Kevin Smee - Financial Adviser
It’s important that you read the information below to help you decide if I am the right Financial Adviser to meet your financial needs. This information was last updated 28.04.2022
Identifying Information
I am a financial adviser (FSP 41034), and I am giving advice on behalf of Solutions Financial Services Limited (FSP 41124), trading as Solutions, who hold a full licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority. My details are below:
Name: Kevin Adam Smee
Phone: 021 220 9772
Email: Kevin@solutionsfinancial.co.nz
Address: Solutions House, 59 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, 0632.
Nature and scope of the financial advice
I will provide you with financial advice in relation to your personal insurances (life and health).
· For Life Insurance I only provide advice from six providers – AIA, Asteron Life, Fidelity Life, Partners Life, Chubb, Resolution Life.
· For Health Insurance I only provide advice from four providers – AIA, Nib, Partners Life, Southern Cross.
I will not provide advice on existing whole of life or endowment products, so you will need to consult a specialist if you would like advice on those products.
I do not provide financial advice in the following areas but may be able to assist with referrals:
• General insurances (e.g., home, contents, pets, travel, professional indemnity, public liability).
• Legal, accounting or tax advice.
• Investment planning or mortgages.
In providing you with financial advice, I will only consider your income and will not take your spending behaviour into account, so you should analyse your budget and spending patterns to determine the funds you have available for premiums or to invest.
Reliability History
Neither Solutions or I have been subject to a reliability event. A reliability event is something that may materially influence you in deciding whether to seek advice from me or from Solutions. As an example, it would include legal proceedings against me, or if I had been discharged from bankruptcy in the last four years.
Fees and Expenses
I typically do not charge a fee for the financial advice and assistance that I provide to clients on Life Insurance or Health Insurance where there is reasonable scope to earn a commission.
Fees are generally charged when we are completing research and developing a risk recommendation only (e.g., if asked to complete research only on existing Insurance policies put in place by another Financial Adviser). This is 3-5 hours’ worth of work approximately.
For this work, Solutions may charge a fee of $150+GST per hour. Whether a fee will be charged will be agreed prior to the work commencing, and will be specified in our Scope of Service document.
We may charge a fee for the financial advice and assistance provided to a client where we are not likely to receive a commission. Whether a fee will be charged will be advised before the work is performed. If such a fee is going to be charged, it will be calculated at $150+GST per hour.
We may charge a fee for ACC Restructuring services, set at $250 per client + GST, payable 20th of the following month. If we are working with a business with more than 5, a group fee can be negotiated. Payable by the client by the 20th of the month after the invoice is issued. If a fee is to be charged, I will clearly advise the amount in my statement of advice.
We may charge a fee for general consulting services (e.g., business growth/ strategy consulting of $150+ GST per hour. Payable by the client by the 20th of the month after the invoice is issued. If a fee is to be charged, I will clearly advise the amount in my statement of advice.
Conflicts of Interest and Incentives
Solutions receives commissions from the relevant insurance company if you take out insurance following our advice. The commissions are between 15% (group insurances), 30% and 230% (personal and business insurances) of the first year’s premiums of your policy, depending on the type of product you take out. For ongoing client servicing, insurance companies typically pay a renewal commission between 5-30% of the premium for each year the policy remains in force.
The actual commission amount depends on which insurance company and which insurance policy you choose.
The company uses this income to run a compliant business, pay for its business expenses (rent, licensing costs and professional development fees, Insurances, admin support, salary’s, vehicle costs etc) and I am paid a monthly salary plus bonuses from time to time depending on how the business performs.
For referral’s made to a mortgage provider, investment planner, or general insurance adviser, Solutions may receive a ‘referral fee’ as an upfront payment and/or ongoing payment which is typically a percentage of the commission they receive e.g., 5%-50%.
To ensure that I prioritise your interests above my own, I follow an advice process that ensures my recommendations are made on the basis of your individual goals and circumstances. I complete annual training about how to manage conflicts of interest. We undertake a compliance audit, and a review of our compliance programme is undertaken annually by a reputable compliance adviser.
Complaints Handling and Dispute Resolution
If you are not satisfied with our financial advice service in any way, you can make a complaint by emailing hello@solutionsfinancial.co.nz, or by calling us on 09 414 4400. You can also write to us at PO Box 302 688, North Harbour.
When we receive a complaint, we will consider it following our internal complaints process:
We will consider your complaint and let you know how we intend to resolve it. We may need to contact you to get further information about your complaint.
We aim to resolve complaints within 10 working days of receiving them. If we can't, we will contact you within that time to let you know we need more time to consider your complaint, and will aim to provide you with a realistic timeframe.
We will contact you by phone or email to let you know whether we can resolve your complaint, and how we propose to do so.
If we can’t resolve your complaint, or you aren’t satisfied with the way we propose to do so, you can contact our external dispute resolutions scheme (Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme)
The Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme provides a free, independent dispute resolutions service that may help investigate or resolve your complaint if we haven’t been able to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction.
You can view their website: https://www.ifso.nz/, contact them via email: info@ifso.nz , phone: 0800 888 202, or write to them at: PO Box 10-845
Wellington 6143.
Website: https://www.ifso.nz/make-a-complaint
Availability of Information
This information is available in writing. Please contact us and we will provide you with a written copy.