Fear of the unknown is a major stumbling block to more financial planners establishing their own businesses. A podcast series tracing the start up of a new practice aims to remove the fear by tackling head-on some of the major issues the business faces as it gets off the ground.
Corey Wastle and James O’Reilly, principals of the Melbourne-based Verse Wealth, are the subjects of the series, part of the Planner Pulse podcasts.
“The podcast series is being run over 12 months and it’s the first 12 months of us building our advice practice from the ground up,” Wastle says.
“Every month there’s a different topic that we delve into, designed to give other advisers an insight into the issue.”
Wastle says that after spending four years with a major bank he became disillusioned with the way advice is delivered to bank customers, and it didn’t match his own ideas of how it should be done. He says there are advisers currently working in banks and other institutions who feel the same way.
“We think there’s a lot of advisers across the country who are great advisers…who would love to go out and do their own thing and build their own advice practice,” Wastle says.
“That’s their dream. But most of those advisers will never make the leap.”
Uncertainty and fear
It’s the uncertainty and fear that holds them back, Wastle says, but a lot of that fear is misguided.
“With no disrespect, no one starts out knowing everything,” he says.
“We didn’t start that way and we’ve spent a lot of time…to build a foundation for a great advice practice.”
Wastle says the topics for the series are mapped out in advance but there is flexibility to address important things as they arise.
“We’ve got a pretty good idea of the issues we’ll be covering,” he says.
“But it’s hard to predict exactly where the business will be at different points in the year.”
Producing the podcasts is not a significant impost on the fledgling business, Wastle says. He and O’Reilly each do about an hour’s preparation before a recording session that typically lasts about 45 minutes. They do it over Skype – so there’s no time out of the office traveling to and from a recording venue.
Getting involved
Wastle says the aim of getting involved in the series is unapologetically twofold: it will help raise the profile of Verse in the industry; and it will position Wastle and O’Reilly as thought leaders.
But Wastle says that moreover it will also encourage advisers to abandon situations where they feel advice is not being delivered correctly, and give them confidence to set up businesses and structures where it can be.
“Consumers deserve great advice,” Wastle says.
“They deserve access to advice they can trust; and they deserve to be able to find, with relative ease, advice businesses that deliver something meaningful to them.
“James and I are both incredibly passionate about what we do – financial advice can have a significant impact on people’s lives.
“Money is an enabler. It enables you to do the things in life you want to do, the way you want to do them, free of financial stress.
“We have a vision for the way advice should be delivered in Australia. We want to create an environment where great advice is consistently delivered.
“From my experience in the industry, that is not the norm. It’s just an incredibly fulfilling aim, to deliver advice to clients…and help them achieve the things that are ultimately important to them.”
The Planner Pulse podcasts can be downloaded from the iTunes store
