One of your longstanding clients, Brent Simmons, has called to arrange an appointment for you to see his mother Whitney [age 7'8]. Brent's father passed away a little over six months ago and his estate has now been finalised with all assets transferring into Whitney's name. Brent's father Julian always looked after their own finances and invested primarily through direct shares. Brent has emailed you a portfolio listing all the shareholdings now in Whitney's name, as well as details ofall the cash holdings. The cash and shares add up to just over $2 million, based on the current share prices. Brent was going to attend the meeting with his mother but has been caught up at work and is now unable to make it. He calls you and says to meet with his mother anyway, as it is her money, and she is quite capable of making her own decisions. You commence your meeting with Whitney by providing her your FSG and passing on information about your practice and the advice you can give. Whitneyjust nods while you speak, and you ask her if she understands what you have outlined. Whitney replies, 'some of it — but it doesn't really matter, as you always look after Brent, and he says you will look after me'. While you are not entirely convinced that Whitney understands everything you have said, you are confident that she has the legal capacity to make her own decisions, so you decide to continue with your initial meeting. You begin the fact—finding process and ask Whitney a range of questions to understand her current situation, goals and objectives. She says that Brent should have provided the details ofthe investments, and aside from that, shejust wants 'things to continue as they were before Julian passed away'. Julian always told Whitney they had enough money to see them through their life and had things set up to provide a regular amount into the bank account for them to spend, and Whitney is happy for this arrangement to continue. She admits that she has never been part of the decision making regarding their finances, mainly because she was not interested and just let her husband deal with things. Now she is on her own, she just wants things to continue and says that as long as Brent agrees with what you recommend, she will be happy with that, and she will sign whatever needs to be signed.
Discuss why unethical decisions are more likely to arise from Whitney's apparent minimal knowledge of (or experience with) investing and overall disinterest in the financial planning process. In your response, identify and discuss one ethical barrier that is possibly impacting Whitney and one ethical barrier that may possibly impact you (as the adviser).
