Working with professionals and businesses to purchase any insurance, without the need for advice.
Melbourne, Victoria
I started selling insurance products in 2009 and since then my business grew naturally from referrals. In 2014 I became a Financial Adviser and, in 2019, I passed the FASEA exam. In 2021, after more than 6 years in the Financial Planning profession and countless regulatory changes, I decided to start a new general advice business which would help people who did not want advice and those who could not afford to pay the increasing advice fees.
I chose to work with Sustainable Life Solutions for their automated compliance system and I haven’t been disappointed. All the calls are recorded and monitored, and to me that’s a very important part of general advice, to know you are well within the limits of what you are allowed to do and not crossing into personal advice.
Sustainable Life Solutions provides support in the background that allows us as consultants to do our job knowing we’re doing the right thing by clients and that we’re ticking all the right boxes when it comes to compliance. This has given me the ability to write a lot more business. It takes about a fifth of the time it takes to provide full advice, and the costs to the adviser are minimal.
I work closely with referral partners such as Financial Advisers, Mortgage Brokers and Accountants to make sure their clients are appropriately serviced and the relationship and trust is maintained until the client is ready to receive advice. Most of the clients that are referred to me are people who do not want advice, to pay an advice fee or are just time-poor.
Over the years, I have helped clients claim over $2 million in benefits and this has kept me motivated to provide the best service that I can.
National
Insurance is not a lottery – You don’t buy it in the hope that something will happen, it’s there just in case. You never know when something could happen, so you should consider having cover for as long as possible. Don’t buy what seems affordable today, make sure it’s affordable over the long-term.
The General Advice process is simple. It’s about providing the client with what they want and the only way I can do this is by providing them with the relevant factual information so that they can make an informed decision.
General advice is not a replacement for personal advice. They are both distinct services catering to different client needs. I’ve offered personal advice and general advice and I think there is a place for both types of advice. General advice can work in unison with personal advice; it is an easy way for clients to enter the insurance market. When they are ready, they are able to take that next step to personal advice. At some stage, everyone will need to receive personal advice.
