Australia reached its highest ever number of organ donors in 2011, according to official figures released today by the Australia and New Zealand Organ Donation Registry (ANZOD) and the Organ and Tissue Authority.

“A total of 337 Australians, who tragically lost their lives in 2011, saved or improved the lives of 1,001 people in need of an organ transplant. This is the highest annual total of deceased organ donors and transplant recipients in Australia’s history,” said Professor Graeme Russ, Chair of ANZOD.

Australia’s 2011 donation outcome of 337 donors translates to an increase of an additional 28 donors for the year, above the 2010 outcome of 309 donors. This is a 9% increase above the previous year.

The 2011 total of 1,001 transplant recipients translates to an increase of an additional 70 recipients for the year, above the 2010 outcome of 931 recipients. This is an 8% increase above the previous year.

“2011 marked the second full year of implementation of the Australian Government’s national reform agenda to increase organ and tissue donation. The 2011 outcomes lift Australia’s donor per million population (dpmp) rate to 14.9, an increase of 4.7 dpmp since the commencement of the national reform agenda,” said Dr Jonathan Gillis, National Medical Director of the Organ and Tissue Authority.

The majority of states reported increases in 2011, with the most significant rises being in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. The number of donors per state/territory for 2011 is: Victoria – 107; New South Wales – 77; Queensland – 67; South Australia – 35; Western Australia – 33; ACT – 8; Tasmania – 6; and, the Northern Territory – 4.

There is little doubt that most people can benefit from the services of a good financial planner (financial advisor). However, finding a good financial planner is not easy. These eight questions act as a great checklist. They have been designed to extract more information from the financial planner to help you make a better judgement for what is a very big decision. 

To print a One Page Financial Planner Checklist click The Link below.

DOWNLOAD – ONE PAGE FINACIAL PLANNER CHECKLIST

The seven questions for the financial planner

1. What are the financial planner’s qualifications and experience?

   
   

2. What is the structure of the company employing the financial planner?

   
   

3. What are the benefits for the financial planner by working at the company?

   
   

4. What are the disadvantages for the financial planner by working at this company?

   
   

5. What client experience will be delivered?

   
   

6. What fees will be charged for the services provided?

   
   

7. What if something goes wrong?

   
   

The one big question for you

1. Can I work with this financial planner?

Below we take a closer look at each question. We also provide additional guidance to help you get the answers that you need to make an informed choice.

1.    What are the financial planner’s qualifications and experience?

 All Australian financial planners need to be suitably qualified to provide personal financial planning advice.  They should readily provide their qualifications upon request. He/she will also need to have an Authorised Representative Number and this can be checked against the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) website to confirm that they are properly authorised.

They should also give you a Financial Services Guide (FSG) and this will also provide further information about the financial planner and the company that they work for.

Currently there aren't many qualifications required to be registered as an authorised financial planner. Therefore, to get a real sense to their standard of education you can also ask:

• Do you have a finance degree?

• What did you study last at college/university?

• What training and studies do you currently undertake?

  
  

Qualifications are one thing, but you also want to know about their experience. Key questions include:

• Describe your typical client?

  
  

• How long have you been working as a financial planner?

  
  

• What have you learned most since becoming a financial planner?

  
  

• If a summary of your skills, values and financial planning beliefs were to appear in tomorrow’s business pages, what would be written?

  
  

These questions are simple conversation starters.  However, they  play a pivotal role in establishing a real sense of  who they are and what they do as a financial planner.

2.    What is the structure of the company employing the financial planner?

Most financial planners work for small companies that are operated by the senior financial planner. You’ll want to know if the financial planning company is capable of managing your affairs both for now and in the long term. Key questions to ask:

• How long has the company been in operation?

  
  

• Does it have any outstanding issues such as unresolved client complaints?

  
  

• How long has the core staff been at the company?

  
  

• What will happen when the current company owner(s) exit the business e.g. at retirement?

  
  

• Is the business linked to a major institution and if so, does this create any conflicts?

  
  

Investing for the long term may well be investing beyond the working life of the financial planner. You need to be confident that you will be taken care of when things inevitably change. If the company is linked to a major institution, you need to consider if this will create bias in the advice from the financial planner. However, for many investors being linked to a major institution does provide some level of security.

3.    What are the benefits for the financial planner by working at this company?

Simply ask – What are the benefits for a financial planner working at this company?

They should be able to articulate their answer quite easily. In their answer, you are looking for benefits that find their way back to you as the client. For example, if they say ‘The company provides great facilities and support that allows me the freedom to focus on the client’, that is a good start.

If they are struggling and just rambling on, this would obviously not be a good sign! Worse still, if they say 'That the company pays the best bonuses in town', it’s time to move on to the next financial planner.

4.    What are the disadvantages for the financial planner by working at this company?

Simply ask: What are the disadvantages of working at this company?

Now this is a tough one for the financial planner. Everyone finds it easy to talk about the good but we all know there must be some bad! You are looking for honesty in their answer. If they are honest they will highlight a couple of things such as a restricted range of investments, lack of on-line presence etc.

If they say ‘The business is too strict on its auditing and compliance’, this should start ringing the warning bells. A good financial planner should not be afraid of good compliance procedures and ultimately good compliance is there to protect you as the client.

