Where Can I Get One-Off Investment Advice in New Zealand?

Many people assume that financial advice means signing up to an ongoing relationship, with a percentage of your money taken every year. It does not have to. If you have one specific question, such as whether your KiwiSaver fund still fits, what to do with a lump sum, or whether a term deposit suits your timeframe, you can ask for a single session of personal advice.

Your options in New Zealand

Free general information. Government and consumer sites such as Sorted offer free tools and guides. They are useful for learning, but they are general information. They cannot look at your income, debts, timeframe and goals together and tell you what to do.

Your bank or KiwiSaver provider. Their advisers can answer questions about their own products. The scope of their advice may be limited to those products, which is something they must tell you. That is fine if you only want to compare within one provider, but it will not tell you whether a different approach would suit you better.

An independent adviser for a single session. You bring a specific question, the adviser looks at your numbers, and you leave with a clear recommendation and a written summary. You pay a set fee, and there is no ongoing commitment.

A full financial plan. If your question turns out to touch your income, debt, insurance, KiwiSaver and retirement all at once, a single hour will not be enough. A full plan looks at everything together.

What a good one-off session covers

A useful session should do four things. It should start from your question and your numbers, not from a product. It should explain the realistic options and what each one costs. It should give you a clear recommendation, along with the reasons. And it should leave you with something in writing, so you are not relying on memory.

Questions to ask before you book

1. How are you paid? Is the fee fixed, and is any commission or referral payment involved?
2. Is your advice limited to particular products or providers?
3. What will I receive in writing afterward?
4. What happens if my situation turns out to be more complicated than one session can cover?
5. Can I see your disclosure statement before I decide?

Any adviser worth working with can answer these plainly. You can read my own answers on the disclosure page.

When one session is not enough

Be honest with yourself about the question. If you are asking whether to put an amount into one fund or another, one hour is usually enough. If you are asking whether you can afford to stop working, or what to do with an inheritance across debt, property and investments, you are really asking for a plan.

How I handle it

My entry service, One-Hour Financial Clarity, is a focused 60-minute video call built around your questions, with a written summary of key recommendations emailed afterward. The fee is $437 plus GST. If your situation turns out to need more, the fee is credited toward a full Holistic Financial Review. You can see the details on the Packages page, or read more about how I approach investment advice.

If you are not sure which fits, start with a free 30-minute discovery session. There is no obligation either way.

This article is general information only and is not personalised financial advice.