with Ambrose Advisory
My favourite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.
– Steve Jobs
Helping you achieve greater freedom to pursue your passions, to spend more time with those you love rather than oversee, think or worry about your money is what we do.
The essence of our philosophy – to help you make smart choices about your money and enjoy great quality of life – is the alignment of your financial choices behind what is most important to you; your values.
Financial advice is not an investment product, a percentage return or a quick tax fix. To the contrary, financial advice is founded on clarifying what is important to you, clearly defining your outcomes and helping you align your choices with respect to investments, risks and tax through thoughtful and considered planning.
Your goals and outcomes give context to everything else. This way your plan is your platform and guide to help you choose and implement a course of action that is right for you. Whether you are in the early stages of your career and looking to accumulate wealth, looking to wisely manage an inheritance, plan for retirement, or just want to retire into time-freedom now; what your plan means for you is unique.
Our role at Ambrose Advisory is to help you, along with all your advisers, to consistently implement your plan so that you completely organise and coordinate your family wealth. No matter what happens in markets, the economy or the world, as your advisors, we help you achieve your goals.
The Journey Begins
The Ambrose Advisory journey starts in relationship, with discovery about who you are and what’s important to you. Your financial position is addressed, but more important is learning about who you are as a person. This involves honest, open two-way conversations to ensure that the ultimate financial plan exists to guide your financial choices toward your unique dreams.
The early phases of the journey can take time, and the Ambrose Advisory team ensure there’s no sense of urgency in proceedings (aware, of course, that sometimes there may be urgent financial matters to attend to). Sound due diligence can take a period of months to properly understand the nuances of your situation, especially non-financial elements like family, ambitions, and dreams. Ultimately, these are more important than money, which is itself the tool to support the rest of your life.
Ambrose Advisory is a small team, led by Bret and offering a professional fee-for-service approach, which means they take the time to understand – the advice is not about a quick transaction.
As the journey gets underway, it remains a collaborative approach between you and the Ambrose team and depending on the complexities of your situation it can be a year or two before all parties are fully ready to accelerate. During this time your outcomes will be tested, your thinking and goals may be challenged or shifted, and the Ambrose team will combine their tools and experience to help draft a financial plan that you understand and are committed to.
Many new clients aren’t clear on what they really want to achieve, and why. The discovery process exists to support this – to create space for clients to contemplate their future. And the hands-on approach from the beginning is critical to the long-term success and realisation of clients’ goals.
Ongoing the focus from Ambrose Advisory is co-ordinating the organisation and helping clients measure their progress to stay on track. Life makes it easy to sway off track, to see your plans and even your deepest values challenged; the ongoing journey made alongside Ambrose Advisory exists to help you keep on track and on purpose, in line with your values and goals.
Your dreams most definitely exist. Reaching them is not just a destination, it’s about improving the quality of your life experiences along the way. Implementing your financial plans allows you to create a life with both time freedom … and purpose.
Road mapping your success
Map your journey
Discovery Meeting
An obligation free discussion to hear about what is important to you, your future, your goals and to establish how we may be able to assist you on your journey. This will help us both determine whether there is a basis for a lasting professional relationship.
JOURNEY FOUNDATIONS
YOUR 2ND OPINION
Building on Discovery, we lay the foundations of your plan, we clarify your destination + milestones along the way. We scope the work involved to guide you there and plot out your current financial position so that you have context on what may be involved if you were to start today. Initial expectations are set, including our offer for our Progress Update service.
ENGAGING OUR GUIDANCE
Before we embark, we agree to both commit to take the steps necessary in order for you to lead your dreams, utilising our professional guidance, experience and resources.
INITIAL JOURNEY PLANNING
Careful preparation and planning will help us provide you with the optimised journey. We ensure we have the right authorities in place to access necessary information. We provide you with an initial checklist of requirements and work with you to capture all the details needed for our navigation to be effective. You start.
Mapping out the Journey
Having reviewed your initial planning information, we explore deeper anything we are not clear on. Although the preparation is underway, we are building our understanding to be able to draft your plan of action. We take these first steps together with confidence as we have taken the time to understand where you want to go and what type of reports and progress updates you can expect before you set off.