5.    What client experience will be delivered?

Now we’re getting to the nitty gritty. This is why you are sitting in front of this financial planner. You want to know the WIIFM factor (What’s In It For Me).  After all you are the one paying the fees and you want a return for your investment in this financial planner.

Just ask: What is the client experience delivered by you and the company?

If the financial planner replies ‘It is all about the exceptional investment returns that I get for my clients’, it could be a good time to leave the office.  A financial planner selling future returns is normally selling false hope for all concerned.

You want the financial planner to highlight that the experience delivered is 'all about caring for you as their client'. They will be there to help, assist, facilitate, guide and carefully invest your investment funds. You also want them to act like a good general practitioner (the local doctor), by engaging specialists to assist with all aspects of your finances.

A financial planner that really cares for you will be more cautious and understanding of your situation. They will take responsibility for their actions and work in your best interests. These financial planners are out there, you just have to work a bit to find the one for you.

6.    What fees will be charged for the services provided?

You need to know the fees no matter how much they may care for you.

Ask: Can you give me a schedule of fees for the services that you will provide?

Financial planners should have this schedule.  The financial planner should also be able to provide the scope of their advice (what they are/are not advising on).

It is important to understand that fees tied to your investment account can eat into your investment returns and of course, you won’t get quality advice and service for free either. Your goal is to fully understand the fees and what you get in return for these fees. This way you can compare financial planners and make an informed decision as to which one is suitable for you.

7.    What if something goes wrong?

You need to ask: If something goes wrong and I need to complain, how do I do that?

This information should be in the FSG (see question 1). However, you can also ask these follow up questions:

• What have been the company’s experience for complaints over the past couple of years?

  
  

  
  

• Have there been any long running complaints and if so why?

  
  

You should be getting a flavour of what really happened with the client complaints. The financial planner should be able to highlight a fair process that has been followed for all complaints. If they stumble on their response, treat it as a warning. 

1.   The big question for you - Can I work with this financial planner?

The emphasis of this question for you, is to determine if the financial planner is the right fit for you and, are you the right fit for the financial planner. You should see your relationship as a two way arrangement. You will need to be very open and honest with the financial planner to enable the financial planner to deliver the best advice and service.

They don’t need to be your best friend. An error many people make when seeking a financial planner is to select the ‘friendliest’ financial planner that they meet, without judging the financial planner's ability to deliver the right service.

While you don’t have to like the person, you do need to be able to trust them. Like all good relationships in life, trust will be critical for the relationship to be a success.

If you follow the questions, take notes and consider a number of financial planners, you will be in a much better position to choose one with confidence.

About The Author

Colin Williams is the founder of humble savers, a new website providing practical money saving tips and ideas that work, and a bit of fun!  Colin has over 25 years experience working in senior management roles for some of Australia’s largest financial institutions. 

Resolutions (goals) are an ultimate outcome for a state you wish to achieve in an area of your life. It may be something new you want to achieve, something you want to maintain or even something you may wish to end. When setting new goals, it has to be done with purpose and clarity.

Take the time to write them down and also put them in a prominent position where you can access them and review them on a regular basis e.g. Poster on the wall, on your computer desktop, in an application on your Smartphone – whatever is going to work best for you. It is easy to start out with the best of intentions but even then, there may be some obstacles or roadblocks that delay or lead us off track.

Have you noticed how often you avoid doing a particular task? Why is that? What emotions do you have attached to the outcome? In most instances, procrastination and avoidance are rooted in fear. Do you let yourself be sidetracked by other easier and perhaps more pleasurable activities than those you need to engage in to achieve your goal? If so, break the goal down into smaller steps. It is like a box of chocolates, it would be challenging to eat them all at once but if you do it one chocolate at a time, one bite at a time, you will get there.

As humans we are driven by 3 major types of fear and they are what drive all our behaviour. They are: Fear of not belonging, fear of not being loved and fear of failure. When a goal or a plan does not work out the way you would like it to, you can easily call it a failure. Instead of giving up, ask yourself what you have learned from the experience and change how you do it a little bit and notice how you will get a different outcome.

It is common with people trying to slim down, that the loved ones and friends may ridicule them or dismiss the notions of slimming down and the person who wants to slim down, allows themselves to be sabotaged in this way because of the fear of not being loved or not belonging if they go ahead with their goal. Hard to imagine but some people have a fear of success e.g. “if I increase my sales, how will I be able to keep up?”

Trying new things can sometimes be a bit daunting as they are unfamiliar or may seem a bit strange compared to what you usually do. It is like any new skill we learn, it takes a bit of practice and at times we may feel uncomfortable. Keep going! Take time each day, close your eyes and picture yourself doing the new desired activity, imagine the feelings you will be experiencing when you have successfully completed the goal. The more you do this, the easier it will be.

About The Author:

Lorraine started nursing in 1982. She has always had a passion for learning and discovering more about human behaviour, communication styles and how we interact with ourselves and with others. Over the years this has led her to Counselling, hypnotherapy, Life Coaching, NLP, Time Line TherapyTM and other modalities. Lorraine is also an accredited trainer and consultant in Extended DISC.

Managing the practice in Altona Meadows, Lorraine offers Clarity, Focus and Passion to those who seek to discover more about themselves, gain closure or move forward in perhaps new and unexplored situations.