Financial Services Guide
The financial services referred to in this guide are offered by:
Peter Ryan
Essential Financial Planning Pty Ltd
37 Belrose Avenue
Cheltenham, VIC, 3192
The financial services that Peter Ryan offers are provided by:
Essential Financial Planning Australia Pty Ltd
ABN: 95 146 886 035
Australian Financial Services License No: 400439
37 Belrose Avenue
Cheltenham, VIC, 3192
Phone: (03) 9614 1044
This guide contains important information about:
- The services we offer you
- How we and our associates are paid
- Any potential conflict of interest we may have
- Our internal and external dispute resolution procedures and how you can access them
When we give you financial advice – a Statement of Advice – we take into account your current financial situation and future needs.
In the Statement of Advice we will tell you about:
- Our fees and commissions
- Any associations we have with Financial Product Issuers or other parties.
If we recommend to you a particular Financial Product we will give you information about the particular Financial Product—a Product Disclosure Statement—to help you make an informed decision about the Financial Product.
A guide to our relationship with you and others
| Not Independent – Legislative Notice:
We can’t call ourselves independent. Here’s why. The law makes it very difficult for most advisers to say they are independent, unbiased or impartial, even if they are not in any way linked to a financial product provider (like a bank). For example, an adviser may receive commissions from insurance providers. Accepting these commissions allows us to charge very little (if anything) to our clients for the advice or assistance provided to put the policy in place. However, it also automatically prohibits us from calling ourselves independent. So, although we always put your interests before ours when giving advice we cannot (by law) call ourselves independent, unbiased or impartial. |
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Who is my adviser? |
Your Financial Planner will be Peter Ryan (Australian Securities and Investments Commission number 287847). Peter is a member of the Financial Planning Association of Australia Ltd.
Peter is an Authorised Representative of Essential Financial Planning Australia Pty Ltd. If you do not wish to receive our advice, we may deal on your behalf by carrying out your instructions. If you do not obtain advice, you face the risk that the Financial Product/s you select will not fully take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. |
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Who is responsible for the financial services provided?
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Essential Financial Planning Australia Pty Ltd is responsible for the financial services provided including the distribution of this Financial Services Guide (FSG).
Essential Financial Planning Australia Pty Ltd ABN 95 146 886 035 |
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What kinds of financial services are you authorised to provide me with, and what kinds of Financial Product/s do those services relate to? |
Peter is authorised by Essential Financial Planning Australia Pty Ltd to provide Financial Services in;
Please see Attachment 1. (Financial Product Advice, as authorised, through Australian Financial Services Licence No. 400439) Peter can also provide a portfolio monitoring service.
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What information should I provide to receive personalised advice? |
You need to provide us with a list of your personal objectives, details of your current financial situation and any relevant information, so that we can offer you the most appropriate advice possible.
You have the right not to tell us, if you do not wish to. However, if you do not inform us of all your circumstances, the advice you receive may not be appropriate to your needs, objectives and financial situation. You should read the warnings contained in the Statement of Advice carefully before making any decision relating to a financial product/s. |
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What information do you maintain in my file and can I examine my file? |
We maintain a record of your personal profile including details of your objectives, financial situation and needs. We also maintain records of any recommendations made to you.
We are committed to implementing and promoting a privacy policy, which ensures the privacy and security of your personal information. If you wish to examine your file, please ask us. We will make arrangements for you to do so.
For a copy of the Privacy Policy of Essential Financial Planning Australia Pty Ltd, please ask your Financial Planner or visit www.essentialfp.com
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How can I give you instructions about my Financial Product/s? |
You may tell us how you would like to give us instructions. For example: by letter, or other means such as email.
If we provide you with execution-related telephone advice, you may request a record of the execution-related telephone advice, at that time or up to 90 days after providing the advice. |
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How will I pay for the services provided? |
You may pay us a fee. Alternatively, we may receive a payment called a commission, which is paid to us by the Financial Product issuer/s.
Your Statement of Advice (SOA) will include details of these fees and / or commissions received from Financial Product issuer/s. In addition, the SOA details how your adviser is remunerated by Essential Financial Planning Australia Pty Ltd. |
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Does my Adviser receive any other forms of remuneration? |
Your Adviser may receive an alternative form of remuneration. Should this arise and equal or exceed $300 in value, it will be recorded in a public register each quarter. This register is available to you for inspection within 7 days of your request. |
| How are any commissions, fees or other benefits calculated for providing the financial services? | Generally, the payment we receive will be based on the level of service you receive. It may vary from one Financial Product issuer to another.
