A little more than a year ago, financial planner Paul Benson came up with the idea to host his own financial podcast. The podcasting trend was far from new, and a few people around him didn’t hesitate in telling him so.
“Someone told me that it was a dumb idea,” the mild-mannered Benson recalls. “He said there was nothing new in creating a podcast and that is technically true.”
True as that feedback may have been, it didn’t deter Benson.
He launched his podcast, Financial Autonomy, and it proved to be a great move.
The podcast is downloaded roughly 4000 times a month, and it not only gives him a rich vein of potential clients, but also allows him to help people with money and investment issues.
Benson produces four podcasts a month for download; three are based on investment advice, while one involves Benson interviewing people with an interesting money story to tell.
“People have reached out to me after hearing the podcast so it is definitely a good use of my time,” he says. “I like to keep it pretty informal. I will chat to authors of books or people who have gained choice as a result of the money decisions they have made.”
Gaining choice is at the heart of Benson’s financial planning philosophy, “so people can do what they want with their lives, whether it’s starting their own business, working less or having a career change,” Benson explains.
While he still services many retirees and pre-retirees in the traditional product-based investment model, he is increasingly expanding his services to wealth coaching.
“Financial planning has evolved from tailoring investment products to clients to a more holistic money-management approach,” he says. “Today, people come to planners because they’re seeking a certain lifestyle and money gives you choices.”
Some of Benson’s clients, for example, are determined to travel regularly. Others want to make smart investments so they can spend more time with their kids and less time working.
“I have a client who wants to retire at 40 and he is prepared to live very frugally in order to do that,” he says. “That’s not an approach for everyone but it suits him.”
At the moment, Benson is also helping a physiotherapist who works six days a week and has a family and a mortgage but would like to not work Saturdays.
“We’re looking at ways we can invest and set up his money so he can cut back,” the adviser says. “There is another person I have spoken to (on the podcast) who was a bank manager and is now a primary school teacher, so the discussion in that case is about how he set that up financially and made that happen.”
Benson is not unfamiliar with U-turns and about-faces. He gave 16 loyal years to one of the big banks – seven of which were spent in the planning division – before he left to start his own business in 2006.
“It was a great experience, and they sponsored me for my university studies but the sales culture got me down,” he says. “I liked dealing with clients, but there was a huge sales pressure that came from management and that was the part I didn’t enjoy. So I decided to go out on my own.”
Benson has thrived by keeping his staff small, he is the only planner in his Melbourne office, but he has hired two staff to help out.
“It’s important that I’m following my own ethics and values,” he says. “And I’m all about giving people the power to make choices.”
Name of firm: Guidance Financial Services
Name of licensee (if not self-licensed): Sprout Financial
Time in the industry: 20 years
Academic qualifications: bachelor’s degree in economics and finance
Accreditations: Certified Financial Planner
Professional association memberships: Financial Planning Association, Responsible Investment Association Australia
