A Fee-Only financial planner is an unbiased professional whose recommendation is free of conscious and unconscious bias due to compensation differences among financial products. This professional’s expertise lies in devising an achievable financial plan and oversee its implementation by other suitable financial advisors.

A Fee-Only financial planner normally is not registered by any financial regulator and therefore is free to give advice what he truly believes in, unconstrained by the sometimes onerous compliance requirements of financial institutions.

As the saying goes “you get what you pay for” or “there is no free lunch”. Free financial plans are not coming without implied or real strings attached. Financial advisor will devise your “free” financial plan with the hopes that the prospective client becomes their client. And in the majority of cases, people who get their “free” financial plan drawn up by a financial advisor will become his/her client.

Because of the possibly hidden fees, potentially different commission rates and the possibility of the financial institutions preferred and/or limited product range may result in an a sub-optimal asset allocation for you. It is also possible that the hidden and embedded fees you will be subject to by implementing your “free” financial plan may be substantially more than what you could obtain by dealing with a fee-only financial planner and a financial advisor.

A sound financial plan is the most important part of reaching your financial goals.

The main elements of a full financial plan is first and foremost the formulation of an achievable retirement plan, proper life and disability insurance analysis and estate planning. The plan takes into consideration your risk constraints. Although the financial plan does not contain specific financial products but advises on the proper asset allocation for your assets.

Financial plans are not static and will normally change over time. These changes are frequently subtle and sometimes comprehensive depending what life surprises you with, good or bad. Your fee-only financial planner will review the implementation of your plan and its annual progress.

Your fee-only and “implementer” financial advisors should work as a team. You must ensure that the relationship between these two advisors are not adversial and they work together as a team. It is important to make crystal clear, that you as a client, prefer to deal with a fee-only financial planner and a professional financial advisor who is responsible to implement the plan by allocating your assets in the most suitable financial products.

Clients who have investable assets of over $100,000 will normally save on fees by paying the fee-only financial planner a set, not asset specific fee. The combined fee of an asset based financial advisor, such as a portfolio manager, and the asset neutral fees of the fee-only financial planners are often significantly less compared to the total combined fees, embedded and not, you would be paying to asset management companies and/or your financial advisor.

Fee-only financial planners will often help you find the most efficient asset management fee model best suited to your particular situation.