I've heard that Risk advisers and Financial advisers are different - and that one provides insurance advice and the other investment advice. Does that mean that if I have both insurance and investment questions that I want to get advice about, that I should go to two separate advisers?
Top answer provided by:
Michael Driessen
Yes, you may need to go and see two separate advisers but this does not need to be the case. Let me explain. Not all advisers are equal in terms of their qualifications or advice they provide. This may be because they have actively chosen to focus on one or limited areas of advice or their licensee has only authorised them to advise on one or limit areas of advice.
It is easy to assume that the term 'financial adviser' means that an adviser will provide advice in all financial areas. But this is not always the case and is complicated further by use of multiple titles such as financial planner, client adviser, financial consultant, risk adviser, risk specialist or investment adviser, which may indicate broad or more limited expertise or authority to advise.
It is important that when you meet with any adviser that you ask them about their qualifications and the areas they provide advice in or may specialise in. Having a good understanding of an adviser's qualifications and skills is important as you want to ensure the adviser you engage is able to provide advice that is in your best interest. Having trust and confidence in those you choose to deal with is also paramount.
I believe it is important to shop around and research advisers before making your final decision. Adviserratings.com.au is a good starting point. During your investigations it may be that you find an adviser that is proficient in the area of risk insurances and another adviser that is proficient in the area of investment advice. As a result you may feel that you want to engage both advisers to handle separate parts of your advice needs.
However, it may be more convenient for you to deal with the one adviser so that you only need to explain your personal situation once, the adviser can ensure that the recommendations for both the insurances and investments are working together for you and only dealing with one adviser may reduce your advice costs. An extension of this is that you may find a financial planning practice that has advisers that specialise in risk and investment so that you are only dealing with one firm but get the benefits of dealing with two advisers (within the firm) that specialise in the areas you need advice on, giving you the best of both worlds.
Kind Regards
Michael
While the Adviser Ratings Website facilitates the question and answer functionality, all such communications are between users and authorised financial advisers, of which Adviser Ratings has no affiliation. Adviser Ratings is not the advice provider and does not provide financial product advice and only provides information that is general in nature.
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Comments1
"Risk advisers can certainly help you out more than a generalist in many situations when it comes to insurance. They are specialists in these areas to the extent that many advise only on insurance - not general investment or wealth creation. A risk specialist should be the go-to for people wanting insurance."
Andrew 11:13 on 23 Jan 17