Boutique Life - About Us

Background
The Boutique Difference
Boutique Team
Testimonials

Boutique Financial Planning Services (BFPS) was established in 2004. Our initial service involved providing valuable support services to financial planners. Over time, we noticed a distinct gap in what many traditional financial planners were providing and what clients wanted. Consequently, we developed our lifestyle and financial planning business built on 3 distinct client requirements:

1. Trust

We understand that many people feel anxious about seeking financial advice. At Boutique, we are all about building long term relationships with our clients built on mutual Trust. Our fees are transparent and linked to the level of service you require and the value of our advice to you.

2. Understanding

We pride ourselves on being active listeners and not using financial jargon. At Boutique, we provide a comprehensive education program to help clients minimise the chances of making financial mistakes and taking unnecessary risks. We believe that people should not invest in anything that they don't understand.

3. Control

We help put people in control of their finances by showing them the financial impact of the choices they make. We also consider various alternatives and provide a comprehensive ongoing service program to ensure our clients remain on track to achieve their lifestyle and financial objectives.

Our service offering revolves around helping you get what you want out of life i.e lifestyle planning. After we have helped you identify what's important to you, we identify valuable strategies and recommend appropriate products to help you achieve your life vision.

We are licensed through Garvan Financial Planning which is recognised as one of Australia's leading financial advice networks, with over 450 experienced advisers across Australia managing over $10 billion of investments. Garvan Financial Planning has won the CoreData Major Financial Advice Group award for the second consecutive year. The award is the result of mystery shopper research conducted throughout Australia by CoreData and recognises the quality of customers' experiences when seeking financial advice.

At Boutique, we pride ourselves on: - Helping clients identify and achieve what they want out of life - Providing trusted and affordable planning advice - Helping clients take control of their lives and finances - Increasing financial literacy to minimise financial mistakes and risks - Transparent fees linked to the level of service and value of our advice
The table below highlights how we are different to many traditional financial planning businesses.

	Traditional Financial Planner	BFPS - Lifestyle and Financial Planner
Aim	Sell you a product to satisfy a need. Believe that their value added is product selection.	Our product is advice. We aim to help you get what you want out of life by setting realistic goals aligned to your life vision, implementing valuable strategies aligned to these goals and monitoring your progress.
Fees	Usually linked to the funds that you invest which may not be transparent and not linked to the value of advice and/or level of ongoing service. Fees are usually at their highest when they add the least value e.g pension phase.	Unique fee for service structure linked to the value of advice and your choice of ongoing service package. We rebate commissions from investments and debt.
Scope	May be limited to certain strategies. May just be an order taker/product placer.	We provide both lifestyle and financial planning advice. We use a comprehensive strategy checklist and projection tool to unlock all opportunities.
Service	May have thousands of clients and can't physically review everyone. Usually limited to an investment review service.	We purposely limit the number of clients per planner in order to build successful lasting relationships. You get to choose the service package that suits your needs. We monitor your progress towards your stated goals.

Staff Member:

Greg Liddicoat
	General Manager
	Greg has worked since 1994 in the banking and financial planning industry. His qualifications include a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) Degree and Diploma of Financial Planning. Prior to establishing Boutique Financial Planning Services Pty Ltd, Greg worked as a financial planner, paraplanner and financial planning business consultant. Greg is an avid Collingwood supporter and enjoys traveling, watching movies and attending the races.

Bill & Rose

Bill: "I consider myself a smart man, someone who has gained a lot of life experience throughout the years. I was very sceptical about obtaining financial advice to begin with as I had always managed things myself and had done pretty well doing so. Sure, I made some bad investment choices but I also made some good ones. The one thing I remember when I first met with Boutique is that they told me it is the financial strategies I employ that would help grow and preserve my wealth and not just where I invest my money. I was not aware of this. Their strategies helped me increase my retirement income and create wealth in ways I could never have imagined especially by gaining access to a Government concession card and will now be eligible for the Age Pension in the future. My wife and I feel at ease knowing we can pursue the things we like without worrying about our finances. They said their aim is to help us get what we want out of life and that is exactly what we are doing. Our only regret is not seeing them sooner!"

Michael Jones

"I enjoy a relaxed lifestyle so it is important that this be maintained if possible. The fact that I was financially able to reduce my working hours and still retire by 60 was excellent...... I was very impressed with Boutiqueâs financial modeling analysis especially with regards to my superannuation options. Not only did they manage to save me quite a considerable amount of money but they presented their recommendations in a way I could understand. This was very important to me as prior to meeting with them I had heard all sorts of things in the school staff room, most of which I have now learned are Chinese whispers. I can not thank them enough for providing such a clear life plan."

Simon & Claire

Claire: "Our understanding of financial advisers is that they simply sold rich people products so I didnât expect much to come from the meeting. We needed help urgently as we were finding it hard to sleep at night and it wasnât because of Lachie (our son). We just seemed to be going backwards. After working with Boutique I can honestly say we are far happier than we have ever been. We are content with the lives we are living. They helped us identify what was of value in our lives. Then they provided the strategies to achieve all of our goals. We understood every step of the way what was going on and why we were doing it for. All going well our next problem will be choosing which colour to paint the walls on our new home. No doubt Boutique will be able to help us with that as well!"

Steve & Beth C.

Beth: "Both Steve and I have the philosophy that you only live once. Therefore we enjoy risk taking in every aspect of our lives. We know nothing about investing and wanted a fee based adviser who would be able to help us develop a financial strategy without any strings attached. Boutique Financial Planning listened to what we wanted and thought outside the square to develop strategies we would never have thought of. The Statement of Advice we received was exceptional, especially the detailed financial modelling. This clearly showed the benefits of what we were doing and all the risks involved. I also liked that we never felt locked into anything. If we had a checklist of the ideal financial planning practice for us then Boutique Financial Planning would tick all the boxes".