Terms of Business
These are the terms and conditions on which Les Hayward & Prosperity Wealth Management Pty Ltd, T/a Prosperity Wealth Management (PWM), Authorised Representatives of Millennium3 Financial Services Pty Ltd (ABN 61 094 529 987, AFSL 244252) (We) provide financial planning services to our clients.
These Terms of Business are to be read in conjunction with the Millennium3 Financial Services Guide, Part A & Adviser Profile, and (if applicable) any applicable Terms of Engagement email and/or Terms of Engagement letter provided.
1. Providing advice to you
1.1 Scope of Advice
We will provide financial planning services, which include:
- Meeting with you to collect information about your current financial situation, objectives and goals
- Analysing the information received
- Researching and investigating relevant financial strategies and products
- Making recommendations to achieve your objectives
- Where applicable, recommending appropriate financial products and
- Implementing strategies and products to achieve your objectives and goals as recommended
1.2 Additional Services
If we believe your objectives would be better met by providing advice in additional areas, we will inform you.
1.3 Your Obligations
You agree to:
- Provide accurate and complete information about your personal and financial circumstances, including:
- Personal circumstances: marital status, dependents, health, occupation
- Financial circumstances: income, assets, liabilities, expenses, taxation position
- Provide identification documents to verify your identity
- Provide authority to access your financial information from third parties where required
Important: If you do not provide accurate and complete information, our advice may not be appropriate for your circumstances.
2. Engagement Process
2.1 Terms of Engagement Letter or Email
Depending on the complexity and cost of the advice provided, we may offer you either an engagement email or a Terms of Engagement Letter, which will specify:
- The circumstances under which we will advise you,
- The scope of advice to be provided,
- The investment for the advice provided, payment terms, and
- Other relevant details.
2.2 Acceptance & Commencement of Services
Will not commence work until we receive either :
- Verbal agreement to proceed to the Statement of Advice production,
- The acknowledgement of the engagement email, or
- Acknowledgement of the Terms of Engagement, Email / Letter (via email), agreeing to start work, or
Acceptance - Once you have acknowledged any of the above, you agree to be bound by the terms of the Engagement document and these Terms of Business.
Note: Although a written Terms of Engagement document is a best practice for documenting our engagement, this is not a legal requirement for a contract to exist. Under Australian contract law, a contract can be verbal, written, or implied by conduct if it meets the essential elements of a legally binding agreement, which include:
- Offer: One party proposes terms for the service (e.g., outlining scope, fees, & conditions), covered in the initial (Discovery) or (Strategy) meeting by email confirmation and/or through the terms of the Engagement Document.
- Acceptance: implicit agreement, either verbally, in writing, or via a return email, or via conduct (such as instructing, accepting/assuming work to commence as evidenced by emails, calls/File Notes, supply of personal information), and the acceptance and acknowledgment of these Terms of Business.
- Consideration: Both parties agree to exchange something of value (e.g., financial advice/services in return for fees), as implied in our Financial Services Guide (FSG) or engagement document under fees and costs.
- Mutual Intent: Both parties intend for the agreement to be legally binding, and
- Certainty & Clarity: The essential terms (scope of work, fees, obligations) are communicated and agreed upon, either through verbal discussions, file notes, emails or the provision of a confirmation email, and these Terms of Business.
3. Other Professional Advisers
If we require the services of other advisers, e.g. accountants or solicitors, other than your regular service provider, we will
- Consult with you before we engage them.
- Either ask you to enter into an agreement directly with them or include their cost within our fees.
4. Records & Documentation
4.1 Record Retention
We are required by law to retain all documents and advice that relate to you for seven years after we last provide services to you. By accepting these terms, you authorise the destruction of these documents after that time, subject to any other legal retention requirements.
4.2 Communications from PWM
We will not send you unsolicited emails or marketing information. However, we may occasionally email you about:
- Important financial matters,
- Information about our services,
- And the services of associated businesses that we believe may interest you. You may "Unsubscribe" at any time by emailing “Unsubscribe” to Les@prosperitywealth.com.au
4.3 Method of Document Delivery
Documents, including Statements of Advice (SOA), Records of Advice (ROA), Product Disclosure Statements (PDS), and Fixed-term Agreements (FTAs), will be provided by email, hard copy, or uploaded to our client Portal IFF.
Unless expressly requested, TOE, TOBA, FSG, and review notices will only be delivered via email to the email address you have provided. You agree that you are responsible for ensuring we always have your current email address and contact details.
4.3 Access to Documents
As these documents are publicly accessible and updated on this website, as required, we are not obligated to provide a physical or electronic copy directly unless requested. Your continued engagement with our services constitutes acceptance of the terms set out in these documents. If you require a copy or further clarification regarding these documents, you may request one at any time by contacting us at 08 6555 7900.
5. Investment for Services
There are three types of fees we may charge you for providing advice. These are:
5.1 - Plan Preparation Fee (PPF)
All advice is provided in writing and presented as a Statement of Advice (SOA). The cost of delivering initial advice in the Statement of Advice is the Plan Preparation Fee (PPF). The PPF covers the:
- Collation, Research, analysis and assessment of your personal information; the Research, analysis, preparation and presentation of recommended financial strategies; the Research, analysis, comparison and recommendation of associated products to achieve the recommended strategies; and the production and provision of the Statement of Advice (SOA
Insurance-Only Advice – where we provide insurance-only advice, we may, at our sole discretion, rebate all or part of the PPF, in lieu of receiving commission from the insurance provider. We will only do this if the commission payment adequately covers the cost of providing the advice. The amount and method of payment of the PPF will be confirmed in the Discovery meeting, via confirmation email or in your TOE letter.
