WARNING

 The contents of this website DO NOT constitute Personal Advice as the author has not taken the reader’s objectives, financial situation or needs into consideration. The author’s commentary is provided for your GENERAL USE only, regardless of what information we may hold in relation to you, should you already be a client of Wealth & Security Planners or its affiliated business.

Save for any liability which cannot be excluded, and any rights which a person may have under the Trade Practices Act 1974 and similar laws, the author, WSP Financial Services Pty Ltd (“WSP”), its directors, employees and agents do not warrant the accuracy of the information provided.

Neither the author, nor any person or entity associated with the author or WSP, will accept any responsibility or liability for any action you may take based on these musings.

The author believes the information provided is correct as at the time of compilation. Neither the author or WSP will accept responsibility for any loss or damage which may be suffered by any person, directly or indirectly, through that person’s dealings based on the information provided, whether that loss or damage is caused by any fault or negligence on the part of the author, WSP or otherwise.

Further clarification, warnings, disclaimers and important information is set out below.

WHO is responsible for this site? 

We are. “We” are WSP Financial Services Pty. Ltd. (ACN 079 487 317), trading as Wealth & Security Planners - holders of Australian Financial Services Licence No. 237463.

• Australian law requires the provision of a Financial Services Guide (appropriately referred to as an “FSG”), which sets out the key things that you should know when dealing with any provider of financial advice. You can get a copy of the FSG by clicking  here.
• We value your privacy and you can read our Privacy Statement by clicking here.
• As for “me”, my name is Michael O’Hara and i am an authorised representative of WSP Financial Services Pty. Ltd. You can read my Advisor Profile by clicking here.

Having said all of that, it is important that you remember the key point, and understand that this site is not intended to provide advice at all. It is an avenue for sharing commentary on financial matters but at no stage should you consider anything covered, stated or mentioned as being advice to you. Here is the sternly worded Disclaimer (it’s importance requiring the honorific of a capital “D”). Please read it carefully. It is important.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Welcome to the WSP Pty Ltd (“WSP”) website. We have created this website for your use and enjoyment. By accessing or using this website, you agree to the terms of use of the website as set out below. We may change the terms of use at our discretion and without notice. By continuing to use the WSP website you accept the terms of use as they apply from time to time.

• Your use of the website or receipt of any information from WSP from this website does not create a financial adviser-client relationship between you and WSP. This website is intended to only provide a general guide on matters of interest, without the assumption of a duty of care by WSP. The summary is not intended to be or nor should it be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice. You should not act, or refrain from acting, on the basis of information contained in this website, without first seeking professional advice.
• Under Subsection 949A(2) of the Corporations Act, WSP has an obligation to warn clients that the information contained on this website does not take into account their objectives, financial situation or needs. If any information on this website can be construed as advice, you are advised that:
  • - this advice has been prepared without taking account of the client’s objectives, financial situation or needs; and
  • - because of that, the client should, before acting on the advice, consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to the clients; objectives, financial situation and needs; and
  • - if the advice relates to the acquisition, or possible acquisition, of a particular product – the client should obtain a Product Disclosure Statement relating to the product and consider the Statement before making any decisions about whether to acquire the product.
• If you are in any doubt, please contact WSP to discuss this further with an Adviser.
• WSP is under no obligation to update any information or materials on this website nor to ensure that the information is either accurate or complete. WSP excludes, to the maximum extent permitted by law, all express and implied warranties of any kind in relation to the information contained in this website.
• WSP’s website is linked to other websites over which WSP has no control. WSP makes no representations about the accuracy of information contained on those websites. WSP is not liable for the contents of those websites.
• WSP, its directors, shareholders, staff and authorised representatives may have interests in, or receive a financial benefit from, the promotion of the securities and other financial products which are the subject of information contained on this website.
• Copyright in information contained in this website is owned by WSP. For permission to reproduce any information please contact WSP on 08 9476 1000.
• This site allows commentary from readers. We reserve the right to edit or delete any such commentary, without reference to the person submitting it. Any comments considered abusive or inappropriate will be deleted and registration as a member of this site will be cancelled without notification.
• To ensure that any member registrations are valid, we may contact a registered member on their nominated email address, seeking confirmation that the email is genuine. If we do not receive an appropriate response then that member registration will be cancelled without additional notification. 

 See, it must be important – because it is printed in red. In fact, it is so important that we’ll go through what it means in a bit more detail.

The only time information can be considered advice is if it accounts for all of the following:

1. Your specific and clearly delineated financial objectives,
2. Your existing financial assets and liabilities,
3. Your existing income and expenses – both personal and investment,
4. Your “risk profile” (read : your preferred balance of risk/return),
5. Any expected changes to any of these items.

The advice that is provided to you should reflect adequate research into these areas as well as appropriate investigation into the impact of :

1. Legislation,
2. Tax,
3. Inflation,
4. Economic conditions and outlook,
5. Capacity (both asset and income based),
6. Available investments to meet your objectives.

Ideally, any such advice would consider the various alternatives available to you, weighing them for suitability.

As you would see from this listing, there is no way that full and appropriate advice can be delivered on a wholesale “broadcast” basis through a website such as this.

There is such a thing as “limited advice” (no honorific capital letters required, although you may note that it has received bold type). In this case, you can direct the person/group providing you with advice to limit that advice to a specific area – such as share investment or insurance or retirement savings etc.

Limited advice carries a risk to you though. Under limited advice, the liability for the person/group providing that advice is also limited. There is still the requirement for due diligence and research but there is not the requirement to find out all of your financial details. Only details relevant to the specific area being covered are required from you. And here is the problem… There may be an issue which applies to you that would not normally be covered when advising in that specific area . If you do not raise it then there is the possibility that it would alter the advice provided. Can you spot the problem? The advice provided to you (without the benefit of the knowledge of that issue) may turn out to be wrong. If it was not reasonable for the provider of that advice to seek out that particular issue then it would be difficult to prove that the advice provided was inappropriate. Hence, your redress would be limited or nil.

This is the reason that legislators are not so keen to see the provision of limited advice flourish. It leaves a lot of holes for unwary consumers to fall through, and that unscrupulous advisors can take advantage of.

Is it already a case of “too much information”?

If it is then you may not be taking your financial issues seriously enough. Financial strategies and actions should not be based on the latest marketing “sound byte” issued from the media department of an institution nor should they be formed around the well-worn sales pitch of a trained representative. No, your financial strategies and actions should be based around a clear understanding of who is taking what risks and, what biases are underlaying the advice provided.