The Perth-based financial planning firm, The Wealth Designers (TWD), is the winner of the Best Practice Competition 2013.
Emerging from an exceptionally strong group of finalists, which were themselves drawn from one of the strongest fields of entrants in the competition’s history, TWD won the competition, run jointly by Professional Planner and Business Health, and supported by MLC Advice Partnerships.
| Finalists in the Best Practice Competition 2013 were (in alphabetical order) |
| Australian Private Capital (Melbourne, Victoria) |
| Collins SBA (Hobart, Tasmania) |
| Eureka Whittaker Macnaught (Brisbane, Queensland) |
| JSA Financial Planning (Charlestown, New South Wales) |
| Scholten Collins McKissock (Doncaster, Victoria) |
The winner was determined after each practice completed a comprehensive online HealthCheck, and the six finalists were subjected to onsite audits by Business Health. A judging panel then reviewed and debated the Business Health assessments of each finalist.
Managing director of TWD, Troy MacMillan, says that part of what helps the practice stand out from other firms is that it is good at converting clients’ thinking and beliefs about the role of financial advice.
“We are good at identifying the complexities that hinder our clients achieve their short and long-term financial outcomes,” MacMillan says. “We are good at understanding why the client pays our fee every year. We understand that by managing the ongoing behaviour of clients, they will have a greater chance of achieving the outcomes important to them, rather than putting them in today’s best products, services or platforms.
“[And] we understand that we are in the business of building a business that delivers advice, rather than just being in the business of advice. Therefore we aim to undertake all our processes – from client engagement, pricing, through to our own strategic planning – in a manner that is consistent, methodical, specific, auditable and non-person-dependent.”
In its assessment of TWD, Business Health said it was “the way that TWD has branded itself, its advice model and unique client segmentation model that sets it apart from others”.
Full coverage of the winner and the finalist practices will appear in the September edition of Professional Planner magazine.
| Best Practice Competition 2013 judging panel |
| Paul Derham – partner, Holley Nethercote |
| Brad Fox – chief executive officer, Association of Financial Advisers |
| Claire Mackay – director, Quantum Financial |
| Bob Neill – principal, Seaview Consulting |
| Mark Rantall – chief executive officer, Financial Planning Association of Australia |
Pictured left to right below are: Trent Collins – Scholten Collins McKissock, Jasia Fabig – MLC Advice Partnerships, Troy MacMillan – The Wealth Designers, Greg Cook – Eureka Whittaker Macnaught, Rob Sarafov – Australian Private Capital, Andrew Shakespeare – JSA Financial Planning, Jonathan Elliott – Collins SBA and Rod Bertino – Business Health.
So, the Best Financial Planning Practice is determined by:
(1) Those willing to enter filling out a form (online health check)
(2) From the information in that form 6 finalists are chosen.
(3) Those 6 finalists are visited by the judges
Was the financial planning advice that is given by group (1), and more importantly, the finalists, and more especially, the winner, taken into consideration???