Summerhill Financial Services

Level 1, 530 Little Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Telephone (03) 9909 7702
Facsimile   (03) 9909 7788
Email          mail@summerhillfs.com.au
Website     www.summerhillfs.com.au

V3.6 (updated October 2023) Australian Financial Services Licence: 300038

Financial Services Guide

This Financial Services Guide (FSG) is an important document that we must give you under the requirements of our Australian Financial Services Licence. It provides you with information about:

• who we are
• the services we can provide to you
• how we are remunerated for these services
• details of any arrangements that may influence our advice
• details of our internal and external complaints-handling procedures and how you can access them
• how we collect and use your personal information

Summerhill Financial Services is a principal member of the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) and is bound by its Professional Code of Conduct and Ethics.

Summerhill Financial Services is committed to providing our clients with advice that is tailored to suit your particular needs, objectives and financial circumstances. To achieve this, you will need to provide us with personal information about your objectives, needs and financial situation. You are, of course, under no obligation to provide this information to us; however, if you choose not to disclose this important information, our advice may not be appropriate for you.

We will also explain how our advice is appropriate to your needs and objectives, along with any significant risks associated with various financial products and strategies recommended.

Financial Strategy Advice

You are entitled to receive a “Statement of Advice” (SOA) on the first occasion that we provide you with personal financial product advice; this will:

• explain the advice and the basis of the advice
• provide information about our remuneration
• disclose any associations or relationships we have that might reasonably be expected to influence us in providing advice

After providing you with your SOA, any future personal financial product advice that we provide under our annual engagement service will be documented in a “Statement of Additional Advice” or a “Record of Advice”, provided there has been no significant change to your personal circumstances, and hence the basis upon which our advice was provided.

Copies of the SOA, Statements of Additional Advice and/or Record(s) of Advice will be retained on your client file; you can ask for a copy of these documents at any time.

If, as part of our advice, we recommend that you purchase a particular financial product (other than securities), we must also provide you with or explain how to access a Product Disclosure Statement issued by the Product Issuer; this contains information about the benefits, risks and other features of the product.  You should read this information so you can make an informed decision before purchasing the recommended product.

Who will be responsible for the advice provided to me?

Summerhill Financial Services Pty Ltd is responsible for any advice provided to you by your adviser. Summerhill Financial Services is privately owned and has its own Australian Financial Services Licence (AFS Licence No.300038). Summerhill Financial Services has no affiliation with any institution or product provider.

Your adviser is Alexander Perini of Summerhill Financial Services. Your adviser can be contacted at Summerhill Financial Services’ registered address:

Level 1, 530 Little Collins Street Melbourne Vic 3000

What advice may be provided to me?

Summerhill Financial Services Pty Ltd holds an Australian Financial Services Licence (No.300038) and we are able to provide advice in the following areas:

• cash flow and debt management
• wealth-creation strategies
• advice relating to structuring trusts, companies and superannuation funds
• remuneration planning, including salary packaging
• superannuation and retirement planning
• investment advice and strategy
• risk protection (life insurance)
• estate planning

If we provide you with “personal financial product advice”, rather than “general financial product advice”, we will give you a Statement of Advice (SOA). Personal financial product advice takes into account one or more of your objectives, financial situation and needs.

The SOA will contain the advice, the basis on which it is given and information about fees, commissions and any associations that may have influenced the advice.

After the initial SOA, you will receive a regular Record of Advice if there have been no significant changes in your personal circumstances, or the basis of the advice has not significantly changed since the last SOA was provided. You have the right to request a copy of this Record of Advice at any time.

How will I pay for the advice provided to me?

Initial advice:

We operate on a fee-for-service basis. The fee for initial advice is dollar based, depending upon the complexity and scope of advice required. A written proposal will be provided to you before undertaking any work, and we will obtain your written acceptance of the fee before proceeding. The fee will range from $4,400 to $11,000, including GST, or where the advice is highly specialised the initial advice fee may be calculated on an hourly basis and range from $330 to $550 per hour.

Annual advice:

Establishing your financial strategy is important. Equally important is regular review, planning and advice to cater for changes in your personal circumstances, legislation, economic and financial conditions.

Together we ensure your financial plan becomes a live document and relevant to your circumstances as they are and as they change into the future. As part of this process, we track your progress towards your goals and objectives and update goals and strategies appropriately each time we review your financial plan.

Our annual advice fees for new clients from 15 November 2020 are dollar based fees with a minimum of $6,600 pa including GST. We do not accept percentage based fees for new clients from 15 November 2020. These fees will be disclosed in your SOA; again, we will obtain your written acceptance of the annual advice fees before proceeding with any further advice.

