A financial advisor works with you to help you determine and meet your financial goals.

A financial advisor will also help you understand whether these goals are achievable, and how much risk (and return) is required to meet these goals and help you manage the tradeoff between security and aspiration.

When helping you meet these goals, typical wealth building strategies can be recommended such as investment portfolios, properties, tax saving strategies, debt management, and use of structures such as companies and trusts.

As early as possible! There is no set age. A good financial adviser should always leave you in a better position, even after paying for their costs. If they are unable to do this, either because there is nothing to change or the impact is so small it is not worth paying for, the adviser should let you know immediately and not charge you/decline the work.

However, if there is value to be added, receiving valuable advice earlier can help you get a faster leg-up in life.

The cost of a financial adviser ranges and is typically influenced by how much work is involved and/or how much funds you would like help investing. A financial adviser must prepare a Statement of Advice to provide advice. These documents range from around $2,000 to $10,000. A financial adviser must not propose to prepare a Statement of Advice for you if they are unable to leave you in a better position than you were after charging for the advice. Therefore, it is always worth while having an initial discussion.

Once the initial advice has been given, most financial advisers charge around $5,000 per annum for ongoing reviews and investment of funds. This can vary highly, as some people with very low needs could be charged $1,000 per annum where some people with high needs could be charged up to $50,000 per annum.

Where an adviser is only recommending insurance, or is acting as a mortgage broker, they may not charge anything to you, as they will receive commisions paid directly from the product provider that they recommend.