At Ben Davies Financial Planning, the most important service we can provide is a relationship based on trust, honesty and friendship. With this foundation in place, we can have in-depth, meaningful discussions about what is important to you. Financial products can be bought and sold at any number of local institutions; what sets us apart is how we relate to you – not your money.
Process
Being process driven allows us the time to provide what we feel is great service while still maintaining our attention to detail. More time with our clients allows us to know them on a more intimate level. We use processes for everything from helping clients to organize their financial affairs to scheduling regular contact with them.
Boutique feel
From offering refreshments on a proper tray to our bi-weekly email updates to regularly scheduled meetings and calls, we’ve created a boutique-feel in our business. Purposely, we have an extremely small client base. According to a national study by Headspring Consulting, the average financial advisor or planner in Canada has 411 client households with whom he or she works. We have less than one quarter of that figure and this allows us the time and resources to provide a high standard of personalized service. While we are happy to have an initial meeting with any prospective client, to develop a strong and lasting relationship it is important that there is a good fit between us. For a brief overview of our philosophy of service, please click BDFP Ben-e-fits.
A different way of doing business
Aside from good service and strong relationships, our unique value proposition is that we charge fees rather than commissions for our services. In Canada, it is generally estimated that over 90% of financial companies charge commissions for their services. We prefer to be among the few who don’t. We feel there are certain advantages for our clients who are on the fee model. These include:
- Transparency – you can understand your costs
- Removal of bias – no recommendations are swayed by commission rates
- Savings – for many clients switching to the fee platform may result in a reduction in overall cost
Practice Areas
We are not experts in every area. We have strong partnerships with other professionals who provide advice on subjects including accounting and taxes, legal issues and debt management. We prefer to complete full financial plans for clients. These include retirement and investment planning issues; estate planning and tax issues; debt management and risk management.