Having a caring financial planner crucial to wellbeing – BJM PCS
For real wellbeing, today’s pressured consumer needs a financial planner who cares, according to one of the country’s leading wealth advisers and money managers.
In its latest report to clients, Barnard Jacobs Mellet Private Client Services (BJM PCS) says the quality of your relationship with your financial adviser often decides whether you are satisfied with life or feel threatened.
Some international authors suggest a link between financial planning contentment and general contentment, and BJM PCS experience during the current financial crisis confirms a de facto correlation.
The specialist adviser to high net worth individuals says satisfaction with a financial plan is emerging as a key differentiator between those who feel a sense of wellbeing and those who don’t.
Sunél Veldtman, a BJM PCS director and wealth manager, says financial planning is about understanding a person’s life goals and therefore influences how people feel about themselves and about life.
“Research shows that feeling in control of your financial situation and having a financial plan is what separates people who are satisfied with their life from those who feel vulnerable,” says Veldtman.
“Having a financial plan will help you make the best use of your resources according to your goals and your financial planner will help you to monitor your progress.
“During the current crises we have witnessed this first hand – those clients who had financial plans in place and with whom we have longstanding relationships were able to discuss the impact of the crises with us in line with their long-term planning. In a few cases, we made minor adjustments.”
A good financial plan should take major market corrections into account and a good financial planner should provide access to the specialist expertise needed to optimise opportunities at every stage in life through to estate planning.
Sunél Veldtman points out: “A financial planner will also add discipline to your investment approach, especially at times like these, so that you don’t engage in behaviours that offend good long-term investment principles. During uncertain times it is easy to become too short-term orientated. A financial planner should help you to overcome this.”
Veldtman is a leading advocate of financial ‘emancipation’ for women and came to national prominence as the presenter of the series of seminars, ‘A Feminine Touch on Finances’.
She believes a personal touch and care felt by a financial adviser for a client are necessary for all consumers – men as well as women.
“Neither the highest level of qualification nor the best expertise can replace a genuine sense of care,” says Veldtman.
“A good financial planner will spend time discussing your needs and goals, setting benchmarks with you, explaining ideas, conveying information and challenging your thought processes.
“You will get the feeling from the right financial planner that there is an interest in you as a person that goes beyond the money you have.”
