Dr Mark Sinclair

Mentor Education Group has responded to a growing number of calls from accountants, brokers and financial planners for a course in real estate as more professional advisory practices position themselves for the future as ‘one-stop-shop’ service providers, said Mentor founder and managing director Dr Mark Sinclair.

In addition, real estate has become a beacon for many individuals seeking a career change and opportunity to work in real estate, or one day to establish a business in this field.

Mentor’s Real Estate Agent’s Representative Course (Victoria) provides this insight and a career entry point.

Almost every personal and business financial services related activity is influenced by property, said Dr Sinclair.  “Whether it be a young couple aspiring to achieve their dream of owning the family home, SMSF’s seeking to invest or divest property holdings, to seniors seeking to downsize or activate the value in the home to improve their financial position in retirement.  The importance and influence of property to create wealth or support lifestyle ambitions is immense.”

“Hence the call by advice practitioners to enhance their knowledge in this field to better understand and incorporate their client’s property investments into holistic plans and asset allocation strategies”.

Dr Sinclair continued, “Then there is the property market that is currently undergoing a correction, but in the long-term continues to expand supported by population growth and links to Asia that has propelled the Australian economy to the upper end of developed nations globally.  This is fuelling the incentive for the next generation of agent representatives, auctioneers and property service employees to enter the industry”.

Mentor’s Property Services / Real Estate course was developed in partnership with industry stalwart and principal of MAB5 Property Network Mr Mario Bertone.  The course leaders (including Mario Bertone), are industry experienced experts in their respective fields and students will also benefit from their commitment to coaching and mentoring support.

The Mentor course and study program will be supplemented with workshops, career nights, networking opportunities and short courses that will be led by industry professionals with real life / industry experience and backgrounds – not theorists!

Commenting about the property sector, Mario Bertone said, “From the outside looking in, real estate / property appears easy, glamorous and an undertaking with immense financial rewards.  The reality is, it is highly regulated and practitioners must be qualified professionals in order to deal with property related matters”.

Mario Bertone continued, “Within the property sector there are many real estate career paths that include being the conduit between buyers and sellers; selling and leasing residential homes and units; commercial properties such as industrial, retail, hospitality, office complexes; and residential apartment development.

“In addition, there are opportunities in property management, property development, buyers’ advocacy, and many more if students in this course continue their studies”.

During the Mentor course, students will learn the essentials of property management and finances, property development, legislation, managing risk as well as marketing and client base management.

On successful completion of the course, graduates will meet the educational requirements to apply for accreditation as a Real Estate Agents Representative in the state of Victoria.

Enquiries are welcome and enrolments for the October 2018 intake of students are now open.

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Dr Mark Sinclair

While the Diploma of Financial Planning (DFP) will no-longer be the minimum educational requirement for financial planners in 2019, it will continue to be the qualification of choice for those looking to start their career as an associate adviser, paraplanner, client relationship manager and other non-advice roles said Mentor Education Group founder and principal Dr Mark Sinclair.

Commenting further Dr Sinclair said, “The DFP and Advanced Diploma of Financial Planning have both served the industry well (and will continue to do so) having evolved since inception to meet the needs of advisers, stakeholders and regulators”.

“Although the financial services sector is about to enter a new and very different era of compliance and professionalism, the Diploma and Advanced Diploma will still be needed and have very important roles to play”.

The qualification is essential for paraplanners and has provided a pathway for those seeking a career as a financial adviser.

Dr Sinclair continued, “To date, when conversations turn to study and qualifications, all focus and attention has been on the requirements for mature age advisers; the academic demands for new entrants; and ongoing accreditation regime following the release of FASEA’s framework”.

“The reality is that post 2024 will be the era of compliance and entry level qualifications, ongoing professional development and study won’t be restricted to / and the exclusive obligation of the adviser / principal alone”.

“The age of compliance will require the entire advisory practice to be on the same page as the authorised adviser in order to operate efficiently and effectively”.

Hence the ongoing need for the two qualifications beyond 2024 to be available to advisory practice operational staff as well as client relationship managers, paraplanners and prospective advisers seeking a preliminary insight into advice provision before undertaking the career in earnest.

No doubt many cynics will say the DFP for operational staff is overreach, expensive and inconvenient.  In reality it represents a prime opportunity to expand the knowledge base and appreciation of staff to the demands of advice delivery with both the individual and business the beneficiaries affirmed Dr Sinclair.

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Dr Mark Sinclair

Despite the constant negative predictions of an unprecedented exodus of mature age advice practitioners, their expertise and skills will be demanded to fulfil new and emerging roles as the industry transitions into the post FoFA, Royal Commission era said Mentor Education Group founder and principal Dr Mark Sinclair.