5.2 - Advice Implementation Fee (AIF)
The costs for implementing our advice are covered by the Advice Implementation Fee (AIF). This covers:
- Collation, processing, preparation of documents and submission of applications, establishing online accounts, Investment, Superannuation or IDPS Accounts, Insurance policies and Annuities, liaison with related parties, product providers and/or other professionals, such as product providers, solicitors and accountants, required to implement the advice. The amount and method of payment of the AIF will be confirmed in your SOA.
5.3 - Adviser Service Fee (Fixed Term Agreement (FTA),
The cost of ongoing services provided to you is called the Adviser Service Fee and is provided in the Fixed Term Agreement. This agreement is renewed annually. Details of the fee and the services it entitles you to, are provided in the Fixed Term Agreement (FTA). Any Other fees are included in our FSG Part A, and in the Adviser Profile Part B.
6. Termination of Services
6.1 - Termination (before SOA Received) and you, or we, choose not to proceed
Notice Period: Either party may terminate the advice relationship after accepting the Terms of Engagement but before receiving the SOA, for any reason, by providing 2 business days’ written notice via email/hard copy.
Fees for Work Completed: If you terminate our engagement before receiving the SOA and have not yet paid the PPF, or the PPF was to be funded by deduction from your investment/Superannuation/Pension account upon Implementation, we reserve the right to charge a fee for the work already completed. The fee will not exceed the original PPF quote in your Engagement Email or Terms of Engagement letter. This fee covers work, including but not limited to:
- Information collection and analysis, research, liaison with providers and professionals and strategy development
- Product analysis, comparison, and preliminary advice preparation
Payment, you agree to Pay: The fee for work completed (as above), all fees and expenses incurred or accrued up to the date of termination, must be paid within 7 days of receiving the invoice. We will retain any/all relevant documentation until fees and costs are paid in full, unless other security is provided.
6.2 - Termination (after SOA Received), and you choose not to proceed
If you decide, for any reason, after receiving the SOA, that you do not wish to proceed with our recommendations or choose to proceed with only part of our recommendations, and if we have agreed to deduct the PPF from your Investment / Superannuation / Pension Funds, (as per 2.4 above) and, as a result, we cannot deduct the PPF from your Investment / Superannuation / Pension Fund, then we reserve the right to invoice you directly for the PPF.
6.3 – Termination (after SOA received) & you don't proceed due to an adverse underwriting decision
As outlined above, if providing insurance advice, we may, at our sole discretion, rebate the Plan Preparation Fee (PPF), or part thereof, in place of receiving a commission from the insurance company for recommending and implementing the insurance for you. If we have rebated or reduced the PPF, and you don't proceed due to either of the following:
- A pre-existing, non-disclosed, or new health condition identified during the underwriting process, which results in an adverse underwriting decision, resulting in a decline of the insurance application, resulting in non-payment of commissions from the insurance provider, or
- For any other reason, the insurance policy doesn't proceed, and we do not receive the commission payment as stated in the Statement of Advice.
At our sole discretion, we reserve the right to invoice up to 100% of the PPF for the work completed up to that time. Payment is due within 7 days of receiving the invoice.
6.4 - Termination, Transfer of Adviser, or Cancellation of Insurance Policy within 12-24 Months
If you cancel, transfer your servicing rights to another adviser, or modify any of the recommended insurance policies, including reducing sums insured, change waiting or benefit periods, contract or premium type, for any reason, including, but not limited to, loss of employment, injury or illness, within 24 months of the recommended policy/is being placed "in force" by the insurer, the insurance company will recover the initial commission paid to us, and we will suffer a financial loss. Therefore, we reserve the right to recover the PPF without the need for a separate agreement, as per the following schedule:
- Within 12 months, 100% of the PPF will be recovered from you or
- From months 13 to 24, 50% of the PPF will be recovered from you
For Example:
If the PPF stated in your SOA is $3300, including GST, and you trigger the clause above, cancelling within 12 months, then we will charge $3300; if you trigger clause 7 above, then we will charge 50%, being $1650.
The date the rebated PPF would become due is the date of cancellation, modification or transfer of the policy/ies you own.
Our business terms are payment within seven days of the invoice or demand letter date. The latest time we would charge the PPF would be up to the 2nd anniversary of the "in force" date of any such policy. If we pursue this liability, we reserve the right to charge interest from the termination, transfer, or modification date and to claim any associated costs.
Interest on overdue invoices shall accrue daily from the date payment becomes due until the date of payment, at the Reserve Bank cash rate for that day plus 2% per calendar month, and at PWM’s sole discretion, such interest shall compound monthly at such a rate, after as well as before any judgment.
If you fail to pay any amounts due, you agree to reimburse us for reasonable costs incurred in recovering the debt, including legal costs on a party-party basis where we are successful in recovery action.
6.5 - Termination of Ongoing Services during Fixed Term Period
Either party may terminate the ongoing services we provide at any time, as specified in the fixed-term agreement, for any reason, by giving 30 days' written notice, via email or a hard copy letter.
Termination of services, for any reason, within the first 24 months of implementing any insurance policies, does not absolve you of responsibility as set out under this section, even if you have other existing accounts or business with us.
If either party terminates ongoing services. In that case, at our sole discretion, we reserve the right to charge a fee based on the hourly rate of $360 per hour, including GST, for any outstanding works currently in progress at that time, that are not covered in the current Fixed Term Services Agreement. This may consist of research, quotations, cash flow modelling, product comparisons, cash flows, pre-SOA work, and SOA preparation, which have been completed up to the termination date.
Upon termination, within the 30-day termination period, you agree to pay all outstanding fees and expenses incurred or accrued up to the date of termination. We will retain any relevant documentation while fees and costs are owed unless another security is provided.
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