Advice provided by a licensed financial adviser relating to superannuation arrangements or tax planning is now likely to be tax deductible.

One of the ongoing problems is that there’s no clear and obvious set of guidelines explaining what good financial advice looks like and how much it should cost. Good comprehensive financial advice will include a detailed look at your personal cashflow, how the identified lump-sum outlays will be funded, Centrelink benefits, concessions, tax strategies, superannuation strategies, aged-care issues if relevant and, finally, what happens to your estate when you die.

Investments are part of the process but the strategies, tricks and how to legally “work the system” are where the real value is added.

Many advisers unfortunately, simply use the mask of financial advice to sell you financial products or services that you may not actually need.

You start the selection process by simply typing “financial advice” into the moneysmart.gov.au website search box.

Fifteen minutes here will explain how the process works and give you checks and specific questions to ask of potential advisers.

Next, visit the two main industry association websites to get the names of potential advisers that you might add to any recommendations from friends. Ideally, work off a potential list of 3 advisers.

The Financial Advice Association of Australia is by far the largest and members are, in the main, advisers who work for financial institutions or listed financial advice firms.

Most FAAA members are good, qualified and competent advisers. Certified Independent Financial Advisers Association members are all of the above but are also legally barred from receiving incentives or commissions of any type.

They’re prohibited from having any links to recommended products with most charging flat fees arguing that this removes any potential conflicts of interest.

After locating an adviser, you might start with an initial meeting. Be wary of “first hour free” deals.

This often masks a product sales session.

Frankly, good advisers don’t have the time to waste on an hour that could lead nowhere.

You’ll typically pay between $300 and $500 to meet with an adviser for an hour or two. In that session, you’ll be asked a lot of questions.

This is a legal requirement to ensure recommendations you receive are appropriate for you.

You’ll also be able to ask specific questions that may include answers that constitute general financial advice that deal with your queries. In many cases, that’s all you need and you’ll leave happy because you know now what to do next.

You’ll also get a sense of whether the adviser is a good fit and is able to help. Perhaps that’s later when things get more complicated.

Good advisers will make that call themselves. They’ll tell you that you don’t need ongoing advice now and why.

You should discover and sense during the meeting that there’s genuine value to be gained by engaging the adviser.

The next step is to receive specific personal financial advice. This is delivered in a formal, legally required document called a statement of advice.

Personal financial advice means you are given specific instructions and actions to follow. It’s like getting the detailed engineering drawings to build a new home.

SOAs will typically cost upwards of $3500. That’s because most plans with detailed calculations, projections and instructions typically take between 8 – 15 hours to produce.

Above all, you should be able to easily see and understand how the plan will work. Be wary of the adviser who only seems interested in managing the money, perhaps setting up a self-managed fund, when there’s no obvious benefit to you.

Lastly, you may elect to engage the adviser on an ongoing retainer basis. These days, these costs start from about $5000 a year.

For that, you would expect ongoing supervision of just about everything – from helping you with tax to liaising with Centrelink for you and providing detailed answers to any questions you have, whenever they arise.

There should be at least one or two face-to-face meetings a year and possibly more if you are in a transitory period, all included in the price.

IMPORTANT LEGAL INFO This article is of a general nature and FYI only, because it doesn’t take into account your financial or legal situation, objectives or needs. That means it’s not financial product or legal advice and shouldn’t be relied upon as if it is. Before making a financial or legal decision, you should work out if the info is appropriate for your situation and get independent, licensed financial services or legal advice.