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"It can be a sensational outcome," said a financial adviser at a focus group this month.

Getting personalised advice from an expert has the potential to be just that. There are times in life when we all need a coach, a face-to-face exchange with someone who can help us visualise what it's possible to achieve and help us actually make the necessary changes to get there.

"All I gave them was clarity," explained the adviser. "I put it together for them and they realised they could retire now. Some younger clients have doubled their monthly contributions as a result of clarity."

There was consensus in the focus group, which was convened by the Financial Markets Authority, on what success looks like. The advisers, who were Institute of Financial Advisers members and mostly certified financial planners, knew they had achieved a good result for their clients if they were able to do the following.

Hold up a mirror

"I visually show people. Words don't work," explained one. "They can make a decision if they can see the outcome."

Advisers help us see how much we really have and what we're doing with it. By casting an objective look on our situation, they can help us see what choices we're making with our cash flow and what implications these have for the future.

This holistic view can touch on everything from everyday budgeting (now or in retirement) to identifying needs for estate planning.

Instil confidence

More than just helping us chase investment returns, advisers can also educate us, allowing us to move into the future confidently.

"We're not magicians. That's not what we're in the business of trying to do," explained another adviser. "I think we're trying to provide predictable outcomes. If someone has a degree of confidence, that's good."

Protect us from ourselves

With all the weird ways that our brains can derail us from making savvy decisions, advisers can also be effective sounding boards for the biggest money decisions in our lives. Some of the most vulnerable in society are those with a lot to lose - the newly retired who are sitting on nest eggs about to hatch. Advisers can help us avoid the pitfalls of newbie choices.

Push us out of our comfort zones

Many of us tend to be overly conservative with our investment choices. But this is a classic case of "now risk" vs "later risk" - we act on the near-term risks of ups and downs in the market, but we underestimate the long-term risks of inflation eating away our savings and outliving our money.

When appropriate, advisers can push us to consider other growth options to make sure we don't miss out in the long run. Or they can keep us on track when markets are down and we might lose the nerve to stick with it.

Spread our risk

Advisers frequently focus on designing the mix of investments needed to achieve specific results, and those portfolios need regular rebalancing in order to stay on track. We've got a natural tendency to focus on property investing in this country, for example, and advisers can help us consider the other options available and make sure all our eggs are not in a single basket.

Myth-bust "she'll be right"

Finally, advisers can debunk the many mysteries of retirement. Chief among these is the idea that you need to live only off of the interest earned on your investments. Instead, they can chart a safe withdrawal rate that lets us meet our life goals in retirement without running out of money.

Says one adviser of clients: "They often say, 'Thank God I came to you now.' That's always been the biggest reward."

These are great outcomes for people. But the question we're left with is: if this is what success looks like, what more can be done to extend these positive experiences to the people who need them most?

Get Sorted is written by Sorted's resident blogger, Tom Hartmann. Check out the guides and tools from Sorted – brought to you by the Commission for Financial Capability – at sorted.org.nz.