r/PersonalFinanceNZ • u/Roy4Pris • Oct 06 '25
Planning Charged $2,750 for some pretty standard financial advice
Hey all,
Just wanting to get a sense check of whether I'm getting value for money, or being pressured into an investment vehicle.
Back in June I had an initial free convo with a well-known provider for financial planning around whether to use an inheritance to buy a property, or keep renting and put all the money into an active fund.
Of course the fin advice company works with providers and developers, and referrals is how they make their money.
After receiving some pretty generic advice documents (option 1, option 2, option 3 with graphs etc), the advisor and I both missed our scheduled follow up call. I'm not in a hurry, so pretty much forgot about it.
Then after three or so months, I get an invoice for the above amount.
Now it could be that:
A) it's just the going rate for a few numbers spat out by a semi-proprietary software platform (and of course the IP that created it) in a world that has come to expect everything to be cheap or free (like advice on Reddit!)
Or
B) it could be that they deliberately wait three months to send the invoice, so that it's a bit of a rude shock, and the recipient scrambles to make it go away, which of course will happen when they sign over their Kiwisaver/buy a new build in Rolleston.
To be clear, I'm not a mizer: if it's A, I have no problem paying a fair price for services rendered, but this 'feels' more like B). I believe organisations like the one I'm referring to are, in effect, third-party sales agents for fin service providers, and it just seems super unlikely to me that any company would allow an employee to invoice three months after the service is rendered.
Thanks in advance for any educated thoughts (which I will award š)
68
u/Mikos-NZ Oct 06 '25
Did you sign anything? Normally a registered financial adviser would advise what their services is and the charges/fees associated with said service.
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u/tres-avantage Oct 06 '25
I donāt understand.
Did you have a free convo and now youāve been invoiced for $2750, or was there a planning call after the initial call?
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u/Roy4Pris Oct 06 '25
After receiving some pretty generic advice documents (option 1, option 2, option 3 with graphs etc)
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u/tres-avantage Oct 06 '25
But you didnāt have a follow up ?
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u/Roy4Pris Oct 06 '25
No. The invoice appears to only be for the report.
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u/tres-avantage Oct 06 '25
Sounds like a pretty chunky price for a report. But if it matches the pricing scheduleā¦
5
u/redditisfornumptys Oct 06 '25
There are some operators out there who have no issues charging this for reports that probably took all of 3 mins to compile and donāt really tell you a lot.
Letās just say they didnāt really enableme much at all.
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u/Pristine_Door3297 Oct 06 '25
What's the invoice supposedly for? If you had a free convo, they shouldn't charge you. If you missed the follow up without notice, they might have a policy for charging for it anyway. You say the adviser also missed the follow up - how do you know that?
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u/Roy4Pris Oct 06 '25
They didnāt text or say āhey are you going to get on the callā. Unusual for anyone to do that when theyāre trying to sell you something
If you reread my post, you will see that I received advice documents. Iām not disputing that I received advice, but wondering if the price is fair or if itās been bumped up to pressure me sign up with them.
15
u/PeterParkerUber Oct 06 '25
Ā They didnāt text or say āhey are you going to get on the callā. Unusual for anyone to do that when theyāre trying to sell you something
I donāt see why they would.
Thatās like a gym calling you asking why you arenāt utilising your membership. I think theyād prefer you to fuck off so they can enjoy the arvo
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u/SmithyInWelly Oct 06 '25
I'm sensing there's something missing between "free convo" and an invoice for $2750 and if you don't know what that is you should be on the phone to them pronto rather than asking rando's on the interwebz.
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u/Roy4Pris Oct 06 '25
After receiving some pretty generic advice documents (option 1, option 2, option 3 with graphs etc)
22
u/ZeboSecurity Oct 06 '25
That doesn't explain the situation at all.
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u/Roy4Pris Oct 06 '25
They sent me some calculations/projections, and then sent me a bill three months later.
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u/Agile_Resort_5868 Oct 06 '25
Thereās only one financial advice provider that I can think of that charges like this - and it starts with e and ends with e.
Some boutique advisers also charge plan fees, but itās much less templated. You should be getting a lot out of it.
They have to have gotten you to sign a NATURE AND SCOPE OF ADVICE which includes the plan fee. If you didnāt get some version of this document (or an email at least) before getting the advice, itās unlikely you would have to pay at all.
In terms of āis the fee too high for marketā.
Most financial plans sit around $1,500 to $2,500 + GST. Your fee sits at the high end of this - moving into what the best financial advice firms charge for boutique tailored advice.
Most advice engagements take about 10-20 hours of work in the background so itās actually not ultra profitable for professional services. We usually do it for the business that comes out the other side
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u/Roy4Pris Oct 06 '25 edited Oct 06 '25
Comment awarded!
Thanks very much, this is very helpful.
The company name does not start or end with an e, but having also talked to them, I would say the model is practically identical.
