The FIRST step in the financial advisory process is sometimes called:

The FIRST step in the financial advisory process is sometimes called:

• A. Knowing the consumer
• B. Devising a financial planning strategy for the consumer
• C. Prioritising of needs
• D. Determining suitability

Answer: (A)

Knowing the consumer is about gathering and understanding all relevant information about the client before any planning begins. This fact-finding builds a complete client profile – details like financial position, goals, time horizons, tax status, constraints, and risk tolerance. With this foundation, you can tailor advice accurately, identify priorities, and design a plan that fits the client’s unique circumstances. If you don’t start here, any later step—devising a strategy, prioritising needs, or assessing suitability—would be guesswork or misaligned to the client’s real situation. Prioritising needs, for example, depends on what the client truly wants and can accomplish within their constraints, which come from knowing them well. Determining suitability is about matching options to the client’s profile, which you can’t do correctly without first understanding the client.

Knowing the consumer is about gathering and understanding all relevant information about the client before any planning begins. This fact-finding builds a complete client profile – details like financial position, goals, time horizons, tax status, constraints, and risk tolerance. With this foundation, you can tailor advice accurately, identify priorities, and design a plan that fits the client’s unique circumstances.

If you don’t start here, any later step—devising a strategy, prioritising needs, or assessing suitability—would be guesswork or misaligned to the client’s real situation. Prioritising needs, for example, depends on what the client truly wants and can accomplish within their constraints, which come from knowing them well. Determining suitability is about matching options to the client’s profile, which you can’t do correctly without first understanding the client.