Think you need to be a millionaire to get the most from financial advice? As former Western Australia upper house MP Liz Behjat faced a big career change, she found that talking to Wayne Legget CFP® was just what she and her husband needed to make informed choices and look forward to their future with confidence.

For Liz Behjat, working in politics was a busy and varied experience. But since leaving the Western Australia upper house, she’s made a successful move into aged care services and is now enjoying her new role as a senior executive. As she came to the end of her political career, Liz was involved in a podcast and was intrigued to hear what another guest on the show, Wayne Leggett CFP®, had to say about financial planning. “Listening to Wayne started me thinking about how much I didn’t know about my finances,” says Liz. “He spoke about financial planners being guardian angels and I said to him, I think that’s what I need and that’s how our conversation started.”

Not just for the wealthy

This chance meeting came at the perfect time for Liz and her husband as both were navigating big changes in their working lives. “You don’t come into a certain amount of money leaving politics,” says Liz. “I needed to move into another career and at the same time my husband was thinking about opening a small business.”

In the past, Liz had thought she wasn’t someone who would benefit from financial advice because she wasn’t wealthy compared with most Australians. “I’ve never owned shares in my life but I needed to know how I was going to plan for my future,” she says. “What stood in my way was that I thought you had to be part of the Fortune 500 to have a financial planner in your life. I think that’s the greatest hurdle for many people. But the ones who need the advice are the ordinary Mums and Dads, the Aussie backyard battlers.”

Involved at every step

Although Liz was unsure about whether financial advice was for her, the planning process she experienced with Wayne was exactly what she wanted. “My expectations were that I would be given some choices about what I would do, and then I would be involved in those choices through an education process,” she says. “I wasn’t looking for someone who would just wrap it all up in a nice little gift and give it back to me. In working through things with Wayne there were choices all along the way and he made sure that we understood each step before moving to the next and that was very comforting.

“Our journey with Wayne started with a series of phone conversations, planting the seeds as to what could be possible and then arranging for my husband and I to meet with him. Before agreeing to anything there were at least three or four meetings to gather information and then he took time to think it through and prepare a proposal for us. And he was always available, giving us his mobile number and telling us to call him whenever we had any questions.”

Advice you can trust

Being involved and consulted at every step made sure Liz and her husband trusted Wayne to guide them in making these important life choices. He was also able to point them in the right direction for getting expert advice from other professionals to help them get the best outcome. “My husband had questions about his small business set-up and Wayne could put us in touch with people he trusts who were able to give us advice,” says Liz. “We also needed help in relation to getting a mortgage. Securing a home loan later in life can be quite challenging and the big four banks weren’t able to help us whereas the mortgage broker he recommended could. I can say 100% that I would recommend Wayne to others and that’s the trust you can build up in your relationship with your financial planner.”

Discover more about what a Certified Financial Planner® professional can do for your future plans and find out how to connect with a financial planner.