overcharge our clients. Remember that it is our duty to enhance our clients’ asset, not reduce it.
• Fairness is about remunerating the financial planner for actual work done. The popular commission-based model adopted by almost all advisers is an unfair method because clients pay commissions in proportion to the type of products bought – not in proportion to the actual service rendered.
• Fairness could also mean that we will not accept certain cases. If we found your case to be relatively complicated in which you will eventually not afford our service, we will inform you upfront that we cannot accept your case.

We received numerous feedbacks that clients would like us to quote a fix fee for initial planning rather than an hourly rate. Since we have not done any work on the case, it is impossible to know in advance what the scope of work is. If we quote a fee lower than actual service rendered, we make a lost. The planner will have to quote a higher fee to other clients to make up for the loss. If we quote a higher fee for others, those clients are being overcharged. Effectively, providing a fix fee for initial planning will result in cross-subsidy problems among clients. In other words, a fix fee rate is an unfair method for the client. The fee that client ultimate pays is wide ranging. Typically a case would require between 10 to 30 hours of work. Based on past cases, the client should budget a four figure sum in fee.

We do not provide cash rebates. Instead, should there be commissions or referral fees, we have the leeway to reduce our fee as credits provided it is legally to do so. The exact classes of products eligible for such credit offsets and the formulae in determining such are provided to the client in writing in the agreement prior to the actual commencement of work. The following is an illustration of how this credit offset works:

Example 1: Fee chargeable = $5000+7%GST = $5350.00
Credit offsets due to commissions = $400
Net fee payable = (5000-400)*1.07 GST = $4922.00

Example 2: Fee chargeable = $5000+7%GST = %5350.00
Credit offsets due to commissions = $6000
Net fee payable = $0 (we do not give cash rebate)

The estimated cost is solely based on the amount of time spent on the case. Based on experience, the following are the estimated time spent for the different life stages:

Young persons / recent graduates – Time spent on the case is less than 3 hours in discussion. Usually they need to be educated on good saving habits, avoidance of insurance saving plans and investment-linked plans. I’ll advice them on obtaining basic medical insurance. This is considered a simple case because they usually have no dependent and no liability.

Couples preparing for marriage or just got married – Time spent on the case estimated 20 – 30 hours. There are two persons here, so actually there are two clients. Common need at this life stage is to have a budget plan for appropriate mortgage quantum so that they will not be overly indebted to the extend that they are not able to afford having a family. These couples will also be required to be counseled on realistic financial commitment as a family.

Parents with growing up children – Time spent on the case estimated 20 – 30 hours. These are usually mid career clients with children in their primary to secondary school. This is the time of significant financial responsibility. Quite often, these clients may be undergoing “mid-life” crisis and often there is some potential career instability during this stage. If clients at this life-stage have not made any retirement plans, it might be too late to do some planning although it is better late than never. Those who are in their mid-career but has not made any plans for retirement may have to be prepared to extend their retirement age beyond the official age.

Parents with children starting their first job – Time spent on the case estimated 20 hours or less. Typically these clients are in their mid 50s to late 50s. There are two kinds of clients. One group are those who have accumulated significant wealth through prudent planning. For this group, the bulk of the work are related to prudent investment planning and ensuring assets are able to outlast a the person. Another group are those who do not have sufficient wealth due to the lack of past planning. For such a group, I am not able to help them. This group faces significant problems such as reduction of salary, lack of energy and health to work for additional two or three decades beyond retirement and as well as being uninsurable.

There are situation in which the case is too complex for me to handle or it requires competency not within my domain. For such cases, I’ll inform the client accordingly. No fees will be charged regardless whether some work has already commenced.

You pay an initial deposit on the first meeting. We will sent you an interim invoice at end of every month until the entire planning process is completed. Payment is to be made by cheque to the company.

Our charges shown on the website are subjected to changes without notice. All clients have to sign an agreement prior to the actual commencement of work. Any changes to the charges will then be subjected to the terms and conditions of the agreement.

For those who are recent graduates, there is usually not much planning required. You can consider Simple Financial Planning which involves insurance planning. There is no need to sign up for Retainer Service because there isn’t much work to be done on an on-going basis.

Later on when you are going to get married you can sign up for the Comprehensive Financial Planning.