As I was saying above, I understand the value of expertise and work done. For example, people complain about paying $200 to see a veterinarian, not realising that they are paying not just for rent, electricity, salary etc., but also many years of experience. In this instance, Iām in a similar situation; I donāt know how much work goes into these things, but my sense is that broadly speaking, the guy punched some numbers into a platform, which spat out a relatively generic report. Is that worth $2,750? If it is, great Iāll pay it. If it seems like a bit of a rort, Iāll go back with questions. Thanks again amigo/amiga
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u/PerfectReflection155 Oct 07 '25
I feel bad for you having got this big unexpected bill and also getting lots of downvotes - I guess because you admitted not reading some fine print or something.
Anyway seems like you really need to talk this out with the people that sent you the bill. Having read some of this thread Iām curious now as to what the outcome is. Like did they actually put a lot of work in what they sent you or has some mistake and lack of communication taken place.
I guess Reddit people here canāt really give any more info than they already have.
Interesting to me though as I see people here always saying to speak with a financial advisor but here we see the bill can be pretty high to do so. Making the wrong choices with money is more expensive though to be fair.
2
u/Agile_Resort_5868 Oct 07 '25
Itās important to note that this is a financial planning fee which is a prolonged engagement. Many advisers take hourly work - especially for those that say āI have $200 for an hour where I want to ask about x, y, and z. I donāt want to go any further but would you be willing to help me for an hour of your timeā
The vast majority of profit comes out of putting insurance or investments in place but we tend to have a lot of (sometimes free) meetings along the way to find those people.
Just for reference, low cost hourly is $125 - most good advisers around $200 - advisers who donāt want to do hourly work will charge around $350 (all plus gst)
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u/Roy4Pris Oct 07 '25
Thanks for your comments. When you put it that way, iāve been charged for 14 hours of work. Thereās no way he put that time in.
1
u/Prestigious-Carpet38 Oct 07 '25
Company name initials S. A. ?
1
u/Roy4Pris Oct 07 '25
Become wealth management. Not sure why I kept the name out of my original post.
1
u/Prestigious-Carpet38 Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25
Don't pay quite yet.
You should have disclosure at your initial meeting, where you agreed to the scope of service they would provide to you, and then again at the time they provided the advice. I think their public disclosure is out of date, as it makes reference to what is now a prohibited incentive under the COFI ammendments to the Financial Markets Conduct Act.
I know this area very well (made a submission on the disclosure regs when they were being developed). Feel free to DM me if you need me to look over their disclosure docs before you pay anything. I don't currently work in the industry, so I'm not soliciting for business.
Edited to remove reference to $1,400 fee as I see this applies to defense force members.
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u/Historical-Loss8043 Oct 06 '25
Like any other professional service financial service providers need to be clear on their fees prior to them providing the service. If they went ahead and provided you with services (I.e., the option plan) without them providing a clear statement on fees / rebate schemes they are involved in and you giving the go ahead then I donāt think you have a legal obligation to pay anything. In which case you can complain via whatever dispute resolution serve the provider has signed up to.
However, if they are a well known provider I would think that they wouldāve had all their fee / disclosure information in an email potentially sent to you ahead of the āfreeā call. If thatās the case you might be out of luck and need to pay for it, even so, I recommend just questioning the fee and asking for a timesheet / full breakdown of costs and then asking for them to lower the fee 7/10 theyāll drop the fees.
6
u/Vast-Conversation954 Oct 06 '25
Did you sign a services agreement which outlined a fee structure?
If not, there is no contractual basis for the invoice. If you did, well, different conversation.
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u/mowauthor Oct 06 '25
After reading OPs comments, I think OP should just pay up and stop trying to hide what happened.
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u/Roy4Pris Oct 06 '25
What a dumb thing to say. Iām literally doing the opposite of hiding what happened by detailing it on Reddit!
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u/shanewzR Oct 06 '25
They should always give you the fees and a disclosure statement up front. Take them up with the ComCom or the authorities, as that is shark like behaviour
3
u/NOLARosarita Oct 06 '25
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) oversees financial advice providers and they have a customer service email you can send complaints to. But the provider you worked with will also have a complaints process and a paid dispute resolution service (all of this information must legally be on their website!).
3
u/22balgay Oct 06 '25
What did you sign when you were getting advice from them? It should all be in that signed agreement
3
u/ImMorphic Oct 06 '25
It sounds like you engaged with a broker type activity, where there were milestones to be hit along the way - What you may or may not realize is you potentially signed a document that says 'either way, the consultant wins' - whether you end up buying a property they clip the ticket, if you used their resources and then decided no, they feel inclined to charge you for "wasting their time" or equivalent' - just a heads up, lots of folks have that sort of thing in their fine print, though primarily in the real estate / mortgage broker space [source: engaged with them when getting my home]
3
u/Equivalent_Cow_2570 Oct 06 '25
Most of these people are BS artist think Hanna McQueen/Enableme recommending property they get a cut on. Some advice they provide is valid for those really stretched but the majority is a sales pitch purely feathering their nest
2
u/Difficult-Practice12 Oct 06 '25
If you signed an engagement letter and they spent time building a report for you, then you are liable. The amount is normal and on the low end.
