Cooper Wealth Management – Your Award-Winning, Independent Financial Planner
A personal plan that allows you to create the wealth you need for the lifestyle you want
- Get clear on what you want your future to look like
- Prioritise your cash flow to align with your short and long term goals
- Pay down debt in the most effective way, so that you know how you will one day retire without the burden of debt
- Optimise your tax position
- Set up your assets so that they will be tax effective if you pass away
- Ensure you and your family will be looked financially if something happens to you
- Reduce unnecessary insurance, super and investment costs
- Create an investment strategy that meets your income and future growth objectives
- Have accountability to keep you on track to meet your goals
- Answer with confidence when family or friends ask you “So what’s your plans look like”
All of these outcomes are completely within your reach…. but they DO depend on a step by step approach to help you make the most of every opportunity.
One that has been built especially for you, but still draws on the knowledge and systems created by award-winning financial specialists.
After all, your current position is different to that of your friends and family (let alone that of some complete stranger)…. And so is the future you want for yourself.
That’s why I’m so excited to introduce you to Cooper Wealth Management.
Meet Felicity and the Team at Cooper Wealth Management – 3 times winner of Financial Planner of the Year.
As an Independent Financial Planning Practice, Cooper Wealth Management exists solely to help you create and manage the wealth you need for the lifestyle you want.
With over 25 years of experience in the industry, including with some of the biggest names out there (like Goldman Sachs JBWere, Macquarie and Morgans), Felicity created Cooper Wealth Management to take a stand against sales quotas, commission bonuses, or dumbed-down strategy or product lists…
Instead, we offer The Wealth Framework for crafting the best financial plan which puts you at the centre of every recommendation: from strategy, to product, to implementation and keeping you on track.
All of this is completely tailored so you get more of what you want out of life, in the quickest, most cost effective, optimised way possible.
Meaning, you get to enjoy more of what you want out of life… both from a financial and lifestyle point of view, all while having a clear plan that you know let’s you take advantage of every opportunity to make your money work smarter for you…. instead of you feeling like you’re on the mouse wheel, working harder than ever but never really getting ahead.
So – How do we do it? How do we get you from where you are now… to that future you where you’ve got your financial sh*t together and know with complete confidence that you’re on track?
You do it with our Award Winning 5-point W.E.A.L.T.H. Stacking Process. A really clear method to align your money with what matters, creates a plan to get you where you want to go, and keeps you on track through the journey.
Stack #1
Why
This is where we’ll get really clear on why money matters to you, and what you hope your future life looks like.
We all know money is important. It gives you freedom and choice. It lets you decide where and how you want to live your life.
But peel that back a layer. What choices do you want to be able to make? What role does money play in your life?
Does it let you experience things, travel, buy nice food, and live a full life?
Does it let you look after other people, so that you can support family, or community, or provide education for the kids?
Does it provide security, so that you can sleep at night?
If you start making financial goals, or plans that don’t align with your money values you’re never going to be able to stick with the strategy long term.
By the time we’ve been through Stack #1 with you, you’ll know which of the 3 core drivers you align with…. After all, there’s no point making you an awesome financial plan that sends you in the wrong direction.
Stack #2
Evaluate
Awesome. Now we know what your priorities are, and what your goals are.
Here’s where we dive deep into where you are right now. Think of it like an Uber drive. We can’t plan the best route to the destination if we don’t start with the pick up point.
We’re going to add some major horsepower to your financial plan by diving deeper than just numbers. We want to do a full financial health check, as well as a scientifically based behavioural profile just to see if there are any of the 6 key wealth building habits that might be holding you back at the moment from building the wealth you need to get you where you want to go.
And…. we’ll do all of this WITHOUT overwhelm. How? Well, we’re here to make it easy…
We’ll help with the data collection
We’ll sit down with you (in person or on Zoom, whichever floats your boat) and create a picture of your current financial position (one without the blah-di-blah jargon that no-one understands)… And
We’ll guide you through the process one clear step at a time.
Stack #3
Analyse
So this is where things get fun – real fun 🙂
Well, for us anyway. Because most of this stack is done in our Engine room.
Now that we know exactly where you are AND where you want to get to, we’re going to create a plan for the MOST efficient way to get you from A to B.
How do we do that?
We run numbers….. lots and lots of numbers (see, I told you it was fun!).
We’ll run different strategies and combinations of strategies until we find the best one for YOU.