Commenting further Dr Sinclair said “Whatever the industry looks like after 2024, the need for transferable skills, knowledge and business / entrepreneurial attributes will be immense – especially for professional mentors and supervisors within advisory businesses”.

“The emergence of the financial planning professional coach and mentor discipline to facilitate business improvement as a career pathway is already well and truly underway.  Mentor can attest to this based on the number of enquiries and enrolments being received in Leadership, Management and Coaching qualifications”.

“Another coaching and mentor career opportunity to arise will be derived from FAESA’s Professional Year (PY) requirement for new entrants before they can provide personal financial planning advice to retail clients”.

The PY will encompass practical learning of four core technical competencies – technical; client care and practice; regulatory compliance and consumer protection, professionalism and ethics. A mandated supervisory and mentoring role will be required within each advice business to ensure evidence is collected in a logbook and attest to the completion of the PY.

This is already an established practice in the mortgage broking industry, where new entrants typically appoint an experienced mortgage broking mentor and meet with them monthly over a two-year period.

Mentor works closely with a number of professional mentors as mentoring is part of Mentor Education’s academic role and offering.

“The benefits being a fast-track pathway for the business with productivity, efficiency, advice provision excellence and more effective client engagement / service amongst the many outcomes”.

“However, it’s not a ‘revolving door’ discipline for those planners contemplating becoming a mentor i.e. retire and walk out the advisory practice on Friday and return on Monday as a coach, supervisor or mentor”.

“Industry, business knowledge, know-how and expertise need to be structured and delivered within a framework to facilitate the best outcomes for the client mentee and mentor/coach/supervisor”, said Dr Sinclair.

The benefit of academic learning is that it provides a coaching and mentoring framework that puts the hands-on experience into context with the theory and best practice delivery methodologies.

Dr Sinclair concluded, “An imperative for success and foundation for providing consumer confidence of coaching, supervisory and mentoring services will be the attainment of appropriate qualifications”.

“Although still relatively small in numbers, the number of mature age planners undertaking academic study in leadership, management, coaching and mentoring has begun”.

“I’m confident that the opportunity to commercialise decades of knowledge and SME business experience will attract advice practitioners in rapidly growing numbers in the years to come.”

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Dr Mark Sinclair

The accounting profession has reached a major crossroad and many accountants have not wasted time restructuring their businesses to ensure they are relevant and successful in the future said Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) Victorian Vice President and Australian Wealth Solutions (AWS) principal Sam Zervides.

Regrettably, a significantly greater number are refusing to acknowledge the issue and act in response to industry disruption that has been exasperated by technology, expiration of the SMSF exemption, FoFA and now the Royal Commission into the financial services industry.

Commenting further Sam Zervides said although there is a great deal of apprehension and inertia that always comes with change, the public accountant sector has no option but to respond and adapt.

“I believe the next 12 months in particular, will be a watershed year with immense pressure on accountants to act”, said Sam Zervides.

“Although many have commenced the transition and restructure of their businesses in readiness for the new era, far too many are refusing to even acknowledge the sun is setting on the practices of the past”.

Sam Zervides continued, “My greatest concern is that very good accountants with mature businesses are simply going to ‘miss the boat’.  Instead of a successful exit into retirement funded from the sale of their businesses – will have no option but to switch of the lights and close their doors”.

“However, it’s not all doom and gloom and I’m pleased to see accountants in increasing numbers (although still small in comparison) are acting by restructuring, adopting new technology and processes.  But most importantly, seeking strategic alliances and JVs with financial planning businesses and other professional advisory firms”

Adding his voice, Mentor Education Group founder and principal Dr Mark Sinclair affirmed that this year the leading RTO has observed a significant trend in the studies being undertaken by accountants.

“There is definitely an upward trend of accountants specifically enrolling in programs with an emphasis on building productivity and operational efficiency”, said Dr Sinclair.

“Most interesting of all has been the number of enquiries received and the enrolments in leadership and management streams”.

“Demand and interest in leadership and management courses are definitely on the rise and I’m confident will continue to do so”.

Dr Sinclair is adamant that as more accounting businesses restructure, establish client centric frameworks, enter strategic alliances / JVs and principals benefit from their studies, they will act as role models and beacons encouraging their peers to follow in their footsteps.

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Dr Mark Sinclair

Although the finance and mortgage broker sector has undergone many structural changes in past years (with more to come), it has also been the beneficiary of consumer disenchantment with the major institutions – especially their lending/client care and service practices said Mentor Education Group founder and principal Dr Mark Sinclair.

