My husband says we should see a financial adviser, but can't an accountant do what you guys do?
Top answer provided by:
Maciej Stanek
Accountants and Financial Advisers focus on two very different aspects of money.
When you say Accountant, I am going to assume you mean a Tax Accountant. Tax Accountants aim to minimise the amount of tax you pay.
For Example, you may have to pay $37 tax on every $100 that you earn, leaving you with $63 to use as you wish.
A tax accountant will look at how you spend your money and advise on ways that you can reduce the tax from $37 to a lower amount and therefore increase the money you can use as you wish!
A Financial Adviser tries to help you focus what you do with your money after you have paid tax. The main areas a Financial Adviser focuses are wealth creation and wealth protection.
For example, of the $63 you have left after tax, you have to buy food, pay debts and other bills. After paying these costs you may have $30 fun money left over for entertainment, hobbies, holidays etc.
You can spend that whole $30 on fun stuff, but you have to go back to work the next week and start again as nothing is left.
What if you worked out a plan where you put some of the fun money away on a regular basis and earned more money on it until you had enough to be able to pay for your lifestyle and fun stuff without having to work anymore?
This plan is where a financial adviser can help you.
While the Adviser Ratings Website facilitates the question and answer functionality, all such communications are between users and authorised financial advisers, of which Adviser Ratings has no affiliation. Adviser Ratings is not the advice provider and does not provide financial product advice and only provides information that is general in nature.
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Comments8
"The role of an accountant is changing quickly with the increasing need for technological and business advancements. Accounting knowledge of an accountant can help the businesses to grow manifolds by enhancing their profitability by reducing the taxes, managing the compliance, and taking more financially viable decisions. "
Allena Evelyn 20:56 on 14 Oct 19
"Mr Stanek has a good way of communicating by the sound of it."
easy to understand 16:11 on 29 Jan 16
"To add to Maciej's response, financial advisers (planners) are specifically licensed to provide you with advice on financial strategies and products (including superannuation, insurance, aged care, stockbroking, retirement planning) and they are covered by the Professional Indemnity insurance which ultimately provides compensation arrangements for clients who receive negligent advice. If you are going to take advice from your Accountant on matters other than your tax situation, first check that they are in fact qualified and licensed to provide that advice. Otherwise, you may expose yourself to potential losses that are unrecoverable. The term 'licensed' refers to AFS licensees and representatives or authorised representatives of AFS licensees."
Lisa Scott AFP® 16:01 on 29 Jan 16
"Agree with ANON - people are used to having to pay for some services but not others You would thing a $3000 yearly fee would be ok on a balance thatbig and the saving from the advice would be much more than that."
Kate 15:55 on 29 Jan 16
"Thought your readers would find this blog post useful https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/the-difference-between-your-accountant-and-your-financial-planner-1/"
AMEX 15:30 on 29 Jan 16
"Word up Maciej - nice reply ☺︎"
Derek L 15:27 on 29 Jan 16
"I find it funny that people are prepared to pay through the roof to minimise their tax or save costs from their budget, but not prepared to pay for financial advice or wealth creation....I had a client come in with $3 million in savings last week (referred to me by their accountant no less)...my annual fee was going to come to $2,900 - she agreed with the plan and what we could do, but scoffed at my fee and left!"
Anonymous 15:11 on 29 Jan 16
"Some accountants can do what advisers can do (am I one of them) - they just need to be licensed / authorised to do so. Check they have the appropriate conditions under their AFSL"
Geoff 14:34 on 29 Jan 16