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AFA rising star finalists announced

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 21:50:41 +0000

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and ANZ Wealth have announced the six finalists in the 2018 AFA Rising Star of the Year Award (the Award).

Now in its 14th year, the Award recognises emerging talent in the financial advice industry who provide quality advice, excellence in client experience, contribute to the financial literacy of their clients and demonstrate a commitment to ongoing professional development.

The 2018 AFA Rising Star of the Year Award finalists are:Rachael Bursell – Finance Your Future

Andrew Debono – Announcer Group
Sam Jewell – Rising Tide Financial Services
Jacinta Martin – Altitude Financial Management
Rebecca Pritchard – Wealth Enhancers
Ryan Skeen – Zella

Phil Kewin, AFA CEO said, “We are delighted to be able to recognise some of the best and brightest talent in our profession. These individuals will be the future leaders of our industry and will help our industry evolve through a period of change.

“It was a hard task to pick only six finalists from such a strong group of applications. They have all shown exceptional work with clients and are all innovating in their practices to provide quality advice.”

ANZ Wealth Head of Sales, Don Sillar, said, “We are very excited about the calibre of this year’s professionals. We are constantly impressed year after year by the industry’s best new advisers and 2018 brings no exception.

“This year’s program has a great pool of talent and we are honoured to be in the company of these professionals. They have already made great contributions to the industry through client service, outstanding advice and community engagement. It is important we support these advisers for the future of the advice industry and we look forward to helping them develop both personally and professionally.”

This year’s judging panel included:

Phil Kewin – AFA CEO
Don Sillar – Head of Sales, ANZ Wealth
Jenny Brown – Founder and CEO of JBS Financial Strategists
Vanessa Bennett – CEO Next Evolution Performance
Patricia Garcia – Director and Financial Adviser WB Financial
Matt Hale – Director and Senior Financial Planner Rising Tide

Finalists will attend a full day ‘Personal Breakaway’ workshop run by Slipstream Coaching on 12 September in Sydney, covering business, financial and personal objectives and ID profiling to help identify drivers and values.

The winner will receive quarterly, personalised coaching from experienced Business Coach and qualified financial adviser, Phil Little for 12 months.

The Award winner will be announced at the AFA National Adviser Conference at Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast on 10 October 2018.

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ANZ and AFA announce finalists for the 2017 Rising Star of the Year award

Thu, 07 Sep 2017 22:00:21 +0000

Erin Truscott, AFA Rising Star 2016

ANZ and the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) has announced the six finalists for the 2017 AFA Rising Star of the Year Award.

Now in its 13th year, the award recognises advisers with a maximum four years’ experience, who have made a valuable contribution during their short time in the industry.

Don Sillar, Head of Sales, ANZ Wealth and Rising Star of the Year award judge, said: “Each year the judges are consistently impressed with this award’s calibre of nominees and 2017 is no exception.

“This year’s finalists have each made a positive impact in this industry through outstanding advice, client service and community engagement.”

Erin Truscott, 2016 AFA Rising Star Award Winner, said “This award is a fantastic platform for young advisers and the development opportunities awarded to this year’s finalists is unprecedented”.

The six finalists will receive a full day Mastering Motivation coaching session exploring tools and techniques that support success in a dynamic industry, before final judging day on 13 September 2017.

The 2017 AFA Rising Star of the Year Award finalists are:

Andrew Debono – Financial Adviser, Announcer Group
Karlee Hoog-Antink – Financial Adviser, Elders Financial Planning Mackay
Keats Brydon – Financial Adviser, Finn Financial Planning
Lauren Walker – Private Client Adviser, EUROZ Securities Limited
Mia Taylor – Financial Adviser, Evalesco Financial Services
Sam Jewell – Financial Adviser, Rising Tide Financial Services

They were selected by a judging panel including:

Philip Kewin – Chief Executive Officer, Association of Financial Advisers
Don Sillar – Head of Sales, ANZ Wealth
Jenny Brown – Founder and Chief Executive Officer, JBS Financial Strategists
Ben Nash – Financial Adviser and Founder, Pivot Wealth
Laura Halbert – Head of Marketing, ANZ Wealth
Chris Browne – Founder & Managing Director, Rising Tide

The winner will be announced at the AFA National Conference, held at the Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast from 11-13 October 2017.

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AFA and ANZ Wealth announce Rising Star finalists

Tue, 27 Sep 2016 21:50:27 +0000

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and ANZ Wealth have announced the six finalists in the 2016 AFA Rising Star of the Year Award (the Award).

Launched in 2005, the Award is a highly desirable accolade for new advisers providing quality advice, who demonstrate a commitment to education and who are making a valuable contribution to their industry and to their community.