When the final report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry is delivered in February 2019, it will herald a very new era and landscape for the entire sector continued Dr Sinclair.

“With respect to home loans, consumers in growing numbers are voting with their feet choosing brokers over the banks as the provider for lending options.  This upward trend in consumer sentiment can only be good news for the mortgage and finance broker sector and practitioners.

“This was reinforced by recent Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) data that revealed the proportion of loans written by the third-party channel had reached its highest figure ever at the end of March 2018”, said Dr Sinclair.

The market research compiled by CoreLogic research group Comparator revealed brokers had settled $46.1 B in home loans in the quarter ended March 2018.  This represented 55.3% of home loans and a 1.7% increase over the same quarter in March 2017.

Although ‘roboadvice’ style technology supported services are growing in popularity, consumers are reluctant to entrust large purchases and significant financial undertakings to an App or computer screen – they demand the reassurance of person-to-person engagement with an industry professional.

Hence the industry being a beacon for individuals seeking a career change or potential to establish an advisory based business with growth potential prospects.

Dr Sinclair continued, “The mortgage broking industry has not been immune from scrutiny and undergone immense change primarily in response to ASIC, NCCP, ACL and APRA requirements including the need for licensing of mortgage brokers.

“Against a background of more ‘speed bumps’ comprising further regulatory changes, tightening lending practices and consumer expectation challenges is the embedded home ownership Australian mindset – and this will continue to be the main driver for upward demand for mortgage brokers”.

“It’s a must for the industry and broker practitioners to be ready for the future”.

Last year Mentor Education launched the Diploma of Finance & Mortgage Broking Management (DFMBM) and over 160 students undertook the course in 2017.  2018 enrolments have exceeded the RTO’s expectations and are a good indication of the future health of the sector.

“It was inevitable that the broking sector would follow the financial planning industry and respond to industry and government pressure, market consolidation and heightened scrutiny in general”, said Dr Sinclair.

“Mentor has consulted extensively with the industry and professional associations to develop a course that is structured to address the needs of the sector.

“The content of the DFMBM has been structured to both assist current brokers as well as equipping and preparing the next generation with a solid footing, understanding and appreciation of a career in broking”.

An interesting observation gleaned by Mentor is the number of accountants that are replacing their previous SMSF offering with mortgage broking services.  From a business and client offering perspective it makes sense for accountants to become a ‘one-stop-shop’ in addition to their compliance, accounting and related services.

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Dr Mark Sinclair

Dūcere Global Business School (Dūcere) Founder & Executive Director Mathew Jacobson has announced an exciting partial scholarship opportunity for twelve Mentor Education past students (alumni) and financial service industry professionals to undertake their Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Innovation and Leadership.

Commenting further on the announcement Mathew Jacobson said he believed the partial scholarship opportunity to undertake the MBA starting in this October’s intake, will act as an incentive for many industry practitioners seeking a course that links formal tertiary education with real-world experience.

“Dūcere and the University of Canberra* have come together to produce this ground-breaking MBA, delivered nationally online and provides students with the opportunity to solve real business problems as part of their learning.”, said Mathew Jacobson.

“The MBA is integrated with Dūcere’s global faculty, comprised of hundreds of world leaders from Presidents and past Prime Ministers, to Nobel Prize winners; has no exams and embeds projects with organisations including NAB, KPMG, SEEK and the Federal Government amongst others”.

This unique MBA was acknowledged as a finalist in the 2017 Australian Financial Review Higher Education Awards for Industry Engagement.  The Australian newspaper said:

“The most unique MBA in the world…focusing on real industry problems”.

Dūcere works with some of the world’s largest and most dynamic organisations, delivering shared value through MBA projects.  Through access to dynamic groups of experienced industry professionals, working with the support of leading academics, Dūcere’s industry partners receive highly valuable IP that solves real strategic challenges, whilst giving students learnings beyond academic material.

Mathew Jacobson continued, “The MBA is a project – based curriculum in which students apply everything learnt to real-world situations and practical business challenges.  Being immersed in the MBA’s challenges and working within team environments and industry partners, students will develop important commercial skills they can apply and deliver in their professional and commercial endeavours”

Mentor Education founder and director Dr Mark Sinclair said, “We are passionate about the role we play and contribution to the next generation of financial service industry professionals.

“The sector is facing significant challenges and needs to retain its best practitioners.  We believe that this MBA, delivered by Ducere in partnership with the University of Canberra is a fantastic opportunity to not only learn and apply their significant expertise, but to be acknowledged accordingly with one of the highest academic designations”.

