Advice documents
Statement of Advice
A comprehensive financial advice document that sets out personalised recommendations to help clients achieve their financial goals. The template follows the Corporations Act requirements and ASIC Regulatory Guide 175, with transparent disclosure of fees, risks and benefits.
SOA template
Statement of Advice
- 01
About This Document
- 02
Executive Summary
- 03
Your Current Situation
- 04
Your Goals and Objectives
- 05
Your Attitude to Risk
- 06
Financial Position Summary
- 07If applicable
Centrelink/Social Security Analysis
- 08
Our Recommendations
and 24 more sections
The problem
Why the Statement of Advice takes so long today.
Without Claras
An SOA takes days of an adviser’s or paraplanner’s time, most of it rekeying what the client already said in the fact find and strategy meeting. Every adviser structures it a little differently, and the wording your licensee mandates drifts between copies.
With Claras
Claras drafts each section that applies from the meetings and files you select, can write a brief first so the sections agree with each other, inserts any wording you mark as fixed exactly as written, and tells you which sections need the closest review. You get a Word document in your branded template.
Structure
How the Statement of Advice is laid out.
These are the sections of the Statement of Advice template in the Claras library, in the order they appear. Each section is drafted on its own from the sources you select. Conditional sections only appear when the advice covers them, and a licensee template can replace or reorder any of them.
The primary advice document for new clients, or when providing significant advice that materially changes a client’s financial situation. Sections such as SMSF advice, aged care or insurance needs analysis are conditional and only appear when the advice covers them.
- 01
About This Document
What the SOA explains, how to read it, when it was prepared and by whom, and the note that the advice rests on the information the client provided.
- 02
Executive Summary
The client’s two or three key goals, the three to five most significant recommendations, expected outcomes and the next steps.
- 03
Your Current Situation
Personal details, values and priorities, a current financial position table, existing financial products and tax position, all from the fact find and meeting notes.
- 04
Your Goals and Objectives
Short, medium and long term goals with priority, timeframe, target amount and progress, plus how competing goals are balanced.
- 05
Your Attitude to Risk
The risk profile result, what it means in practice, the asset allocation ranges it implies and any considerations that shaped the advice.
- 06
Financial Position Summary
Assets and liabilities, income and expenses, cashflow, superannuation and debt position, with the observations that influenced the recommendations.
- 07
Centrelink/Social Security AnalysisConditional
Current entitlements, how the recommendations change them, Centrelink strategies and future entitlement projections.
- 08
Our Recommendations
Each recommendation with what is recommended, why, how it will work, expected benefits and important considerations, then an implementation priority.
- 09
Basis/Scope of Advice
What the advice covers and excludes, key assumptions, the information relied upon and any limitations.
- 10
Benefits and Risks
Quantified benefits tied to the client’s goals, then investment, implementation and legislative risks and other considerations.
- 11
Alternative Strategies Considered
Each alternative with its benefits and why it was not recommended, the no action alternative and a comparison against the recommended strategy.
- 12
Retirement Planning Analysis
Retirement goals, current trajectory, projected outcomes after the recommendations, assumptions and a sensitivity analysis.
- 13
Estate Planning Considerations
Current arrangements, distribution wishes, superannuation death benefit and insurance nominations, and the financial aspects of the estate plan.
- 14
Blended Family Estate PlanningConditional
The family structure, competing interests and the arrangements needed so assets pass as intended.
- 15
Business Owner ConsiderationsConditional
Business structure and position, and the business related aspects of the financial plan.
- 16
Divorce/Separation Financial ImplicationsConditional
Separation status, property settlement and how the recommendations account for the change.
- 17
Recommended Products
Each recommended product with provider, description, why it was selected and how it fits the strategy.
- 18
Product Replacement InformationConditional
For each replacement, the existing and new product side by side so the client understands what they give up and gain.
- 19
Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF) AdviceConditional
Whether to establish, change or wind up an SMSF, suitability, and the responsibilities that come with it.
- 20
Limited Recourse Borrowing ArrangementsConditional
The LRBA recommendation, property type, purchase price, loan structure and the risks specific to borrowing inside super.
- 21
Defined Benefit Superannuation AnalysisConditional
The fund, membership and benefit details, and the analysis a defined benefit interest requires.