WE SET OFF…
YOUR JOURNEY BEGINS
PROGRESS MEETINGS:
We offer triannual or annual progress meeting updates based on your needs. At each meeting, we update your progress toward your goals and outline course corrections due to be implemented before your next meeting.
1. Safety Review
If this is your first Safety Review, having undertaken a thorough review of your financial situation, we have by now modelled your strategy in consultation with you and are now ready to present to you your personalised financial plan also known as your Statement of Advice.
From this point on, at your Safety Review meeting we make certain there is a sensible strategy in place for every risk to your plan, examining and contemplating as many risks as we can that you may come across on your journey. What has changed in the market? Is your personal insurance position up to date? Bearing your risk profile in mind, we look at every possibility and course correct your position so that you protect the progress you have already made.
2. Goal Outlook
At this meeting we review the specific strategy and tactics for each of your goals. We review in deeper detail your investment and asset allocation structure as well as look to review your estate plan as required.
3. Annual Progress Update
We ensure every client attends at least an annual update of their plan. Specifically we review with you your comprehensive lifetime capital plan, the financial outlook for the coming years based on where you are right now. This is often an interactive model where timings, amounts and other ‘assumptions’ can be tested with the outcomes reviewed, discussed and possible refinements agreed upon. Specifically we review your cash reserve and debt plan.
Client journeys
Wealth accumulation
These years are a balance between achieving a comfortable lifestyle now and contemplating and managing the long-term future.
This is often a stage of consolidation and busy lives for people – balancing career / business, family, school and lifestyle.
You’re likely to focus on:
- Cash reserve strategy development and implementation
- Saving and investing
- Housing upgrades or renovations
- Tax planning, management and coordination with your Accountant
- Superannuation strategy advice and investment for retirement
- Asset accumulation advice
- Income and asset protection
- Debt planning and management
- Investment strategy advice and management
- Structuring advice and coordination
Pre-time freedom
(pre-retirement strategies)
These years are a time of preparation, confirming your priorities – asking how much is enough and how do I most effectively save for a secure future over the long-term.
This is a stage of building or consolidating your asset base – the expense of putting the kids through (or nearly through) school means the budget starts to ease and the opportunity to save needs to be balanced with lifestyle choices.
You’re likely to focus on:
- Cash reserve strategy development and implementation
- Salary sacrifice and other retirement plan strategies
- Saving, investing and protecting your capital
- Superannuation strategy advice and investment for retirement
- Housing upgrades or renovations
- Investment property and managed investment strategies and comparisons
- Tax planning, management and coordination with your Accountant
- Asset accumulation and asset matching advice
- Debt planning and elimination
- Estate planning
- Business asset coordination including exit strategy planning
- Structuring advice and coordination
Time freedom (post retirement strategies)
These years are a time for peace of mind, time with kids or grandkids, travel and adventure, and a focus on activity and good health to enjoy your time.
This is a stage of protecting and preserving capital, reducing risk and is based around clarity of what you need and confidence in your strategy.
You’re likely to focus on:
- Cash reserve strategy
- Protecting your assets keeping in mind inflation
- Allocated pension strategy advice and investment
- Inheritance tax mitigation
- SMSF investment advice
- Simplification and coordination of finances
- Housing options that support independence and quality of life
- Estate planning and planning the transfer of wealth
- Structuring advice and coordination
Inheritance
This is a time that is emotional on many levels, and the additional thought of money and it’s appropriate management is often confusing and unclear both at a family and personal level.
This is a stage of strategic planning to protect wealth from tax and claim, balanced with personal support for beneficiaries so that a clear, considered and patient pathway is agreed to for the benefit of the entire family.
You’re likely to focus on:
- Cash reserve strategy
- Estate planning coordination, interpretation, advocacy and management
- Capital gains tax planning and management around property and asset sales
- Protecting your assets keeping in mind tax
- Simplification and coordination of finances
- Investment property and managed investment strategies and comparisons
- Debt planning and management
- Investment strategy advice and management
- Structuring advice and coordination