In Promiseland Independent Pte Ltd, there are only a few fee-based financial planners.  The rest of advisers in the company are purely commission-based. The manner in which I conduct my advisory service is quite unique both within the company and in the local industry. In Singapore, fee-based advice is in a minority although it is more common in more advanced countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Moreover, the regulator does not mandate all advisers to be fee-based.

There is no sale quota imposed. Many other firms imposed sales quota which if not met could result in either monetary penalty, compulsory detention in office to make cold calls and eventual termination. You should avoid advisers working for such firms as your interest will not be taken care of.

Firstly, it is important to me that my clients are only charged for service actually rendered.

Second, it is important that I have good rapport and relationship with my clients. In the light of this, from experience it is not feasible to dwell in negotiation relating to consultation charges everytime my clients want to consult me.

Thus, I encourage all clients to sign up with the Retainer Service so that they pay a known quarterly fee. In this manner, they would know how much to pay and need not worry about charges everytime they wish to consult me.

For investment products such as unit trusts and life insurance, advice is regulated under the Financial Advisers Act.

For comprehensive financial planning, I am required to adhere to the Code of Ethics consisting of The Professional Pledge & The Eight Canons. Legally, clients’ interests are protected under Contract Law and Law of Tort.

There are countless financial products in Singapore. I do not claim to be able to “sell” everyone of them. As the saying goes “jack of all trade and master of none.” The following are list of product/services which I do not offer. However, I’ll assist my clients who would like some advice or purchase these products by recommending my colleagues who are able to do it:

• All general insurance including fire insurance, motor insurance, third party liability, personal accident, directors & liabilities, travel insurance, pet insurance, credit insurance, etc
• Bank loans market research and referrals

I am authorized to distribute or introduce the following products/services:

For the first appointment, you should bring along the following:

• A signed copy of the “Know Your Client” form. This is the fact finding form as required by regulation. It is compulsory that you fill it up so that you can select the mode of advice – whether it is product advice, specific needs advice or full-disclosure advice. For all cases handled by me, the full-disclosure advice is the only option available.
• A signed copy of the Memorandum of Understanding for Financial Planning. This MOU specify the scope of service, the fee structure and deliverables.
• All insurance policy documents. If you have lost the policy, you should request a duplicate copy from your insurer.
• Latest benefit illustration from your insurers for participating policies. This has to be requested from your insurers as well.
• A copy of the latest investment statements and your Investment Policy Statement (IPS) from your investment adviser (if any)
• A copy of your latest tax statement from IRAS
• A copy of your Will (if any)
• A photocopy of the letter from CPF Board stating your existing CPF Nomination
• A copy of your CPF statements showing the latest balance and transactions over the last 18 months as well as the amount used for investments/property purchase
• A copy of your latest housing loan outstanding
• Copies of the last 3 months of credit card bills
• A copy of your car loan agreement (if any)

All the above will be retain by us for record keeping except for policy documents which will be return when the planning is completed (usually in 2 or 3 meetings).

For clients who wished to invest through me, the minimum initial amount is a lump sum SGD 20,000 for exchange traded funds (ETFs). However, not all the entire amount needs to be invested immediately.

If this minimum cannot be met or for investment using SRS and CPF, I’ll recommend unit trusts for which the minimum is dependent on each unit trust fund’s requirement.

I could also implement regular saving plan (RSP) for unit trusts and exchange traded funds too. The optimum minimum amount for RSP on ETFs is SGD 2,000 per transaction. If this minimum cannot be met, an RSP for this amount every two or three months interval can also be arranged.

Note that I could also advice on clients’ investments on their existing ILPs bought from other financial advisers. However, the client will have to transact these themselves. Fortunately, major insurers these days permit online fund switching for their ILPs without the need to see their agents.

For maximum benefit, it is recommended that you are familiar with the following subjects:

• Time value for money. Advanced time value for money is used throughout the financial plan.

• Differences between the different asset classes namely: cash, cash-equivalent, property, fixed income and equity.

As the company size is quite significant, I often receive queries from those who wants to engage my service but hesitated as their existing financial advisers are from the same company as me. If this is the case, you should seek the consent of your existing financial adviser before engaging me.

I do not provide Will writing service per se. Instead, I provide estate planning service as part of the comprehensive financial planning. In estate planning, I will discuss with my clients on how their assets may be distributed taking into account of the various resources constraint faced by their dependents. After the discussion is finalized, there are three ways which my clients can have their Wills written: