Financial Services Guide (FSG)

Version 8 | March 2024

Understanding the advice process and our relationship with you

HWP Financial Pty Ltd ABN 61 164 056 624
Corporate authorized representative no. 440011

IndexInvest Pty Ltd ABN 68 112 875 617
Corporate authorized representative no. 338955

Address: Level 4, 490 Upper Edward Street, Brisbane QLD 4000
Telephone: 07 3999 9751
Email: info@holzworth.com.au
Website: www.holzworth.com.au

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Continental Wealth Pty Ltd ABN 64 606 833 434
Address GPO Box 5073, Brisbane Qld 4001
Telephone: 07 3999 9751
Email: admin@continental-wealth.com
Australian Financial Services Licence Number: 479263

Purpose

This Financial Services Guide (FSG) explains the financial services and advice provided by Continental Wealth Pty Ltd and your Financial Adviser (Adviser), who is an authorised representative of Continental Wealth Pty Ltd. The FSG provides information on what to expect during the financial advice process including the types of documents you are likely to receive, how we manage privacy, related parties and potential conflicts of interests, and how we manage complaints.

This FSG should be read in conjunction with the Adviser Profile. The Adviser Profile contains important information about your Adviser including relevant authorised representative number, qualifications, experience, areas of authorisation, how they get paid and fees that you may be charged. If you have not received an Adviser Profile, please ask your Adviser for a copy, or contact us directly.

Please take the time to review both the FSG and Adviser Profile before engaging our services

Lack of Independence

We may receive brokerage associated with the issue of life insurance products.

We or an associated entity have an interest in and distribute financial products. We may recommend that you invest in a financial product where we or an associated entity receives benefits as the investment manager. For these reasons, we do not represent ourselves as independent advisers. We are, however, independently owned.

Please refer to the ‘Remuneration’ section for more information.

Financial Services and products we can provide

Superannuation and Retirement Planning

  • Personal Superannuation
  • Corporate Superannuation
  • Industry and Public Sector Superannuation
  • Pensions and Annuities
  • Self-Managed Superannuation
  • Centrelink / Veterans’ Affairs Assistance
  • Aged Care

Wealth Creation and Investments

  • Cash and Term Deposits
  • Investment Bonds
  • Managed Investments
  • Exchange Traded Products
  • Listed Securities (Shares and other products)
  • Derivatives & Foreign Exchange
  • Margin Lending
  • Gearing

Wealth Protection

  • Term Life Insurance
  • Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Insurance
  • Trauma Insurance
  • Income Protection Insurance
  • Business Insurance
  • Insurance Claims Assistance

Other Financial Planning Services

  • Budgeting and Cashflow Management
  • Debt Management
  • Estate Planning Assistance
  • Managed discretionary account services (MDA)

The advice process and documents you may receive

Your Adviser will guide you through the advice process. This includes the following steps:

Engagement and Discovery

In the initial stages of the advice process, your Adviser will work with you to define your financial goals and objectives and gather relevant information required to provide you with appropriate advice.

Your Adviser will generally collect relevant information within a Client Data Form and file notes. You can expect to be asked questions related to your income, expenses, assets, liabilities, insurances and superannuation. It is important that you provide accurate information and keep your Adviser informed of any changes to your relevant circumstances. Your Adviser will ask you to consent to your personal information being collected and stored. Please refer to the ‘Privacy’ section for more information on how we manage your privacy.

Where your goals relate to investment or superannuation advice your Adviser will also work with you to define your level of risk tolerance. A Risk Profile Questionnaire may be used to understand your level of risk tolerance.

Your Adviser may also use an engagement document to define the arrangement with you and the fees that may apply.

Your Adviser will also need to verify your identity to comply with Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing laws.

Strategy and Personal Advice

After obtaining relevant information, your Adviser will conduct research and develop a strategy to assist you to meet your goals and objectives. The strategy is typically developed utilising specialised financial planning software.

Where personal financial product advice is being provided, the strategy will be documented in a Statement of Advice. The Statement of Advice will include amongst other things, the basis of the advice, an explanation of the strategies and products recommended and relevant disclosures including costs of advice and products. The Statement of Advice includes an authority to proceed section where you can consent to proceed with the recommendations.

Where a financial product has been recommended, you will generally be provided with access to the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). The PDS includes detailed information on the financial product including features, benefits, conditions, costs and cooling-off rights (if applicable).

Implementation

Where you elect to proceed with the recommendations your Adviser will work with you to implement the strategy. This may include liaising with various insurance, superannuation, or investment product issuers.

Where the recommendations include the purchase of a new financial product, your Adviser will work with you to complete the relevant Product Application Form. This may be online, or paper-based.

Where the recommendations include the purchase of an insurance policy, you may also need to complete a Health Questionnaire. This could be online, paper-based or over the phone. It is important to disclose any health or personal matters truthfully. Failure to disclose certain matters may result in a claim being denied.

General Advice

Your Adviser may provide you with general advice that does not consider your personal circumstances, needs or objectives. Your Adviser will give you a warning when they provide you with general advice. You should consider whether you need personal advice which takes into account your individual situation before you make any decisions.

Further Advice

Your Adviser may provide you with general advice that does not consider your personal circumstances, needs or objectives. Your Adviser will give you a warning when they provide you with general advice. You should consider whether you need personal advice which takes into account your individual situation before you make any decisions.

The FDS will detail services and fees paid for the previous 12-month period, and the services offered and estimated fees for the next 12-months. To ensure the ongoing fee arrangement continues, you will be required to confirm in writing annually. Confirmation may also include the requirement to sign a Consent Form that is provided to your relevant investment or superannuation provider.

Alternatively, you may agree to a Fixed Term Arrangement with your Adviser. This arrangement will outline the services you will be provided for a fee over a specific term not greater than 12 months. In this case, you will not be provided with an FDS. You may be required to sign a Consent Form where the fee is deducted from superannuation.

You may cease any fee arrangements or disengage from your Adviser by providing written notice to your Adviser or product issuer.

Privacy

Your Adviser is required to maintain documentation and records of any financial advice given to you, including information that personally identifies you and/or contains information about you.

These records are required to be retained for at least seven (7) years. If you want to access your personal information at any time, please let us know.

You have the right to not provide personal information to your Adviser. However, in this case, your Adviser will warn you about the possible consequences and how this may impact on the quality of the advice provided. Additionally, your Adviser may not be able to provide you with the advice you require.

Throughout the advice process, your personal information may be disclosed to other services providers. These may include:

  • Financial product providers
  • Financial planning software providers
  • Administration and paraplanning service providers

We may engage third-party service providers to assist in the provision of products or services. Some services may require disclosure of personal information to service providers outside Australia. The purpose of such disclosure is to facilitate the provision of financial services including the preparation of financial advice documents.

Continental Wealth Pty Ltd respects your privacy and is committed to protecting and maintaining the security of the personal and financial information you provide us. For detailed information on how we handle your personal information, please refer to our Privacy Policy located at https://www.holzworth.com.au/resources/

How the MDA service works

Continental Wealth Pty Ltd offers Managed Discretionary Account (MDA) Services through an agreement with clients called a MDA Contract.

By accepting the terms of a MDA Contract you will be granting your adviser an authority to take action on your investment portfolio (e.g buy or sell investments) without first consulting you.

This will change the nature of the adviser-client relationship.

Usually, your adviser provides you with advice and recommendations supported by research or other information to assist you to make an informed decision on those recommendations. Your adviser then implements whatever action you decide to take.

If you accept the terms of an MDA Contract, you will, to some degree depending on the limitations/restrictions detailed in the MDA Contract, provide your adviser with the authority to make decisions on your investment portfolio and to implement investment transactions without consulting you.

You may give instructions to your adviser on how rights relating to the financial products in your investment portfolio are to be exercised by providing those instructions to your adviser in writing.

The decision to surrender full or partial control of your investment portfolio to your adviser is an important decision.

You should not accept the terms of a MDA Contract provided by your adviser unless you are confident that he/she has a clear understanding of your circumstances, needs and objectives.

The significant risks of accepting the terms of a MDA Contract provided by your adviser are:

  • Your adviser may make investment decisions that you disagree with. Provided your adviser’s actions are within the law and the scope of the authority you have granted, and the adviser has acted efficiently, honestly and fairly, you will have no right of recourse.
  • This means that you will have to accept the tax consequences, transaction costs and any capital loss resulting from any transaction validly executed by your adviser and any “reversal” of that transaction that you may request.
  • If you do not promptly inform your adviser of any changes in your situation, needs and objectives, there is a risk that your adviser may make inappropriate investment decisions.

You may only enter into a MDA Contract where your investment portfolio is held via a regulated platform such as an investor directed portfolio service (IDPS), IDPS-like scheme, superannuation wrap or master trust. The assets that will be managed under the terms of your MDA Contract will be held as part of your account on the relevant platform, and the MDA services may not include custodial or depository services.

You must enter into the MDA Contract provided by your adviser before he/she can provide you with MDA services. Your MDA Contract will include an Investment Program prepared by your adviser that complies with Division 3 of Part 7.7 of the Corporations Act, and that will contain:

  • Statements about the nature and scope of the discretions your adviser will be authorised and/or required to exercise under the MDA Contract and the investment strategy that is to be applied in exercising those discretion;
  • Information about any significant risks associated with the MDA Contract;
  • The basis upon which your adviser considers the MDA Contract to be suitable for you; and
  • Warnings that the MDA Contract:
    • May not be suitable to you if you have provided limited or inaccurate information relating to your relevant personal circumstances; and
    • May cease to be suitable if your relevant personal circumstances change.

Note that your adviser will exercise, on your behalf, all rights that relate to your portfolio arising from corporate actions and communications about your portfolio assets.

Your adviser will be responsible for reviewing the suitability of the MDA Contract (including the Investment Program that forms part of it) to your relevant personal circumstances at least once every thirteen (13) months, unless the MDA Contract is terminated earlier.

Risk of our MDA service

The main risk of using the MDA service is that you will not know the changes we make to your investments before they are made. However, we will only make adjustments which are consistent with the agreed investment strategy.