This year’s entrants demonstrated strong capabilities in all areas, highlighting the depth of the talent pool the advice industry is attracting.

AFA CEO Brad Fox says the Australian advice industry has been successful in making financial advice an attractive profession to new entrants, and in highlighting the real demand and need for good financial advice required by all Australians.

“This year’s entrants are particularly strong,” he says. “We are seeing the work the industry has done over the past five or so years to promote our profession now coming through in terms of professional qualifications, experience and most importantly, a desire to provide clear, transparent and trusted advice.”

ANZ Wealth Head of Sales, Don Sillar says, “The professionalism, education and passion of the candidates this year confirmed these Rising Stars are focused on delivering great advice to their clients.”

The 2016 AFA Rising Star of the Year Award finalists are:

Peter Hodgson – ANZ Financial Planning
Cathryn Gross – The Wealth Network
Brent Story – AMP Financial Planning
Maritza Kriel – Synchron
Gregory Adam Bloom – Yellow Brick Road
Erin Truscott – Financial Wisdom

This year’s judging panel included:

Brad Fox – CEO of AFA
Jenny Brown – Founder and CEO of JBS Financial Strategists
Don Sillar – Head of Sales, ANZ Wealth
Laura Halbert – Head of Marketing, ANZ Wealth
Chris Browne – Founder Rising Tide and 2007 Rising Star Winner
Dave Slovinec – State Director SA/NT – AFA
Matthew Hawkins – State Director TAS – AFA, Director Scanlon Richardson Financial Group

The Award winner will be announced at the AFA National Conference at the National Convention Centre in Canberra on 7 October 2016.

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Are you ready to take your advice practice beyond the horizon?

Thu, 08 Sep 2016 22:00:14 +0000

Jenny Brown

I’d love to see you and welcome you to fascinating Canberra, our nation’s capital for the AFA 2016 National Adviser Conference, the jewel in the crown for the AFA – October 5-7, 2016.

As a practising adviser, this Conference is always the highlight of my year and I look forward to it as a chance to hear, watch and learn from the best, as well as to catch up with colleagues and friends.

This year’s conference is about ‘Adaptive Change – taking advice beyond the horizon’ and as advisers we need to accept the challenge to think differently, to evolve and to be better prepared for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

The AFA has been working tirelessly to be more effective in delivering value for members by improving the positioning and relevance of our association, the results of which will be on show at the conference – whether it has been raising adviser professionalism, stronger relationships and influence with Government, an industry-leading professional education pathway, or the building of a voice to consumers through Your Best Interests – the AFA has laid a strong platform for the future.

As preparations for the 2016 AFA National Adviser Conference approach the final stages, we are absolutely thrilled to be able to bring some amazing keynote speakers to the stage including;

The Hon John Howard OA AC – Political Leadership
Dr Ric Charlesworth – High-Performance Leadership
Dr Adam Fraser – Peak Performance Without the Collateral Damage
Tony Bongiorno – MDRT Learnings from Around the World
Dr Jason Mitchell – Academic Leadership
Brian Freeman – Humanitarian Leadership
Dr Jason Mitchell, Professor of Psychology Harvard University
Graham Rich, PortfolioConstruction Forum
Stephen Halmarick, Chief Economist CFS Global Asset Management
Joanne Earl, Associate Professor Flinders Business School
David Reed, Adviser of the Year
Paul Kearney, Practice of the Year
Over 30 AFA Members sharing their best practice
Brad Fox, Scott Moffit, Richard Klipin, Terry Rhodes, Dave Slovinec – Growing the demand for insurance

We have 3 amazing masterclasses from our communities of practice to explore more opportunities;

Inspire with Margie Warrell
Genxt with Dr Ric Charlesworth
Leaders Forum – The AFA community of ideas and sharing

These world class speakers are augmented by a plethora of awesome advisers from our AFA community who are all willing to share the insights, skills and knowledge that they have applied to their own advice practices to ensure they are future proofed and ready to thrive as financial advice is taken beyond the horizon.

The conference committee has listened to members’ feedback and worked hard to build a program that blends exceptional technical knowledge with practical implementation based upon the AFA adviser learning pillars:

Business Performance
Adviser Performance
Advice Strategies
Professionalism and Learning

Our goal is to provide you with inspiration and load you up with the best ideas, strategies and the tools to implement those ideas to ensure that you can deliver exceptional service for your clients, helping them understand your advice strategies and how you can work with them to build and lead better lives. After all, everything we do is to put our clients and their families into a better situation, to be their trusted adviser.

Also, back by popular demand are our ‘Meet the Professionals’ and ‘Meet the Innovators’ round-table discussions.