Investment products:

We do not accept investment product commissions. Neither do we charge an implementation fee.

The SOA we give you clearly discloses any other benefits we may receive as a result of our advi

Risk insurance products:

Summerhill Financial Services is entitled to receive commissions from the insurers for the personal insurance advice and services we provide to you. However, Summerhill Financial Services does not accept insurance product commissions for new clients from 15 November 2020. Where these commissions can be negotiated with the insurance product provider, any insurance commission payable will be rebated to you in the form of a reduced premium.

If specific insurance product advice is required, the advice fee will be between $3,300 – $5,500, including GST, which also includes implementation of the advice.

The above amounts will be fully disclosed in your SOA, which we provide you when we make a financial recommendation.

You have the right to request further information regarding the way in which we are remunerated at any time.

Do any relationships exist that might influence the service or advice that I receive?

Summerhill Financial Services is not owned by any Fund Manager or Institution, so there are no relationships that will influence the advice you receive.

Your adviser may hold an interest in a financial product. Any significant interest/ownership will be recorded in a register of financial product holding and, where appropriate, this holding will be disclosed in your SOA, Statement of Additional Advice or Record of Advice.

We may refer you to another specialist professional adviser. We do not have any remuneration arrangements in place with referral sources, rather the referral is based on the most appropriate specialist adviser for your situation (such as an estate lawyer, stockbroker or accountant).

What information do you maintain in my file and can I examine my file?

We maintain a record of your personal profile that includes details of your objectives, financial situation and needs. We also maintain records of any recommendations made to you. Please ask us if you wish to examine your file.

We are committed to implementing and promoting a privacy policy that ensures the privacy and security of your personal information. Our Privacy Policy sets out in detail our policies on managing your personal information. You can obtain a copy of this policy, free of charge, from us or on our website at www.summerhillfs.com.au.

As a financial advice provider, we have an obligation under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financial Act to verify your identity and the source of any funds. This means we will ask you to present identification documents such as a passport and driver’s licence, of which we retain copies. We assure you this information is held securely, in line with our Privacy Policy. You can find a copy of this policy on our website at www.summerhillfs.com.au.

What kind of compensation arrangements do you have in place and are these arrangements complying?

Summerhill Financial Services Pty Ltd confirms it has arrangements in place to ensure it continues to maintain Professional Indemnity insurance in accordance with s.912B of the Corporations Act 2001 (as amended). In particular, our Professional Indemnity insurance, subject to its terms and conditions, provides indemnity up to the sum insured for Summerhill Financial Services and our representatives, in respect of our authorisations and obligations under our Australian Financial Services Licence. This insurance will continue to provide such coverage for any representative who has ceased employment with Summerhill Financial Services for work done while engaged with us.

Can I tell you how I wish to instruct you to buy or sell my investment?

Yes. You may specify how you would like to give us instructions (for example, by telephone, email or other means). But in all cases, we must receive written confirmation of these instructions.

Disputes handling and our complaints policy – What should I do if I have a complaint?

We are committed to providing quality advice to our clients. This commitment extends to providing accessible complaint-resolution mechanisms for our clients.

We treat any complaint we receive seriously. If you are dissatisfied with your experience as our client we ask that you communicate with us (by phone, email or in person) so we can try to resolve the issue for you. If you have a complaint, please contact Summerhill Financial Services Pty Ltd at:

• Email:              mail@summerhillfs.com.au 
• In writing to:   Summerhill Financial Services Pty Ltd, Level 1, 530 Little Collins Street, Melbourne Vic 3000
• Telephone:      (03) 9909 7702

We will investigate and endeavour to resolve your complaint quickly and fairly. We have adopted best practice complaints handling processes to ensure:

• Acknowledgement of your concerns within 24 hours of receipt;
• Speedy assessment and investigation;
• Timely provision of a response (known as an IDR response) not more than 30 days after we receive your complaint.

If we cannot resolve the issue to your satisfaction within 30 days, we will refer you to the free industry complaints handling body known as the Australian Financial Complaints Authority Limited (AFCA). We are a financial member of AFCA, the Government approved External Disputes Resolution scheme.

AFCA can be reached at:

• Website:           www.afca.org.au
• Email:                info@afca.org.au
• In writing to:    Australian Financial Complaints Authority, GPO Box 3, Melbourne, VIC 3001
• Telephone:       1800 931 678 (free call)

If your concerns involve unethical conduct, you may wish to consider raising these concerns with the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA). They can be contacted at: Level 6, Suite 603, 55 Clarence Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000.