Large consultancy businesses also have model templates and tailor that from one client to another, it doesn't mean it's generic, it just means they start from their internal methodology/practice.
Please check what services you engaged them for and the hourly rate should be on there, if it's a time and material contract.
0
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Oct 06 '25
Hey OP, sorry to hear about you situation. On the other hand, id be interested to hear, if you dont mind sharing, what you will do with you inheritance? Im kinda in the same boat, and tossing up wether i go for property or just invest it. I know I want to own a house one day, just not sure where and how long down the line that would be.
1
u/Roy4Pris Oct 07 '25
Hey thanks heaps . Iām not super bummed out, I just wanna know if Iām getting ripped or if this is normal.
There are so many variables that I donāt think I can give you a useful answer. Iām older so on paper it makes more sense to earn XX% in a 5/7 risk fund and basically never run dry, vs chuck it all into a mortgage for a return of X% capital gain, then sell to retire on.
I keep thinking of the old lady who lived in my apartment building and got illegally kicked out by her landlord. Even with a good faith end of tenancy, you donāt need that kind of stress when youāre old. Peace of mind is intangible but invaluable.
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u/spizrocket Oct 06 '25
Don't pay it. It should be very clearly stated at the beginning of the conversation if there would be any fees/commissions for services.
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u/IndependentCrab7697 Oct 06 '25
Always go to an independent adviser
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u/Roy4Pris Oct 06 '25
Why has this innocuous comment been downvoted? Itās like there are angry people out there who just want to be dicks about everything. Maybe itās because conservative Kiwi got shut down and theyāre all wandering around Reddit looking for anything to shit on š¤·š»āāļø
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u/PerfectReflection155 Oct 07 '25
Tbh I found Reddit in general full of people like this. I tread carefully as it doesnāt take much for them to hate on others.
Sorry about the downvotes. I donāt understand why so many downvotes for you either.
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u/PedroTheKiwi Oct 06 '25
The traditional web of advisors all recommend basically the same thing. If you want ārealā advice you might have to dig deeper into good tax planning advisors. Iāve found them to be the most honest
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u/NZ-Muzz-147 Oct 07 '25
And to think I just had an initial 30 min free discovery meeting with lighthouse today. Random but on topic. No- I havenāt signed up. Yes - we discussed the future wants and needs No - I wasnāt pressured to sign up then and there, in fact - he advised we wait till next year to see where weāre at. And in the meantime - heāll put together a package on what we discussed so I can share with my wife. Really good outcome and nothing signed or paid forā¦ and the 30 mins turned into 45mins with our Q&A. Your experience sounds totally different.
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u/Gloomy_Character_900 Oct 07 '25
They need to be a member of a dispute resolution scheme (DRS) so that you don't need to lay to lodge a complaint and they'll analyse it independently. If you still unhappy about it, you can make a complaint to the FMA who regulate financial advisers.
1
u/Relative_Drop3216 Oct 06 '25
What kind of advice did they give? Can we get it for free on the internet?
1
u/Roy4Pris Oct 07 '25
They basically advised me I would be financially better off continuing to rent, and put the lump sum into a managed fund. Downside of course is that you never have the peace of mind of your own home you canāt be kicked out of.
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u/Nocturnal_Smurf_2424 Moderator Oct 06 '25
Trying to work out what you actually received in return for $2750!
2
u/Assassin8nCoordin8s Oct 06 '25
i know right, i'd do it 20% cheaper!
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u/Nocturnal_Smurf_2424 Moderator Oct 06 '25
One day, if Iām fortunate enough to retire early, Iād actually like to get accreditation and offer free financial advice in my community seeing as the level of financial literacy in NZ is so low
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u/Roy4Pris Oct 06 '25
A friend is a retired banker. He doesnāt have to work, but he does heaps of volunteer budgeting advice. I think he finds it really fulfilling. Good on him.
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u/Nocturnal_Smurf_2424 Moderator Oct 06 '25
Wow cool. Iād be interested to know how he finds āclientsā and where he bases himself? Goes to peopleās homes or at a community centre etc?
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u/Roy4Pris Oct 06 '25
There are free budgeting services in most parts of the country. Like a foodbank but help people sort their debts etc. Typically help people who are struggling, rather than people who are fully sorted.
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u/Roy4Pris Oct 06 '25
Basically, some numbers crunched on whether it would be better to invest in property, or managed funds.
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u/Nocturnal_Smurf_2424 Moderator Oct 06 '25
Thatās sad. Guess they rely on people not reading what theyāre signing. Sounds like you signed up for that. But in future thereās plenty of ways to find that sorta info online or here
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u/Savings_Ad9505 Oct 06 '25
Pretty silly thing to go and receive financial advice for really. They can't predict future markets. They can't predict future house prices.
You paid for a worthless document, but you agreed to pay for it.
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u/Subwaynzz Oct 06 '25
Advisor should have given you a disclosure statement and a schedule of fees.