With more advisers than ever now choosing to belong to the AFA, we are proud that there is more adviser input to this year’s conference agenda. Hearing from our peers we have always found to be incredibly worthwhile, and remembering that the smartest person in the room may not be the person on stage, it could be the person sitting next to you, or at lunch, or at the dinner function, you will hear a multitude of stories or how advisers solve our client’s problems, how they refine their skills, and we can even learn from their mistakes. Advisers have a unique perspective on the operation of the financial advice profession and all of this knowledge and ongoing learning can be captured and shared for the benefit of all.

So my question to you is, “What is holding you back from taking the next step forward in how you provide advice, how you improve your client experience and client outcomes, and your own profitability?” My bet is the answers can be found at the AFA National Adviser Conference.

But have you booked yet? The answers won’t come to you; you need to come to Conference to get them. In the absence of taking action, nothing will change, so click on to www.afaconference.com.au and register.

Whether you are a new adviser, a practice owner or an employed adviser, this will be a conference to help equip you to serve your client’s needs better, to prepare you for the opportunities ahead and help you take your financial advice beyond the horizon.

We’re looking forward to seeing you in Canberra.

Jenny Brown, Conference Co-Chair

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AFA unveils new location for 2016 National Adviser Conference

Tue, 08 Dec 2015 20:55:15 +0000

Jenny Brown

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) announced yesterday that the National Convention Centre in Canberra will play host to its premier event – the 2016 AFA National Adviser Conference (the AFA Conference) – from 5-7 October.

AFA Conference Co-Chair Jenny Brown said Canberra is easily accessible from most states and is a great location for the AFA Conference.

“Canberra is the heart of Australian politics – the future of Australia is decided there and it’s where the decision makers come together,” she said. “So it makes sense to take the AFA Conference there to plan the future of advice.”

The 2016 AFA Conference program will again focus on peer-to-peer learning, built on the AFA’s learning pillars of adviser performance, business performance, quality advice strategies, professionalism and leadership.

“One of the important ways advisers gain knowledge and insight into best practice and build on their value to clients is via peer-to-peer learning,” Ms Brown said.

The AFA Conference also offers advisers a great opportunity to progress thinking around the implementation of recent changes to the industry.

As the 2016 AFA Conference coincides with school holidays in many states, Ms Brown encouraged advisers to bring their families along to enjoy all that our nation’s capital has to offer.

“Canberra has so many great family-friendly, educational attractions including the National War Memorial, the National Gallery of Australia, Questacon and the Australian Royal Mint.”

Registrations at an early bird rate are open now, visit www.afaconference.com.au. The AFA later in the week will also be announcing a new payment feature making conference even more accessible for members.

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AFA 2015 National Adviser Conference – Meet the Professionals and Meet the Innovators

Thu, 08 Oct 2015 20:45:53 +0000

2013 AFA Adviser of the year winner, Jenny Brown

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) is again running its hugely successful Meet the Professionals and Meet the Innovators roundtables at the 2015 AFA National Adviser Conference in Cairns (the AFA Conference).

The roundtables are 25-minute power sessions of 10 to 20 delegates, conducted by a leading professional or innovator and are a long time favourite of delegates to the AFA Adviser Conference. Individuals chosen to lead the sessions have been selected because they have a unique insight or competitive advantage, or have brought an innovative idea to help support and grow the financial advice market.

AFA Conference Co-Chair Jenny Brown said the roundtables take a collaborative approach to sharing solutions to common business challenges and opportunities and the demand to participate is always high.

“We believe this is because Meet the Professionals and Meet the Innovators offer advisers a rare opportunity to pick the brains of highly successful and highly innovative people in the advice community,” Ms Brown said. “The small group format means advisers actually meet these people face-to-face and can therefore ask questions and find solutions that are most relevant to them and their practices.”

The Meet the Professionals roundtable will include presentations featuring people such as 2014 Rising Star Ben Budge, Jenny Pearse from Jenesis and Slipstream Coaching Director, Scott Charlton.

Mr Charlton, who is also author of Partnering with Accountants, said his presentation will address the ways in which advisers can build and cultivate relationships with the accounting profession.

“My presentation is about fostering the collaboration between financial advice and accounting so that we achieve the best possible end results for clients. I believe that if we can improve that collaboration then collectively we can improve the wealth of the nation,” he said.

The Meet the Innovators roundtable will feature people such as Harvey James of Enterprise Coach, Malcolm LeLievre from DNA Behaviour and Sue Viskovic, Managing Director of Elixir Consulting and author of an upcoming book on how advisers who write risk can thrive with or without commissions.

Ms Viskovic said her roundtable will look at overcoming the challenges of charging for insurance advice. “We have a lot of experience with pricing models for advice practices and have helped many start to charge fees for insurance advice – and it’s a whole different ballgame,” she said. “We have a tried and tested model to help with the process and we will be sharing our insights with advisers who come along to our session.”