- One that aligns with what’s important to you, while also satisfying our inner geek need to:
- minimise tax and costs,
- find investment options that suit you,
- find you the best option for your super,
- optimise your cash flow (answering the question of should I pay down my loan or put more into super),
- review your insurance,
- make sure you have your will and power of attorney in place,
- look into your retirement funding (I know it seems a long way away but it’s never too early to start forward planning)
And we’ll run those again, and again (and sometimes, again), until we come up with the optimal plan.
Then…. We sit down with you and explain it all to you, making sure you understand the possibilities and strategies.
And then (because sometimes things change), if we need to, we’ll tweak it again… Before we…
Stack #4
Logistics
I’m not going to lie – this is the boring bit…. which is why you’ll be glad you have us on your team.
Ever had a great plan, business idea or investment idea that you then never actually did?
That’s what this stack is all about. We make sure the awesome plan we put together actually happens (after all what good is an award winning plan that then sits in a folder and never comes to life).
And…. Your plan is going to need product to implement it (eg you can’t have super without a super platform) – so we’ll research which product is best to put your plan in place and make recommendations to you.`
Once you give us the okay, 80% of the work will be done for you:
We’ll do all the paperwork (right down the the ‘sign here’ sticky notes)
We’ll send them off and follow them up (because you have no idea how many times things ‘go missing in the mail’)
We will be with you every. step. of. the. way. making sure that everything you thought was a cool idea actually happens.
Stack #5
Teach
Ever feel like money talk is another language?
We know that people who understand that language (or at least the foundations) make better financial decisions… with or without a financial planner.
We’re here to empower you, not make you feel like an idiot because we speak to you in jargon you don’t understand (What, you don’t know all the in’s and out’s of a reversionary pension or recontribution strategy???? It’s okay – you’re not meant to – that’s our job!).
And in the world of finance, knowledge does equal power.
So… we’re going to take the time to make sure you understand all the strategies we’re recommending to get you to that future life you’ve been dreaming of.
Our goal is that if anyone ever asks “Oh, why did you do that???” you’re not going to answer with “ah, I dunno, cause my planner told me too?”…. You’re going to sound like the responsible financial adult that you are… and what’s more is you’ll do it confidently because you’ll know exactly what you’re talking about!
Stack #6
Happy Dance (we used to call this ‘Harvest’, but hell, who doesn’t love a ‘Happy Dance’)
Oh yeah baby!
Many of you will be tempted to think our work is done.
But, it’s only just beginning. There’s 2 key steps to go.
- You set the foundation, we gave it some horsepower, and we made a few tweaks in the Engine room before sending you out on the road. Now, we want to make improvements every lap. After all, conditions change – you change, and your plan needs to adapt with you.
- The victory lap. Remember when you told us that you wanted to save for a holiday? Or pay off the credit card, or know you had enough money to be able to retire without relying on the Age Pensions (because, you didn’t want to drink cask wine)? Well, we’re here to hold you accountable to those things.
You’ve done the hard work. You’ve stuck with the plan (albeit with the odd adjustment when the wheels fell off the wagon… that’s okay it happens to everyone).
It’s time for a “Hell yes, this is my life” happy dance.
Do You Need A Financial Planner?
You’re ready to work with us to move towards your very own financial happy dance if:
- You’re wondering how you’re going to be able to retire some day, and want to make sure you absolutely NAIL the next few years
- You’ve been trying to pay down your debt and grow your super for a while now (maybe even years), but you aren’t getting ahead as much as you were hoping for
- You’ve already paid down your debt but now need to make sure that free cashflow is going to work for you
- You are already doing a pretty good job ‘adulting your money’, but want to make sure you’re doing the best you possibly could with it
- You care about making sure you (and your family) will be okay financially if you can’t work
- You’re excited about how much better life would be if you could “just get this money thing sorted
- You know that if you see a financial planner, you want one who is good at what they do and isn’t just going to try and sell you stuff
- You actually want to learn about how to make great money choices and know you can’t pin your financial future on the hopes of buying a winning lotto ticket
If you caught yourself nodding to at least 2 of the points above, then right now you’ve got nothing to lose and (possibly) everything to gain by having a chat – and I CANNOT wait to see if we can help you reach your full financial potential.
More Questions?
Awesome – we love questions!
Here’s the most common questions we get asked when we open our doors to new clients:
Straight to the point, aren’t you! That’s awesome.
We’re Independent – This means we act on a fee for service arrangement. You are quoted for a 12 month period, over which time we’ll make you a plan, fine tune that, make sure you understand it, implement it, and then monitor it and let you know if anything needs to be adjusted along the way if things change. Oh – and if things change for you in that time, we’ll help you make the best financial decisions for whatever comes your way. No further fees, and no commissions.