Partial MBA Scholarship opportunities and enquiries for the October 2018 intake and beyond are now open.  Mentor Alumni and financial service industry professionals should contact Trent Stone at Mentor Education by email trent@mentor.edu.au or call on 1800 915 112 for details.

Downloaded the brochure.

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Dr Mark Sinclair

Financial planners are responding positively to industry qualification requirements with Mentor Education recording a significant increase in enrolments across the leading RTO’s Diploma, Advanced Diploma, Master and Bachelor courses said the organisation’s founder and principal Dr Mark Sinclair.

Commenting further, Dr Sinclair said interestingly, the focus of enquiries and industry qualification courses undertaken by planners with Mentor are those with an emphasis on building productivity and operational efficiency needed by the next generation of advice practices.

“Contrary to many of the headlines proclaiming a mass exodus of planners, there is solid core of role model planners determined to capitalise on the opportunities in the advice era and are positioning themselves through academic endeavour and personal/professional development”, added Dr Sinclair.

Many of the ‘in demand’ subjects being undertaken within the Mentor courses by planners and their key personnel are knowledge intensive focused on productivity enhancing skills.  These include technical and management skills, entrepreneurship, financial management, HR, marketing, CRM, interpersonal engagement, etc.

The trend in advice related studies has seen a focus on intergenerational wealth; aged care; wealth protection & transfer; succession planning; SMSF; etc.

The role of technology, new communication mediums and demands of an increasingly sophisticated consumer that is shaping advice businesses is profound.  “Which is why these practitioners are committing themselves for productivity improvement today and relevance tomorrow”, affirmed Dr Sinclair.

“Our interaction with forward focussed planners has confirmed that they’re determined to be faster to respond to opportunities, profitable, streamlined and attuned to client needs”.

To achieve their objectives, they are adopting a very disciplined approach in order to balance the demands of their strategic aspirations with academic pursuits whilst still running advice practices and finding time for self, family and friends.

Mentor’s time saving online/distant learning framework that is supported by the very latest in technology, communication and teaching methods is much appreciated by planner students.

Dr Sinclair concluded, “Advice practice productivity improvement is going to be the focus for more and more practitioners as they position their businesses to support growth without increasing their operational costs.

“The long-term benefits will be measured in significantly heightened levels of consumer trust and confidence and the standing of financial planners as highly respected professional practitioners!”

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Commenting further Dr Taggart said “Of course planners and their staff need to take care of themselves physically and emotionally with a regime of work-life balance in order to be at their optimum to provide exemplary service that satisfies the needs of modern day clients”.

“However, the contemporary prerequisite of the customer service experience has created a threshold that demands the creation of new standards for any financial planning practice principal to adhere to in order to compete for the demanding and discerning consumer’s precious dollar”.

Adding his voice, Mentor founder Dr Mark Sinclair said many principals believe that their practice’s customer service is exceptional when it really isn’t delivering the Disneyland experience that delights, engages and leaves clients wanting to refer the business to family, friends and associates.

“Many of Mentor’s programs focus on helping the practice owner reflect on and constantly improve the business.  But most importantly how to effectively manage and respond to client expectations”, continued Dr Sinclair.

“From a business perspective this demands strategies that develop exceptional teams with clearly defined staff roles and employees that are dynamic, motivated, multi skilled and versatile.

“Staff skills, knowledge and expertise need to be transferrable in order to effectively deal with the unforeseen emergencies that inevitably arise and can potentially damage the business brand and client relationship”.

The once standard “I’m not available or out of reach over the Festive Season” is not good enough today affirmed Dr Taggart.

“Trust is built up over time and it occurs on each and every occurrence when a client calls the office to the P2P engagement with the planner or staff”, said Dr Taggart.

“This is a 24 / 7 world and client death, injury, illness or unexpected financial calamity events don’t occur conveniently during office hours.  More often than not they occur after hours or times of office closure; but it’s how a practice responds to these contingencies that differentiates the best from the ordinary”.

Irrespective of the seemingly arduous challenges financial planners encounter daily – the greatest by far is ensuring the practice has a high performance internal culture and operational team ready to respond to client hardship needs at a moments’ notice.

Dr Sinclair said being responsive to these demands in an environment of constant change is the norm these days and not a challenge unique to the financial industry’s advisor sector alone.

“Although the process of aligning staff, clients and alliance partners can take years, the rewards begin to manifest themselves from the outset”, he said.

“What’s more they grow dramatically as the practice finds itself progressively better prepared to deal with changes and unforeseen contingencies in the modern-day post FoFA LIF era.”