Details of the payment we receive are contained in the Product Disclosure Statements for most Financial Product issuers available from your adviser. Your adviser can give you full details. If you receive personal advice from us, we will tell you about any commissions, fees and any other benefits, where possible in actual dollar amounts, in the Statement of Advice. You will receive an SOA before we proceed to act on your instructions.
We will tell you in writing in the Statement of Advice what fees we may charge you, when you have to pay, and what payments we may receive from the Financial Product issuer/s. For Standard Fees see Attachment 2. |
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Will anyone be paid for referring me to you? |
Where you have been referred to us by someone else, if we pay them a fee or commission in relation to that referral, we will tell you in the Statement of Advice who will receive that fee or commission and the amount they will receive. |
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What should I do if I have a complaint?
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We treat any complaint we receive seriously. If you are dissatisfied with your experience as our client, we ask that you communicate with us (e.g. by phone, email or in person) so we can try to resolve the issue for you. We’ll do our best to help figure out the background of the matter with you.
We have adopted best practice complaints handling processes to ensure:
If we cannot resolve the issue to your satisfaction within that time frame, we will refer you to the free industry complaints handling body known as Australian Financial Complaints Authority Limited (AFCA). We are a financial member of AFCA, the Government approved External Disputes Resolution scheme. AFCA can be reached at 1800 931 678 |
| We have Professional Indemnity Insurance in accordance with s.912B of the Corporations Act 2001 (as amended). In particular our Professional Indemnity insurance, subject to terms & conditions, provides indemnity up to the sum insured for Essential Financial Planning Australia Pty Ltd and our authorized representatives in respect of our authorization and obligations under our Australian Financial Services Licence. | |
| If you have any further questions about the services Essential Financial Planning Australia Pty Ltd provides, please contact Peter Ryan on 03 9614 1044. Retain this document for your reference and any future dealings with Essential Financial Planning Australia Pty Ltd. | |
| Subject to all statutory limitation periods, our insurance arrangements cover work done under our AFSL by our representatives even when they cease to be our representatives. | |
Attachment 1
Financial Product Advice
Authorised through
Essential Financial Planning Australia Pty Ltd
AFSL No. 400439
| This Licence authorises the licensee to carry on a financial services business to:
(a) provide financial product advice for the following classes of financial products: (b) deal in a financial product by: to retail and wholesale clients. |
Attachment 2
Standard Fees
Initial Consultation
Initial one-hour consultation – free of charge – no obligation
This consists of an interview with a financial adviser from Essential Financial Planning, in our office for a period of one hour. During this time, you and your adviser should be able to determine your goals and verify whether or not further work or discussion is required to enhance your financial situation.
The adviser may suggest a Statement of Advice be developed detailing your current financial situation and the recommended financial strategies to improve your overall financial status. Should you decide to have a Statement of Advice prepared, a Statement of Advice fee may be charged depending on the time and complexity of the advice to be provided. Any fee will be detailed in a letter of engagement, requiring your acceptance, prior to the commencement of work.
Ongoing Portfolio Management Service
This service provides you with constant and detailed management of your entire portfolio. We will provide you with the following information on a regular basis as agreed. All documentation will be sent to us regarding your portfolio. All meetings, transactions, switches and changes will be processed by our office as part of the package, which also includes the following services;
- Asset Allocation Reporting
- Transaction Reporting
- Economic Commentaries
- Newsletters
- Research on request
- Any phone calls, emails and letters discussing existing portfolio
- Online access to portfolio
- The charge of this service varies depending on the value of your portfolio as follows
- $500 (plus GST) minimum fee
Personal & Business Insurance
A commission for new insurance business completed is paid by the insurance company and varies between 0% and 60% (plus GST) of the first year’s premium payable. A renewal commission may be paid by the insurance company on the subsequent years annual premium and this varies between 0% and 20% (plus GST) of the annual premium payable.
Alternatively, a flat fee may be charged which will can be offset by any commissions payable.
Occasional Service Fees
Occasional service charges will vary according to the time taken to process a request from a client, where there is advice or services that are outside scope of the existing ongoing service or no ongoing service is being provided. We may charge Occasional Service fees. Prior to any work being undertaken, a letter of engagement of cost to complete the task will be provided for acceptance. This service could range from:
- change of address
- switch investments within an existing portfolio account
- phone call query
- Centrelink update
- opening a share broking account
- ad-hoc investment purchases
Fees disclosed in this schedule are payable to Essential Financial Planning Australia Pty Ltd. All financial products have their own Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) disclosing their own associated fees, which will be provided with the Statement of Advice (SOA).
