A real plan, written down.
A structured fee-based planning engagement, around 3 hours, $750 + GST. Two sessions, a written plan, an annual review. The 12 numbers every NZ household should know, modelled and explained.
TL;DR
Most NZ households don't have a written financial plan. They have a KiwiSaver scheme, a mortgage, some insurance, and a mental model of what they think they're saving for. The mental model is rarely tested against the numbers and almost never written down. A fee-based planning engagement converts the mental model into a written plan: current state, target state, the gap, and specific actions to close the gap. The cost is $750 + GST and around 3 hours of your time.
- Fee: $750 + GST for a structured 3-hour engagement and a written plan (current rate, illustrative).
- Deliverable: a written plan covering retirement, insurance, debt, savings, estate signposting.
- Optional: annual review at a separate rate, keeps the plan live as life changes.
Two sessions, one written plan.
A standard planning engagement runs across two structured sessions plus the modelling work in between. The total chargeable time is around 3 hours and the deliverable is a written plan you keep.
Pre-engagement: questionnaire and document collection. Before the first session we send a structured questionnaire covering income, expenses, assets, liabilities, KiwiSaver balances and scheme, insurance policies, retirement target. The questionnaire takes most clients 60 to 90 minutes to fill out and provides the foundation for the modelling. We also ask for recent payslips, KiwiSaver annual statements and current insurance schedules. The more accurate the inputs, the more useful the plan.
Session 1: goals and current state. A 90-minute session, typically in person at the Papamoa office or by video. We work through what the household actually wants: retirement age, lifestyle target, intergenerational intentions, business succession if relevant, the major life decisions on the horizon. We then map the current state: net worth, contribution rates, insurance adequacy, debt position, tax structure. The output is a shared, written view of "where we are and where we want to be."
Modelling work: between sessions. We run the retirement projection, the insurance gap analysis, the debt repayment model, the KiwiSaver contribution scenarios. This is the work that needs uninterrupted time. The output is a draft plan with specific recommendations and the assumptions behind each.
Session 2: plan walkthrough and recommendations. A 60-minute session walking through the written plan. Each recommendation has a reason, an assumption, and a proposed action. We work through any questions, adjust the plan where assumptions are off, and confirm the action list. The output is a final written plan with a 12-month action checklist.
After the engagement. The written plan is yours to keep. Most clients return for an annual review, but the plan stands on its own if you don't. The fee covers the planning work, not ongoing service.
$750 + GST, written confirmation before any chargeable work.
The current fee for a structured planning engagement is $750 + GST for around 3 hours of advice work. The fee covers the questionnaire review, the two sessions, the modelling between them, and the written plan output. (This is the current published rate on wealthhealth.co.nz at May 2026; rates are reviewed periodically and will be confirmed in writing before any engagement begins.)
The fee is invoiced directly to the client and is not contingent on any product being purchased afterward. If the plan recommends moving KiwiSaver schemes or changing insurance, you can act on those recommendations through Wealth Health or through any other adviser. The planning fee covers the advice; product implementation is separate.
Larger engagements are quoted separately. Multi-entity business structures, trust restructures, business succession planning, complex estate setups and similar are scoped and priced before any work begins. We provide a written fee proposal that includes scope, deliverables, timing and total fee. No chargeable work starts without your written approval.
Annual reviews are charged at a reduced rate to reflect the lower work involved (the planning foundation already exists; the review updates assumptions and adjusts recommendations). The review rate is confirmed at the time it's scheduled.
The 15-minute initial conversation is free. We use it to confirm whether a planning engagement is the right fit, what scope is needed, and what the fee proposal would look like. There's no pressure to proceed; some clients come for the free conversation, decide planning isn't right for them at this stage, and leave with a clearer view of their position. That's a fine outcome too.
Every NZ household should know these.
Inside the planning engagement we calculate a defined set of 12 numbers for each household. The list is borrowed from international planning practice and adapted for NZ. Most clients can answer two or three of them when we start; by the end of the engagement they can answer all 12. The numbers form the spine of the written plan.
- Gross household income. Combined gross income from all sources before tax and KiwiSaver contributions. The starting point for every other ratio.
- After-tax household income. What actually arrives in the bank account.
- Total monthly expenses. The number most clients can't answer accurately without three months of bank-statement work. Honest answers here transform the plan.
- Net household savings rate. After-tax income minus expenses, expressed as a percentage. A savings rate below 10 percent is hard to retire from. 15 percent is decent; 20 percent buys real optionality.
- Net worth. Total assets (house, KiwiSaver, savings, vehicles, business equity) minus total liabilities (mortgage, other debt).
- Mortgage payoff date at current rate. The month and year the mortgage will be cleared if nothing changes. Many clients are surprised by this number.
- KiwiSaver projected balance at retirement. Based on current balance, current contribution rate, current fund, and the household's target retirement age. The single biggest input to retirement modelling.
- Retirement income gap. The annual income gap between target retirement spending and NZ Super + projected KiwiSaver income, in today's dollars.
- Capital required to close the gap. The asset base needed at retirement to fund the gap sustainably. Usually derived from a 3.5 to 4 percent withdrawal rate.
