An Intro
oductory Notte on the Fin
nancial Serviices Guide or FSG (also k
known as a FFinancial Serrvices and Cred
dit Guide or FSCG): A large n
number of ad
dvisers tend to view the FSG as a neccessary burden that has tto be compliied with. Howeveer, if utilized and designed correctly, aan FSG can aalso be a veryy effective m
marketing and commun
nication tooll! In all insstances, an FFSG MUST be
e provided PPRIOR to anyy advice bein
ng provided. Please reefer to the FFSG from ANZZ Financial PPlanning. FSG's must also be u
updated whe
en things of m
material natu
ure change –
– for instancee if the advisser is owed to provvide advice o
on gearing, oor is no longe
er allowed to
o advice on liife insurance
e, these now allo
facts mu
ust be reflectted in the relegant sectioon of the FSG
G. Similarly, if the adviserrs dealer gro
oup has a re‐structture and chaanges an ABN
N or a compaany name orr there is a ch
hange in how
w fees are ch
harged etc, then
n this too mu
ust be reflectted. It is for tthese reason
ns that an FS
SG must havee a version n
number and a daate and this iis usually pla
aced as a foooter in the FSSG It is imperative that advisers nott only note thhe date on w
why they provided an FSG
G to a client, but also the verssion number of this FSG. This is a legaal requireme
ent! When presenting th
he FSG it sho
ould be ‐ 

Explained to
o the client –
– i.e. what is it and why iss it being pro
ovided etc. The next steeps, if applica
able – i.e. aftter this intro
oductory mee
eting, we couuld go over a
a financial fact find & inve
estment risk profile and tthen provide you with a TTerms of utually accepptable, we co
ould provide
e you with a SStatement o
of Advice Engagementt. Then, if mu
and; if theree is any product advice yoou will get a Product Discclosure Stateement ( PDS)) The FSG would also illustrate the
e following:



What Types of services yyour businesss provides and does not provide mended product list) What products you may be restricte d to (recomm
ussed (note, the fees willl be in the form of a tempplate – i.e. itt would Fees in geneeral are discu
be acceptab
ble to state w
words to the effect that ““fees would b
be charged oon an hourly rate of between $0 to $220 perr hour, inclussive of GST”. Or alternativvely, if theree is going to b
be a …the commission on implementing innvestment ad
dvice commission, you could sstate that “…
would vary ffrom 0% to a
a maximum oof 5%...” You
u need to pro
ovide an exam
mple – i.e. you need to also statee words to th
he effect “If yyou were to invest $200,000 and the commission
n was 1%, this meaans $2,000 w
would be dedducted from the amount invested an d paid to your adviser.” Diplomaa of Financiall Planning ‐ 2
2012 
The above ggeneric appro
oach is necesssary, since tthe FSG is provided at th e start of the
e process, when you are u
unclear as to what the client wishes to do or how
w you could assist the de exact costting of your service as yo
ou do not knoow what serrvices client, you cannot provid
are to be pro
ovided at thiis time and w
what if any p
products mayy be approprriate to the cclient ‐ if at all. od time to rea
assure the cllient that all costs will be
e fully disclossed in a stateement of Thereforre this is goo
advice th
hat will be provided to th
hem prior to any implementation. For instance, bby that stage, you will know exxactly how m
much is to be invested or what advice
e is to be provided and thherefore the SOA would have the exacct cost (both in dollar terrms and as a percentage,, if applicablee) of the servvice and/or aadvice. The stattement of ad
dvice will be p
provided at tthe next meeeting ‐ at whiich the clientt will be ablee to say they agrree or not to any strategyy. Lastly, th
he FSG should discuss: 



our conflicts of interests oor relationsh
hips such as o
other busineess held with
hin your What are yo
business or contracts you have that may influencce any decisiions you makke. Your complaaints handlin
ng services innternal and e
external Privacy policcy and how yyou will use aany informattion collected A bit of relevvant backgro
ound informaation about yourself – i.e
e. your educaation qualificcations and experience and the reason(s) yoou have chossen to be a financial plan ner. Diplomaa of Financiall Planning ‐ 2
2012