The Straits Times forum page (online and paper version) continues to receive letters on people who either support or oppose the assumed direction in banning commissions earned by advisers. Therefore, I will also just keep on writing the same subject on my blog. For today, I want to write on why consumers are mainly at fault why the fees charged by financial planners are so high. Yup, my fees are very high too.

For many years, I offer both simple planning and comprehensive financial planning. The former will just take up at most 2 or 3 hours of my time. The latter will take up at least 20 hours to 30 hours. Naturally I must charge according to the actual work rendered. However, I’ve hardly any takers for the ‘simple planning’ cases. Even fresh graduates are not interested in ‘simple planning’. Most people either decide to engage me for comprehensive ...