- 22
Aged Care Financial PlanningConditional
Care needs, accommodation options, costs, funding strategies and the effect on the overall financial position.
- 23
Debt Recycling StrategyConditional
How the strategy converts non deductible debt into deductible debt while building investment assets, and the specific plan.
- 24
Redundancy/Employment Transition StrategyConditional
The transition details and strategies to make the most of a redundancy payment.
- 25
Insurance Needs AnalysisConditional
Protection priorities, dependants and obligations, and the recommended cover.
- 26
Cost of Advice
The advice fee structure, total amount, what it covers, when it is payable and whether GST is included.
- 27
Ongoing Service Arrangements
The recommended service package, review frequency and access to the adviser between reviews.
- 28
Product Costs and Charges
A summary of estimated annual product costs across all recommended products, then the detail per product.
- 29
Adviser Disclosures
Remuneration, potential conflicts of interest and relationships with other parties.
- 30
Implementation Steps
A timeline of implementation phases and the ordered actions to carry out the advice.
- 31
Acknowledgment and Authority to Proceed
The client’s acknowledgment of the advice and the authority to implement it.
- 32
Supporting Information
Economic and market assumptions, research and detailed projections behind the recommendations.
Sources
What Claras draws on.
You choose which materials are relevant. Claras reads the parts of them that each section of the Statement of Advice needs, and shows you the sources behind each section.
- Discovery and strategy meetings
- The fact find and risk profile
- Research and product comparisons you attach
- The client record built from earlier meetings
Controls
The same controls on every document.
- Fixed wording inserted word for word, where you turn it on
- Adviser and licensee details drafted from your practice profile
- Review guidance on every drafted section: light, standard or careful
- Personal information removed before anything reaches the AI, by default
- Version history on every document
- Word export in your branded template
Your templates
Make the template yours.
Owners, managers and advisers can create and edit document templates under Templates. Start from the library, your own Word file or a description, then adjust any section heading or outline. Add or refine a section with AI, move sections up or down, and choose the export style that brands the Word file.
Use a library template
Open the template library, pick one and use it. Claras makes a separate copy your practice owns and can edit.
Upload the one you already use
Upload your existing template and Claras builds an editable template from its structure. Then turn on fixed text for the wording that must not change, and upload your Word file as an export style for the branding.
Describe what you need
Tell Claras what the document is for and it generates the sections, outlines and conditional rules for you to refine.
Square brackets are instructions
Inside a section, text in [square brackets] tells Claras what to write. Plain text guides the wording, and fixed text locks it.
Lock fixed text
Turn on fixed text for a section and the wording outside brackets, like your AFSL, phone number or disclaimers, is inserted word for word.
Conditional sections
Mark a section conditional and it only appears when the advice covers it, so one template serves every scope.
Version history and updates
Every change is versioned and can be restored. When a library template you copied improves, review the summary and apply it while keeping your edits, or skip it.
Licensee templates
Templates from your licensee.
Claras sets up licensees’ approved templates for the practices under their licence. If yours is on Claras, you draft from the exact structure they signed off, and they keep control of it.
Select your AFSL
On the Licensee tab under Templates, choose the AFSL your practice operates under. If your licensee has templates in Claras, you can request access.
Your licensee approves
The licensee sees which of their templates your practice uses and when. No client information is shared in either direction.
Their templates appear in your list
Their templates show in the Documents tab under Templates with an Official badge, and anything added in the last week is marked new.
- The licensee controls the content. Their edits reach every practice as soon as they are made.
- You can apply your own export style so the Word file carries your branding, or keep the licensee’s.
- You can duplicate a licensee template into an editable copy only where the licensee allows copies.
- If a connection ends, documents you already created stay available. New documents and regenerating sections from that template stop.
Licensee not on Claras yet?
Start from the Claras library or upload your licensee’s Word template as your own. When your licensee joins, we set up their approved versions for every practice under the licence.
Who it is for
Built for advisers. Governed by licensees.
For advisers
Draft your next document from the meeting you just had.
Record or upload the meeting, pick the template and review the draft. Your first file notes are free and there is no credit card to enter.
For licensees
Share your templates with your advisers.
Send us your approved SOA and ROA templates and we set them up, with the wording that must not change marked as fixed. Every adviser under your licence drafts from the same structure.
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