- Life insurance gap. The shortfall between current life cover and what dependants would need if the primary income earners died. Usually expressed as a $ amount and a percentage.
- Income protection gap. The shortfall in monthly income cover if the household lost an earner's income to long-term illness. Almost always the biggest insurance gap.
- Health insurance status. Whether the household has private health cover, what tier, and how the premium scales over the next decade.
Some plans add household-specific numbers (business equity, second-property mortgage, overseas pension entitlements). The core 12 cover most situations. Once these are written down, the plan becomes specific rather than aspirational.
Two different conversations, charged differently.
Most NZ households experience financial advice as product advice, one product at a time. The mortgage broker focuses on the mortgage. The KiwiSaver scheme focuses on the KiwiSaver. The insurance broker focuses on the insurance. Each conversation is useful in its narrow scope. None of them, by design, answers the question "are all of these pieces actually fitting together for me."
Planning advice answers that question. The output is a set of decisions: change the mortgage repayment to fixed-and-floating split, increase KiwiSaver contribution rate, add $200,000 of income protection cover, restructure the term deposits into a different cashflow ladder. Each decision feeds back into one of the product conversations as a specific instruction.
Charging the two differently matters. If the same adviser writes the plan and sells the product, the temptation is to recommend products that pay well rather than products that fit. Fee-based planning removes that incentive for the planning piece. The product piece (insurance, KiwiSaver) is then executed on the standard commission basis with full written disclosure, and the client knows which conversation is paying for which work.
You don't have to use Wealth Health for product implementation after the plan is written. Many clients do, because the integrated relationship is convenient. Some clients use Wealth Health only for the plan and execute products through other providers. Either is fine. The plan is the deliverable.
Households where a written plan adds clarity.
Not every household needs a written plan. For households on stable salaries with default KiwiSaver settings and no complicating factors, the Retirement Commission's free tool at Sorted.org.nz covers most of what a planning engagement would tell them. Spending $750 on planning when the same answer is available for free is not value.
The households that benefit most from fee-based planning have at least one of these features:
Approaching retirement (10 to 20 years out). The decisions made in this window matter disproportionately because there's still time to act on them. Contribution rate, fund settings, mortgage paydown strategy, work-to-retirement transition. A written plan tested against the math is more useful here than in any other life stage.
Multiple income sources or business equity. A salary plus a side business, or a partnership distribution plus rental income, or a salary plus options-based compensation. Multiple income sources usually mean structural tax decisions worth tens of thousands of dollars and a written plan is the natural place to make them deliberately.
Recent major life event. Separation, divorce, bereavement, redundancy, inheritance. These events change the financial picture quickly and the existing plan (if any) is suddenly wrong. A fresh plan rebuilds from the new baseline.
High earners without a written plan. A surprising number of high-earning professionals have never had a structured plan written. The income hides a lot of slop; a plan reveals where the optimisation opportunities are.
If none of these fit your situation, we'll say so in the initial conversation and point you at the free tools. We'd rather you spend $750 on something else than on planning that won't change your life.
About planning engagements.
What's actually in a financial planning engagement?
Typically a pre-meeting questionnaire, a 90-minute structured first session covering goals and current state, a follow-up modelling session, and a written plan output covering retirement projections, insurance review, debt strategy, savings recommendations and estate signposting. The engagement runs about 3 hours of structured time at the current rate of $750 + GST. Annual reviews available at a separate rate.
How is financial planning different from product advice?
Planning advice tells you what to do. Product advice helps you execute. Planning asks "should we change the mortgage structure, increase KiwiSaver contributions, and add trauma cover"; product advice then quotes the specific KiwiSaver fund or trauma policy that delivers on that recommendation. We do both, charged differently. Planning is fee-based; products are commission-funded.
Do I need to come back every year?
Most clients benefit from an annual review. Markets move, interest rates move, life changes, KiwiSaver balances change, tax rules change. An annual review keeps the plan current and adjusts the recommendations to match. The review is shorter than the initial engagement (usually 60 to 90 minutes) and is charged separately. Some clients with stable situations review every 2 years rather than annually.
Who is fee-based planning for?
Most commonly: households 10 to 20 years out from retirement, business owners with structural decisions to make, recently-separated or recently-widowed clients restructuring their financial life, and high-earning professionals who haven't had a formal plan written. The unifying feature is enough complexity that a structured plan adds clarity beyond ad-hoc decisions.
Can I bring my partner / accountant / lawyer to the meeting?
Yes, we encourage it. For couples, both partners attending the planning session leads to dramatically better outcomes. For business owners, having your accountant in the loop is often essential, especially around tax structure. For estate-heavy planning, including your lawyer in one of the sessions saves time and produces a cleaner integrated plan.
What if I'm not ready to act on the recommendations?
That's fine. The plan is yours regardless. Many clients sit on the plan for a few months before implementing. Some implement in stages over a year. Some never implement and use the plan only as a checkpoint of where they are. The fee covers the advice; what you do with it is your call.
Start with a 15-minute conversation.
No charge. We work out together whether a planning engagement is the right fit and what scope is needed. If it isn't, we'll point you at the free tools and you leave $750 ahead.