Ms Brown said the roundtables demonstrate the AFA’s fundamental belief that peer-to-peer learning is an essential ingredient in the growth and development of advisers.

“Formal education is very important but so is learning from contemporaries and from people who have been very successful in the advice arena,” she said. “The AFA not only encourages this kind of learning, but actively supports and facilitates it via the Meet the Professionals and Meet the Innovators roundtables at the AFA Conference. It is another example of what makes the AFA such a strong community and what makes the AFA Conference a must-attend for advisers who are serious about succeeding in our profession.”

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Hot business tip number 23: Have a marketing plan

Sun, 21 Jun 2015 22:00:04 +0000

Get your marketing plans in order.

Dismissed by some as too ‘right brain’ or ‘warm and fuzzy’, a marketing plan which complements and supports your overall business plan is now essential for advisers seeking to profitably grow their practice.

At a simple level, a marketing plan articulates your target audience(s), your proposition to those audiences, and how you plan to find more of these people and what and how you will communicate with them.

Formalising such plans makes it easier to set your direction and track your progress. It can act as a catalyst to consider whether your direction is the right one and whether your proposition is internally consistent (for example is your ideal client actually aligned with your expertise and strengths as an adviser).

An important component of any marketing plan are objectives which are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timebound). An example might be to generate a certain amount of online enquiries within a month, or to attract XX new clients within a year.

A marketing plan is not just about sales, it should cover off:

Your proposition
Your brand identity
Your objectives
Your marketing budget
Specific initiatives, including a calendar and expected outcomes (e.g. hold a networking event within first quarter and have 30 guests attend, leading to 3 referrals)

The communications mix including:

Your website
Advertising
Social media and video
PR/media
Sponsorship
Events
Email marketing and newsletters
Collateral(brochures)
Lead sources, target volumes and conversion rates

Your plan should be regularly reviewed, both for tracking purposes and to adjust as the environment changes and assumptions are proved/disproved.

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This is an extract from a collection of business improvement tips for advisers, launched at Zurich’s Trax2Success national roadshow, featuring the 2013 AFA Adviser of the year Jenny Brown.

Click here to read Hot business tip number 1: Look after yourself and your staff

Click here to read Hot business tip number 2: Survey your clients

Click here to read Hot business tip number 3: Place a higher value on your time

Click here to read Hot business tip number 4: Review your client onboarding process

Click here to read Hot business tip number 5: Adopt an estate planning methodology across your business

Click here to read Hot business tip number 6: Tailor your communication strategy by client generation

Click here to read Hot business tip no number 7: Change your approach to review meetings

Click here to read Hot business tip number 8: Create a differentiated service offering (segment your client base)

Click here to read Hot business tip number 9: Set up a Board of Advice

Click here to read Hot business tip number10: Develop a client retention strategy

Click here to read Hot business tip number 11: Run a program where staff drive improvements

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 12: Build your emotional intelligence

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 13: Go Social

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 14: Get better at handling objections

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 15: Create stronger referral sources

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 16: Set up a Google account

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 17: Learn from leading advisers

Click here to read Hot business tip number. 18: Make better use of technology in your business

Click here to read Hot business tip number 19: Improve your office environment

Click here to read Hot business tip number 20: Develop a great value proposition

Click here to read Hot business tip number 21: Make more use of video in your business

Click here to read Hot business tip number 22: Optimise your website for mobile

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Hot business tip number 22: Optimise your website for mobile

Tue, 09 Jun 2015 22:00:34 +0000

Now, more than ever, it is imperative your website is mobile friendly.

Did you know that there are more mobile devices in the world than there are people?

With the rate of mobile devices growing five times faster than the population, and more than 50% of online searches for your business now done on a mobile device, incorporating mobility into your client-engagement strategy is no longer a techno-novelty – it’s a necessity.

This has important ramifications for all businesses that rely on their website to promote their value proposition, attract new clients and provide value to existing clients.

Although this trend has been evident for some time, recent research by Zurich estimates that less than one quarter of all advisers have optimised their website for mobile devices.

Pinching and zooming a regular website on a phone is not a good user experience, especially for older people with weaker eyesight.

True optimisation for mobile doesn’t mean that a website can be viewed on a mobile browser. Mobile optimisation means that a website has either been custom built for mobile, or is built in a way that allows the format to adapt to the device on which the content is being accessed.

Indeed, many industry experts now advocate a ‘mobile first’ philosophy which means if you are building a new site, you should first design it for mobile devices and then scale up, rather than the reverse.

Advisers should also consider providing access to their site via an app. Today it is possible to build apps for well under $10,000. Furthermore, apps can be developed that are device agnostic, so you don’t need to gamble on what type of device your users have.