James Cavanough, director,
Lantern Advisory
Brisbane, Qld
Financial planning, with its combination of facts and figures as well as human interaction, suits James Cavanough perfectly. But it took him a while to find
his niche.
He spent his high school years at King’s College in Sydney and felt the pressure to do something substantial with his life. Upon graduation, he returned to the Northern Territory where he undertook a law degree at Charles Darwin University.
He switched to a commerce degree at the University of Southern Queensland and after graduation headed in the direction of the banks. He sold managed funds at Macquarie and worked at Westpac Investment Management – now absorbed into BT Investment Management – before taking on a role with CommSec as an adviser in late 2005, and later finding his way to the offices of accounting firm HLB Mann Judd in Brisbane.
In 2013 he was poached by Lantern Advisory, where he is now a director.
Cavanough says the greatest challenge facing the industry is apathy, and “a lot of people are guessing about their financial situation.” But he says that “now is the perfect time for Australians to seek advice about their super”.
“The bad apples [planners] have left or are going to leave [the industry],” he says. “The people who have stuck around are the advice soldiers.
(Words by Jo Leggatt)
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