Risks associated with investments made through the MDA service should be considered carefully. Such risks are set out in the investment products profiles for the model portfolios or the offer documents for relevant investments. Your financial adviser can provide access to or copies of documentation relevant to your investments.

Did you know?
Small differences in both investment performance, fees and costs can have a substantial impact on your long-term returns. For example, total annual fees and costs of 2% of your account balance rather than 1% could reduce your final return by up to 20% over a 30-year period (for example, reduce it from $100 000 to $80 000).

You should consider whether features such as superior investment performance or the provision of better member services justify higher fees and costs. You may be able to negotiate to pay lower contribution and management costs where applicable. Ask the fund or your financial adviser.

To find out more
If you would like to find out more, or see the impact of the fees based on your own circumstances, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) website (www.moneysmart.gov.au) has a managed funds fee calculator to help you check out different fee options.

MDA fees and costs

This section shows the fees and other costs you may be charged for using our MDA service. These fees and costs may be deducted from your money, from the returns on your investment or from the assets managed in connection with the MDA services.

You should read all the information about fees and costs because it is important to understand their impact on your investments managed in accordance with the MDA services.

Example of annual fees and costs for MDA services

This table gives an example of how the fees and costs for the MDA Service can affect your investment over a 1-year period. You should use this table to compare this product with other similar investment products.

EXAMPLE — MDA service

BALANCE OF $50,000 WITH A CONTRIBUTION OF $5,000 DURING YEAR

Contribution Fees- Nil

Plus Management Costs- 0.55%p.a.
$50,000 managed under the MDA service, you will be charged $255 each year.

EQUALS Cost of MDA service- $255

If you had an investment of $50,000 at the beginning of the year and you put in an additional $5,000 during that year, you would be charged total fees of $255.  What it costs you will depend on the investment option you choose and the fees you negotiate.

This example is illustrative only and fees and costs may vary for your actual investment. This example only shows the fees and costs that relate to receiving the MDA services, which can only be received in connection with your platform account. The example does not include the fees and costs of the underlying investments acquired through that platform. Additional costs will be charged by the issuers of the products that may be acquired as part of your MDA service via your platform account. Refer to the disclosure document for your platform for an explanation of the fees payable in connection with your platform account.

How to provide instructions

Your Adviser may accept your instructions by phone, letter, or email. In some instances, your Adviser can only accept written instructions from you, and they will let you know when this is required. Your Adviser will also need to verify your identity prior to acting on instructions

Remuneration

Before providing you with advice, your Adviser will agree with you on the fees that apply and explain any benefits we receive.

The Licensee

Continental Wealth receives a flat fee from corporate authorised representatives for the provision of services required under its Australian Financial Services Licence

Related companies

Continental Wealth Pty Ltd, IndexInvest Pty Ltd, Holzworth Partners Pty Ltd, Holzworth Legal Pty Ltd, Compass Investment Consulting and HWP Financial Pty Ltd are members of the Holzworth Partners Group. Employees within Holzworth Partners Group are also Directors.

Holzworth Partners Group offers a number of services and investment solutions including, the IndexInvest Managed Discretionary Account, IndexInvest SMA products. Holzworth Partners Group retains all profit from these products and services. We and our respective families, companies and trusts may have an interest in the investments or securities included in your portfolio which may influence, or be seen to influence, the advice that they provide you.

Although we are under no obligation to recommend these investment solutions, should they be suitable to assist you reach your individual financial objectives and needs, it is likely that we will recommend them to you.

Compensation arrangements

Continental Wealth maintains a group policy which includes appropriate Professional Indemnity Insurance cover for Continental Wealth as required by the Corporations Act 2001.

Reporting your concerns

If you have a complaint about any financial service provided to you by your Adviser, you should take the following steps:

  1. Contact Continental Wealth to discuss your complaint.
    Phone: 07 3999 9751
    Email: admin@continental-wealth.com
    Mail: GPO Box 5073, Brisbane, Qld 400
  2. We will acknowledge receipt of a complaint within 1 business day. Where this is not possible, acknowledgement will be made as soon as practicable.
  3. We will then investigate the complaint and respond to you within 30 days. Some complex matters may require an extension to thoroughly investigate the complaint and bring it to resolution.
  4. If you are not fully satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). AFCA provides fair and independent financial services complaint resolution that is free to consumers. The contact details for AFCA are: 

Phone: 1800 931 678 (free call)
Online: www.afca.org.au
Email: info@afca.org.au
Mail: GPO Box 3
Melbourne VIC 3001

Compensation Arrangements

We have professional indemnity insurance in place that complies with the Corporations Act 2001.

Our insurance covers claims made against former representatives for their conduct while they were authorised by us.

Adviser Profile

The following people are authorised to provide financial advice on behalf of Holzworth Partners Group. Please visit www.holzworth.com.au for more team information:

Mark Holzworth

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Authorised Representative No. 0271831

 

Jane Purnell
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Authorised Representative No. 1256547

Jarad Taylor
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Authorised Representative No. 1271638

Holzworth