(L to R): Jon Harris, Dean Fuchs and Roger Perrett
New advice business Freshwater Wealth has entered the advice market providing a professional, education-based advice service to high-net-worth individuals including retiring baby-boomers and single and widowed women seeking a tailored and proactive advice service.
Freshwater Wealth aims to be a conduit to client’s achieving their lifestyle goals but also to identify and reduce problems they may not realise they have through education and proactive advice to help manage common life challenges.
Established in December last year, the new business has been met with overwhleming demand, with the practice already expanding to include a further two experienced advisers and establishing a wait list for potential new clients seeking its services.
According to Founder and Partner Roger Perrett, this market response clearly demonstrates the current unmet demand for advice and that the advice industry is in a ‘perfect storm’ – greater awareness by baby-boomers of the choices ahead of them, strong demand for advice, yet not enough advisers to supply the service.
“Demand is extremely high and there is a huge opportunity with retirees, women and those who have inherited money or who are facing an illness, to provide a service that focusses on achieving clients goals and maximising available opportunities but also solve potential problems.”
These financial problems and challenges include avoiding debt mistakes, living confidently without paying income tax again, caring for elderly parents, cybersecurity, safely transferring money and gifting funds and inheritance with the desired outcomes.
Perrett says while greater information has increased awareness of these issues, understanding how to manage them and the role advisers can play to help clients, has not been achieved.
“The baby-boomer generation is more aware than ever before of the complex web of issues that they face around housing, retirement, aged-care and inheritance but they are unsure where to get the answers.”
The team at Freshwater Wealth has combined financial advice experience of more than 93 years. Perrett alone brings more than 25 years executive financial advice expereince to the business having spent more than 20 years at Westpac Finanical Advice. In 2022, he was recognised as one of the Top 50 Most influential Advisers in Australia by Financial Standard.
He is joined by Jon Harris, a former senior business advice with BT Advice and senior financial planner with Westpac and Dean Fuchs, who also worked for more than 30 years as a executive financial planner and in the private client division at Westpac. Freshwater Wealth is licensed by Centrepoint Alliance Pty Ltd, one of Australia’s largest licensees with close to 800 advisers.
The new business is part of the ongoing transformation in the advice industry where the largest segment of licensees is privatley-owned practices made up of 1-10 financial advisers. This segment now account for 26.8% of advisers1 and while overall adviser numbers are now stabilising, there are 15,689 advisers to service a growing market, with 29% of unadvised Australians now seeking advice2.
According to Perrett, these two factors that include a limited number of advisers and a heightened demand for financial advice, is driving the uptake of advice together with a strong appetite for education.
“Financial advice is about having a strategy in place to protect and grow wealth, but it also needs to educate clients on how they can manage common financial and lifestyle challenge. Freshwater Wealth is excited to be bringing this premium service to the Australian advice market. ”
