Like all professions the quality of financial advice can vary from exceptional to poor.  Unfortunately, the consequences of poor financial advice can be as extreme as the loss of a lifetime of savings and the family home.  Choosing a financial planner is a very important decision and you should be comfortable with the person you place your trust with.

Would you allow a surgeon to operate on you who does not have a medical degree and years of surgical experience?

James Gerrard has been recognised by the Australian Financial Review Smart Investor magazine as being a top 50 financial planner in Australia in 2010.  In 2009, James was a national finalist for the Financial Planning Association of Australia’s Value of Advice awards.  James is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and has completed a Bachelor of Applied Finance, Master of Business Administration and is currently completing a Doctor of Business Administration writing a thesis in the area of financial planning.

We believe that our expertise and knowledge is of the highest level in Australia.  Our clients are always up to date with the latest strategies and can be confident that they are not paying any more tax and have strategies in place to grow their wealth. We have strong knowledge and technical expertise in the areas of superannuation, investments, insurances, tax, shares and estate planning.  We understand how the different areas interrelate and specialise in maximising opportunities for clients to achieve successful outcomes.

We believe that we can create more tailored, innovative and valued financial solutions for our clients than our competitors can.

Philosophy for Growing Wealth

Having enough wealth to enjoy life without financial restrictions is a position that most people aspire to.  Our role in growing your wealth to that level is a privilege that we take very seriously.

Some financial advisory firms will follow strategy templates and use investments in accordance with head office directives.  Unfortunately this can sometimes result in a clunky, reactionary, process driven advice relationship with the focus on ticking the boxes.  We differ from our competitors by having a dynamic and proactive approach to growing wealth and by looking ahead; we aim to seek out opportunities and threats for our clients.

Wealth is something that is desired and difficult to grow and maintain.  We appreciate this and work closely with our clients to identify how they wish to live their lives and implement strategies to work towards growing wealth towards their desired level.  We have a partnership and understanding with our clients to grow their wealth.  Our goals are aligned and we are there to guide our clients to make good financial decisions before, rather than after the event.

Passionate about Financial Planning

James Gerrard is a career financial planner and is passionate about financial planning.  He holds a position on a board committee with the Financial Planning Association of Australia and is a registered pro bono financial planner.

Financial planning is not something that James ‘fell’ into.  From an early age James held ambition to one day operate a successful financial advisory firm that would make a notable difference to people’s lives.  From the time he finished high school, he has always taken small steps towards achieving this goal with hard work and commitment.  He worked full-time within the financial services industry during the day and completed tertiary and post-graduate education on a full-time basis at night.

He believes that every Australian should have a financial planner as has demonstrated the great value that can be achieved as proven by being a national finalist for the Value of Advice awards.  There are no shortcuts to any place worth going, and financial planning is no different.  There is no golden ticket – hard work, sacrifice and determination are required.  With the expertise and guidance of a passionate and professional financial planner, you should enjoy the structure, accountability and guidance that will enable you chart the best path forward.

Focused on Providing you with the Best Advice

We do not receive commissions on investment products.  We are not influenced by the amount of commission we receive because any commission on investment products received by us is rebated back to our clients’ accounts 100%.  We prefer our clients to meet the cost of our advice as it ensures that there is no conflict of interest.

Our advice is focused on the strategies and opportunities that enable our clients to work towards achieving their financial goals, rather than being focused on ‘selling’ investment products.  As a result, many of our clients have received comprehensive advice focused on areas which are rarely covered by our competitors such as budgeting, cash flow debt reduction, Wills and Powers of Attorney.  We are experts in holistic, professional financial planning.

Access to Research

Being situated within the Central Business District of Sydney means that we enjoy a vast amount of investment research via face to face briefings and updates that most smaller suburban financial planning practices would not have access to.

From Perth based stockbroker research on Western Australian mining companies to Hong Kong based investment banking research on Asian economic conditions, we have the depth and breadth of research to enable us to guide our clients to make good financial decisions.

Our role is to be on top of investment, legislative, political and economic news and events that may impact our clients’ portfolios.  By having up to the minute coverage on these matters enables us to advise you on opportunities and ideas that you may not have known existed such as rare earth mineral deposits in Australia or innovative renewable energy technology from the United Kingdom.

We Practice what we Preach

We use the same investment strategies and products that we recommend to our clients.  We appreciate the frustration that clients must feel when their financial planner recommends one thing then does something totally different for themself.

We don’t believe in:
“do as I say, not as I do”

We believe in:
“do as I say, as it is what I do also”

If it’s good enough for us to recommend to clients, it’s good enough for us to use ourselves.