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The traditional approach to giving financial advice started with a risk profiling exercise and finished with a single portfolio recommendation. At MMG, we begin our conversations with a discovery process that allows our advisers to know and understand your financial needs and goals – we call this ‘needs-based advice’.

Once this discovery process is complete, our advisers are in a much better position to recommend how clients should allocate their money. Most peoples’ needs can be matched to four general categories in this way:

Spending needs - Money set aside, in relative safety, to meet normal spending needs in the next couple of years e.g. household and living expenses.

Future income needs - To enable our clients to plan for their medium-term needs (the next three to five years) with confidence e.g. a trip overseas to see the grandchild or a future medical procedure.

Inflation protection needs - To future-proof spending power, over time, from the effects of inflation.

Future growth needs - The ‘engine room’ of the portfolio, intended to grow our clients’ capital in the long term.

The outcome of this process is an individually tailored financial plan, made up of four distinct portfolios that reflect each of the needs categories outlined above. These portfolios are designed to collectively meet each client’s personal financial and lifestyle goals.

Our new approach to providing advice to clients has been the subject of extensive research both in New Zealand and overseas. Not only is it different from the way in which we previously provided advice, it is different from the approaches of most in our industry.