I went for an 'Adulting' workshop and an FA was assigned to me for first meet up no obligation and fees. Once he works out my portfolio and to maximise it, how does he gain an income from there?

Hi Izz,

The FA will only get an income if you do purchase a policy from him. I think that workshop was for the FAs to get potential leads so that they are able to arrange for meetups to see if there are potential business opportunities. And in this industry, our work is meeting up with people.

You have the final say, and I think it would be good to be honest. However, I do think having a meet up is fine, cause there is no harm in getting a 2nd opinion in seeing if there are potential gaps or maybe even possible opportunities. But this is just my personal opinion

The workshop was most likely a lead generation effort to meet potential prospects and clients.

But advisors in the business know that every lead is precious, even if you don't become a client now, there's a chance you could be one in the future especially if your life circumstances change.

I'd suggest working with someone you trust who you know has your best intentions at heart. You really don't want to feel pressured every meeting or think that you owe the advisor something if you don't purchase a product.

There are independent financial advisors that work on a fee based or fee only model. We have retainers, or charge a % of assets under management, charge per project, or even charge per hour. This helps some clients feel that no product needs to be purchased, and the relationship becomes more like a "lawyer" kind of service.