We recognized as being good (like, really, really good) at what we do. You’d struggle to find another firm that has the awards we have (and we don’t have a minimum fee that you could buy a new car with).
We’re not going to baffle you with bullsh*t. No made up numbers, no promises we can’t keep (which means weren’t not about to promise you 15% returns either). If you need a reality check, we’ll give it to you straight – with love of course, and only if it helps you get closer to your goals.
We’re not huge – you’ll mean something to us. Your story will be important to us, and we won’t take you for granted.
We’re experienced. We’re recognized for our level of Education (in fact we won an award for that too – winning the Association of Financial Advisers Excellence in Education Award). Our advisers have all been in the industry for over a decade (or a few decades).
Eek – I used to think that too, when I was in investment markets. I think back in the day lots of financial planners were Insurance sales people. Not here. We will review your insurance, because it’s important that you don’t have too little…. Or too much.
We don’t get paid to sell you insurance though – in fact the process is a pain, but it’s necessary, and it’s one of those ‘adulting’ things you really should review. So, nope, no insurance salespeople here.
Even better, because we don’t take commission, if we do help you get new insurance, you’ll find it’s about 25% cheaper. And that’s for the whole life of the policy!
I bet you’ve heard that financial planning is just for the wealthy.
Urgh.
I hate that. Where does this information come from?
Yes, it will cost you. Our minimum fee in the first year of being a client is $3,960 (and is usually higher than that).
It’s also why we want to chat with you before we accept you as a client. Because, we don’t want to charge you a fee and not be able to give you value for that. It doesn’t always mean you’ll make that back in investment returns in the year (remember, we won’t make promises we can’t keep) – a lot of the value we give is in the strategy, which will compound for the rest of your life.
If we can’t create measurable value we won’t take you as a client (knowing though, that what represents value looks different to different people too, so we’ll make sure it’s valuable for you).
Probably not. For starters, having a Self Managed Super Fund comes with a lot of responsibility and there’s a cost (both in money and energy) in having one. For some people they’re great, but they’re not some magic answer to your financial problems. Nor is an investment property.
We have more of a “don’t have all your eggs in one basket” kind of Investment Philosophy (which is also mathematically proven to reduce volatility and single asset risk, so that makes sense to us). Not too many people can have investment properties and a well-balanced, diversified investment portfolio as well.
Yep I have been asked that. And, I stand by there being no such thing as a silly question.
We won’t judge you at all. Let’s face it, everyone has made a couple of financial decisions that they’re not proud of. Judging you isn’t going to help you move forward financially.
We also won’t tell you that you shouldn’t have avocado on toast – if that’s what’s really important to you. We’ll create space in your budget for enjoying the things you love – after all, that’s what money is for (we’ll even hold you accountable to doing the things you tell us are your goals). But, if you tell me that something else is really, really important, and we find that avo on toast is stopping you from getting what you really want, then we’ll point that out to you, let you put your big girl/boy pants on and let you make a decision about what you really want.
If it’s to do with money we can probably help (we’re a bit geeky like that). Our specialist financial planners can help with:
- Investment Advice – We will work with you to help create an Investment Strategy that suits you, your goals, and your risk strategy. We can advise on most types of assets; including fixed interest, shares, managed funds, derivatives and ETFs to create a custom portfolio for you.
- Retirement Planning – Now is the perfect time to check whether or not you’re on track to be able to make work optional, maintain a lifestyle in retirement AND to be able to do something about it if you’re falling short.
- Debt Management – Not sure on how you’re every going to repay your debt? We’ll work out the most effective way to pay down debt, and create a plan that sees you reduce debt faster and in the most tax effective way possible.
- Cash Flow Management – Take control of where your money goes and plug the leaks. We’ll help make sure you’re using you current cash to maximise long term wealth, reduce debt, plan for retirement and save on tax.
- Superannuation – Let us help you make sure you’re not losing money on fees, underperforming default investment choices and that you’re taking full advantage of the opportunities within super (like spouse contribution, low-income tax offsets, tax deductible contributions, lower tax rates than another investment vehicle might provide and estate planning – the list goes on, but you get the picture).
- Aged Care – You might not have to worry about the financial implications of going into Aged Care just yet, but your parents might, and sometimes you’re the one who has to help make that decision with (or for) them. We can help navigate the jargon and the options available to create the best financial outcome possible.
- Insurance – We will help ensure you have the right type and amount of cover, at the right price, to protect your greatest asset – your income, for you and your family if something happened to you and you could no longer work.
Nope – that one was easy. So, it’s completely risk free.