Working with us – Terms and Conditions

All of our client engagements are subject to the following terms and conditions.

1. Professional Standards

Quality financial advice provides you with knowledge, confidence and results. It is professional trusted support.

We are committed to meeting the highest professional standards. We hold our own Australian Financial Services license and meet the professional standards of the Financial Planning Association (FPA). We comply with the Financial Planners and Advisers Code of Ethics 2019.

These standards require us to act with the utmost honesty and with integrity at all times, providing advice that is in your best interests and to prioritise your interests ahead of ours.

WP Wealth Professionals was founded in 1983 when Mike Allanson first commenced business as an advisory professional.

Mike has now been providing financial advice for 40+ years, and between he and his team, hold the following qualifications and designations:

  • Master of Financial Planning
  • Master of Accounting
  • Master of Business Administration
  • Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning
  • Bachelor of Commerce
  • Bachelor of Mathematics
  • Graduate Certificate of Financial Planning
  • Advanced Diploma of Financial Planning
  • Diploma of Financial Planning
  • Fellow Chartered Financial Practitioner (FChFP)
  • AFP
  • FASEA Code of Ethics accredited

We are privately owned with no ownership or licensing ties to any product providers. We act only for our clients and are a fee for service firm. Our income comes from the fees paid by our clients for our advice services. The exception is personal risk insurance products where sometimes we might receive a commission payment from an insurer. We do not receive payments for the referrals we provide to external alliance partners so you may have confidence that we only ever act in your interests.

2. Annual Engagement

We are a boutique advice practice that works with +100 private clients and family groups. We focus on having a close and lasting relationship with our clients.

We provide services on an annual engagement basis. This means our clients engage us to provide services for 12-month periods at a time. Prior to the commencement of each period, we will document the services that we will provide to you over the coming year, the fees you will pay and any other remuneration we may receive from third parties.

It is always your choice whether you re-engage for another 12-month period. We will only commence a new annual engagement when you have notified us of your decision in writing.

3. Client Confidentiality

We recognize the importance of protecting the confidentiality of your personal information. We comply with the Australian Privacy Act at all times. We also require our service providers which hold your personal information to comply with the Australian Privacy Act at all times.

Our Privacy Policy sets out how we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information. It is available on our website, or you can request it from us at any time.

If you engage our services, you consent to us:

  1. a) Collecting and retaining your tax file number on our files so that we can assist you to complete account opening forms and other forms where your TFN may be required. You are always able to request that we no longer hold your TFN. For security purposes, we will also remove your TFN from our files if we no longer need to hold it.
  2. b) Sharing your information with external businesses that support us in providing services to you. This includes the Xplan financial planning software that we use and a service provider that we engage in the Philippines to provide administration and paraplanning support.
  3. c) Storing your information on external servers and data storage facilities, some of which may be based outside Australia. This includes the use of Microsoft 365.
  4. d) Disclosing your information where required by Australian law or regulations.

We are legally required to retain all documents and supporting working papers for seven years after we cease to provide services to you.

4. Complaint Resolution

  1. a) We endeavour to provide you with the best advice and service at all times. If you are not satisfied with our services, then we encourage you to contact us. You can call us or put your complaint in writing to our office.
  2. b) If you are not satisfied with our response, then you can refer it to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. You can contact AFCA on 1800 931 678 or via their website www.afca.org.au. AFCA provides a fair and independent complaint resolution service which is provided to you free of charge.
  3. c) We hold professional indemnity insurance for the financial advice services that we provide.

5. Our Advice

  1. a) We do not guarantee the performance of any investment. You should understand that all investments apart from cash can lose significant value in a short period of time.
  2. b) Our advice will be based on the laws relating to tax and superannuation at the time of the advice. You should understand that laws can and do change often and consideration of these changes is a benefit of continuing to engage our services.

6. Working with Other Professionals

  1. a) You may require a lawyer to assist you with estate planning or an accountant to assist you with more complex tax planning.
  2. b) We will work with the other professionals that you have engaged, or we can refer you to professionals that we trust.
  3. c) We will always be clear about who is responsible for the advice to you. We will always seek your consent before sharing information with other professionals.

7. Your Instructions

  1. a) We will only act under your instruction. We will not act with discretion on any matter.
  2. b) You may instruct us over the phone, via email and in writing. In some cases, we may require you to put your instruction in an email or in writing.
  3. c) You have advised us in writing that we may act on instruction from either of you in relation to any jointly held account and for the services we provide to you. Any instruction you provide to us will be binding on the other person.
  4. d) We will however require both of you to sign initial and annual engagement documents.
  5. e) You have advised us in writing that we may share information on all matters with your spouse/partner or any duly appointed person.
  6. f) As a matter of best practice, our objective is to action a client request within 5x working days but do not guarantee this will always be achieved.

8. Your Responsibilities

  1. a) Our advice will be tailored to your financial situation. We rely on you to provide us with complete and accurate information. Please ensure you promptly inform us of any significant changes in your financial situation.
  2. b) We will provide you with disclosure documents which explain our advice and the financial products which we recommend. It is your responsibility to read and understand these documents. If you have any concerns or questions, you can always ask us.

9. Ceasing Your Engagement

  1. a) We provide services on an annual engagement basis. At the end of each service period, our engagement with you automatically ceases.
  2. b) You also have the option of ceasing your annual engagement with us at any time.

10. Assignment

  1. a) We may assign our agreement with you to a third party should the business ever be sold. This will include transfer of all client files including your confidential information.
  2. b) In this situation, we would provide you with one months’ notice, and you always have the right to opt-out of any arrangement with the new provider, as per this agreement.