Dr Taggart concluded by saying that being a modern day financial planner is not an undertaking for the faint-hearted – but then again, no profession is immune from the challenges of change today.  Taking the high road to creating modern practice responsive to the 24 / 7 needs of clients is not only a choice, it is an imperative!”

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Dr Mark Sinclair

Buyer of Last Resort (BoLR) might be an excellent commercial life raft for the planner, but the subsequent on-sale and distribution of clients as ‘books of business’, are by far the worst possible outcomes for clients, a damning reflection on the planner and immensely damaging to the reputation of the advice industry as a whole said Mentor Education Group Chairman Dr Jim Taggart OAM.

Commenting further Dr Taggart said true financial advice and service is an end-to-end commitment that reflects the lifelong journey of the advice process that culminates with the client’s retirement, investment strategy maturing or a claim processed.

“There are so many dynamic moving parts in fulfilling the expectations of clients of which trust and service go hand-in-hand – and they in turn determine the financial success or failure of the planning practice”, said Dr Taggart.

“With so much on the line for clients, planners and the client service delivery model have to perform at their best every time without fail to ensure client trust and confidence is maintained”.

Adding his voice, Mentor founder and Founder & Director Dr Mark Sinclair said “Each interaction with a client is a ‘moment of truth’ in the client experience with non-performance resulting in frustration and loss of confidence.  Hence service delivery needs to be the highest of priorities as is the plan and process to do so”.

In their Mentor webinars, industry conferences and dealer group PD presentations both Dr Taggart and Dr Sinclair stress that client service is not a ‘set and forget’ activity – it is a framework, process and solution that is constantly evolving to address perpetually changing consumer expectations and demands.

Planners and practice staff therefore need to ensure that ongoing professional, personal and academic growth are a constant operational norm and commitment – in fact woven into the very fabric of the business.  A benefit of which will be the differentiation of the practice from competitors and significantly enhanced and appreciated brand and marketing profile.

Furthermore, in the majority of planning practices the planner’s use by date will expire long before those of his / her clients.  So, exit succession and a seamless transition in an M&A process is another vital component of service and client commitment.

Dr Taggart and Dr Sinclair concluded, “The effectiveness, level and quality of client service can actually be measured and quantified in the balance sheet and accounts of a financial practice.

“It will easily be identified in the planning business revenue in fees charged and longevity of client retention.  Yet another measure will be the number of new clients introduced to the practice by satisfied clients referring the planner to family, friends, peers and business associates”

“All because the client is confident they are at the centre of the planning business and their financial well-being and lifestyle, protection, wealth accumulation and retirement aspirations will be serviced long after their adviser has retired and exited the industry”.

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Dr Mark Sinclair

At a time when there is an overwhelming and growing need by mature age and senior Australian consumers to address the complexity of financial issues and longevity risks in retirement, experienced financial planners are choosing to exit the industry instead said Mentor Education Group founder and Managing Director Dr Mark Sinclair.

Commenting further Dr Sinclair said there is a significant vacuum of expertise in the provision of quality financial advice to meet the pre, and post retirement needs of senior Australians.

Dr Sinclair continued pointing to the need for solutions to address sequencing risk and issues; how to stretch nest eggs, superannuation and investments in retirement; exit strategies for SMEs; maximising social security entitlements; assistance and guidance to avoid scams, frauds and financial abuse; strategies to bridge the financial longevity gap; and the list goes on.

“This need is going to increase drastically as more and more Baby Boomer workers and business owners exit the workforce and find themselves facing a myriad of often complex and bewildering issues and challenges to address in retirement”, affirmed Dr Sinclair.

“Yet far too many planners have decided that the regulatory requirement for academic qualifications is a ‘line in the sand’ and their cue to turn their backs on a career and advice practices that have many more productive years ahead”.

This thinking needs to change as the benefits (especially commercial) far outweigh the negatives – particularly if the predicted mass exit occurs on the academic qualification deadline for all existing planners to meet the new education requirements and standards.

Not to mention the consequences of a dramatic and sudden reduction in financial planner numbers that will impact tens of thousands of clients and hundreds of small business owners – or the effect shedding of employees will have when practices close their doors.

Dr Sinclair concluded, “It simply makes no sense when there is both a growing consumer demand and market for the services of experienced planners – as well as practical and workable alternatives to selling an advice practice at fire sale prices”.

“The reality is that existing planners still have time on their side to complete a bachelor degree by the 2019 deadline or undertake studies in other fields that can allow them to be of service to senior consumers facing a rapidly growing and complex number of financial related scenarios”.

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