There is a small wooden pencil blue-tacked to the top of Chris Carlin’s computer. It serves no practical purpose, mind you, and many of his co-workers think he is mad for placing it there, but it does act as a persistent reminder of why he became a financial planner.
“When I was 16 on our family farm in Victoria (in the western district), my dad sent me to buy a single, grey lead pencil from the store and they only sold them in boxes, so I spent most of his $10 on buying the whole box,” Carlin, 29, says. “He was furious that I wasted money like that by buying something we didn’t need, but I thought I had gone above and beyond.
“My parents were struggling with the farm at that stage and had to make every dollar count, so that taught me a valuable lesson.”
A few years later, the lesson evolved into a realisation about what he wanted to do with his life.
“I had been accepted into a commerce degree, but was on a gap year and decided to attend a sharemarket seminar,” Carlin says. “I decided to invest my $7000 of savings in shares, but the financial planner I later spoke to suggested I pay for my university with my savings money, as at that time you attracted a 20 per cent discount for paying up-front.”
That advice turned out to be fortuitous, to say the least.
“A few months later, the GFC happened and the sharemarket crashed, and the advice the planner gave me was life changing,” Carlin says. “It made me see what was possible with great financial advice.”
Carlin went on to learn the ropes as a paraplanner in various businesses, before joining ANZ as an adviser. It was a role he relished, but after two years in the job, he decided to go out on his own.
“The traditional adviser industry model is great if you want to stay in the one spot, but I like the idea of being able to help clients no matter where I am in the world,” he says. “I wanted to start a business that offered advice online so I could reach as many people as possible.”
The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, which has unearthed institutional misconduct by certain providers of advice, played a role in his decision as well.
“It wasn’t the primary factor, but it did play a role,” Carlin says. “When you have clients coming to you and saying, ‘Don’t take it personally, but I just don’t trust you’, that obviously has an impact.”
So, just three months, ago, Carlin launched Master Your Money Now, which is an online financial advice service built around a subscriber model.
Clients choose monthly or annual packages to access a range of financial advice, including fortnightly coaching sessions with Carlin, insurance and superannuation advice, as well as budgeting and personal finance resources.
While the service has proved popular with Gen Y, it’s also targeted at pre-retirees who want to maximise their super and invest in the sharemarket (despite his early experience with shares, Carlin now invests heavily in them through managed funds and superannuation).
“I’m not focusing on one particular demographic, the idea is for the advice to apply to many life stages and for it to be simple and easily understood,” he says. “I can have high-level investment discussions when I need to, but the broader idea is to make advice clear and simple.
“I just want to help my mates.”
And contrary to stereotypes of Gen Y as hedonists with maxed-out credit cards and an addiction to smashed avocado on toast, Carlin says people in his age group are increasingly engaged with money.
“I’m finding that young people are really aware of super and the need to properly set it up,” he says. “They’re starting to set money aside now, rather than wait until they’re older and panic because they only have $50,000 in super, five years before they retire.”
| Name of firm: Master Your Money Now
Licensee: Infocus Time in industry (previous jobs): seven years; (financial planner, ANZ, March 2016 to June 2018, paraplanner, Catholic Super, November 2013 to March 2016, Zanacorp Financial Group, July 2012 to November 2013, and Dixon Advisory, October 2011 to July 2012 Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in commerce, majoring in financial planning and finance, Deakin University Accreditations: Certified financial planner Professional Association: Financial Planning Association |
