Months of frustration spent looking to employ a senior financial planner could have some practice principals pining for their annual holiday, but for one independent operator, the experience has invoked the spirit of the early Contiki Tours.
Last year, Professional Planner Online revealed the plight of Matthew Ross, an independent financial adviser with Roskow Independent Advisory, who was adamant that the biggest short-term obstacle to his business was finding the right people.
An advert on Seek in October and November and judicious use of Linkedin saw 20 candidates interviewed for the independent financial adviser role late last year, but none was considered sufficiently qualified.
“I set very high standards for the role which still hasn’t been filled,” says Ross. “I need someone who can hit the ground running, who has experience with the passive investment strategy we advocate.
“Within our team are two associate advisers/paraplanners who will be promoted to advisers within the next six to 36 months. Many who applied for the role are as capable and experienced as Amy and Adriano, but right now I’m not able to support three associate advisers. The next person into the business needs to be an adviser who can hit the ground running.”
An opportunity in the unqualified
And so, in a move that is either inspired or the very height of chutzpah, Ross is offering to nurture the unsuccessful candidates (and anyone else) in the art of providing independent financial advice – for a small fee.
In a letter sent to applicants, Ross outlines his reasons for launching the Roskow Advice Academy, which is expected to open in Melbourne, Brisbane and possibly Sydney in late February or March.
“We realise that there isn’t anywhere for you to go to get training, support, help, nurturing, assistance, experience, to learn how to become a great adviser,” he writes. “We’ve all been out there in the conflicted side of financial planning and have had to create our own world. We want to share what we’ve learned with you.”
The world according to Ross will take the form of 36 individual sessions, each of which will run for 60 to 90 minutes. Each session will cost $197 and will cover everything from building and pricing relationships to strategy analysis. The academy is not officially registered, so any qualification would not be recognised by the industry, but for Ross this is not really the point.
His aim is to mentor young advisers to have move confidence with clients and “no one knows what a CFP is anyway”. Ross denies that the exercise is purely designed to create a new income steam, arguing that “we are probably underpricing”.
He likens the venture to the first Contiki Tours in the early 1960s that started with a handful of people and grew into one of the biggest youth travel companies, carrying over 150,000 18 to 35-year-olds worldwide in 2007.
“I started my own business in 2006. The first two years I was looking in the wrong places for clients. I was servicing the wrong type of clients and the fees that I was charging were too low because I lacked confidence, experience and knowledge,” says Ross.
“The leap to independence before the pack”
“At the moment our Melbourne office is booked out two months in advance. We’re not in a position to ask for referrals from existing clients because we haven’t got capacity for more work right now.”
Ross argues that there are currently less than 20 truly independent financial advisers in Australia and founding an academy is one way to take a punt on a future he believes will be radically different.
“Within 10 to 15 years we doubt that we will be as scarce as we are right now,” he says.
“For any advisers prepared to make the leap to independence before the pack, the good news is that you will never go hungry. Your major concern won’t be about how to find new clients; it will be about how to find the right people to join your team to get the mountains of work done.”
He adds that current advice models have left advisers frustrated, guilty, ashamed, lacking pride and ready to quit financial planning.
“So many other financial advisers have had a 30-year start on you and they’ve been hanging around the valleys, picking the low-hanging fruit,” he writes on a blog targeting potential applicants.
“They’ve missed the opportunity of a lifetime and they will come to regret this in the years to come as they watch their existing clients engage you as their adviser or at the very minimum question the integrity of the adviser when they ask why they hadn’t made the transition to independence sooner.
“We know that the future of advice will be small boutique firms full of independent financial advisers who are sitting on the same side of the table as their clients. This is what consumers want, need and will pay good fees for.”
Interesting article. I have some doubts about 20 truly independent advisers in Australia but it is difficult to find anybody not associated with the large financial service companies.
I think that Australia needs to follow the lead of the US and FINRA to ensure that advisers (both financial and investment) are able to do their jobs as they have to pass relatively stringent exams as well as having to have a degree (hopefully in Finance and/or Banking) before they can provide a financial service to retail customers.
All I can say is good luck to Mr Ross with his training and hopefully, he will end up with suitable employees from the training.