Is it financially worthwhile to become a financial planner?

Financial planning can help you retain ownership of your clients as well as improve and deepen your client relationships.

Financial planning income is sticky and typically grows with your client's wealth and advice requirements. Where you already have a client relationship established from mortgage broking or accounting, then you should enjoy significant time efficiency over any other financial planner.

When it comes to selling your business a financial planning business is sold on a higher multiple of earnings than is a mortgage broking or accounting business, or financial planning can add significantly to EBIT if selling on this basis.

Do I get a certificate at the end of the 24 months mentoring?

No.

B2P Mentoring's Broker2Planner / Accountant2Planner program is not a formal education course. The program is designed to provide practical assistance, coaching, guidance and mentoring to help you create and run a profitable financial planning business.

The program is structured so that we can only be successful if you are successful.

Do I have to continue with HNW Planning after 24 months' mentoring?

B2P Mentoring's Broker2Planner / Accountant2Planner program is delivered with the assistance of HNW Planning as the Australian Financial Services Licensee (AFSL).

You are free to leave B2P Mentoring and HNW Planning at any time.

HNW Planning recognises in its agreements that the Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR) has rights to income. If you control the CAR you can move it to another AFSL at any time so long as clients are given the opportunity to 'opt out' of moving with you.

Do I have to be on the mentoring program for the whole 24 months?

Possibly not.

B2P Mentoring's Broker2Planner program involves working with a mentoring 'Development Officer' and completing a series of tasks directed at increasing your proficiency and profitability as a financial planner. It is possible these tasks may be completed in less than 24 months.

Different Development Officers will bring different experience and perspectives that will be valuable to you also.

What is the work load required 'to do financial planning' per client?

Like 'riding a bike' this is relative to your experience and skill in using systems designed to help you. But it also relates directly to your own focus within financial planning.

One of the most profitable areas of financial planning is providing advice and dealing (selling) personal insurances. This advice and sales process can be streamlined quite effectively and allows a high degree of 'repeatability' and 'systemisation' within your financial planning business.

A practiced operator should be able to make a recommendation and complete a Statement of Advice for 'standard insurance needs' within two hours.

The total time to complete advice might reasonably be:

• Client meeting - 1 hour
• Statement of Advice - 2 hours
• Applications submitted and follow up requirements - 1 hour
• Expected revenue = $2000 - $4000 (reasonable estimate)

What is the turnaround time for doing business like an insurance policy?

Like many business operations this aspect is being greatly sped up by the use of technology.

Examples are:

• Comparison quotes can be done with one set of instructions to compare most market participants,
• The quote chosen can (in most cases) be forwarded straight to the insurance company for completion of personal information on-line,
• Underwriting can be done over the telephone in some cases.

And of course there is still the option of doing it the old fashioned way of printing quotes and having clients fill out application forms before submitting to underwriting. In this case the turnaround time is much more to do with a client's enthusiasm to complete the application forms than anything else, so one requirement in this case is to bring your selling skills to the fore to allow the momentum of the application process to continue.

How long will it be before I see money coming in from the time I decide to do this?

Please allow time in your business plan to become familiar with the financial planning products.

Some of your clients will want you to look after their existing insurances and investments and superannuation as soon as you're qualified to be a financial planner. You should also start to look after your own such investments and insurances.

In most cases taking over existing products is simply a matter of the client signing a transfer form to make you the nominated adviser.

With respect to writing new business, a reasonable expectation might be

• A month to have a first client meeting and get the first Statement of Advice sent out
• A month for your first client to consider and accept such advice
• Two weeks to implement and underwrite
• Two weeks for payment to filter through

And in the mean time you should continue to build a 'pipeline' of business.

What makes your offering better than your competitors?

There are a number of points that makes our offering different:

• HNW Planning as Australian Financial Services Licensee and SYNCRM as the software provider work hand in hand in partnership with B2P Mentoring to deliver systems and processes that are consistent,
• We don't manufacture products, our motivation is not to sell product for vertical profits,
• We only make money when you make money, otherwise we run at a loss that is subsidised by your payments to B2P Mentoring,
• You are encouraged to establish your own branding,
• We get to know you, we help you with the focus of your business to assist it to be profitable - we climb in there with you and help you become productive,
• HNW Planning has dedicated programs to assist the special requirements of mortgage brokers transitioning to include financial planning as part of their finance advisory enterprise. Their professional development days, templates, workflows and experience, as well as that of their other advisers have this common background, and
• We offer practice modelling and development to maximise your efficiency and professionalism.

Can I talk to someone who is doing the mentoring program?

If you go to HNW Planning's web site and search for an adviser, you're welcome to call any of our advisers to discuss our program with them.

Most HNW Planning advisers are currently on or have come through a B2P Mentoring program or otherwise work with mortgage brokers or accountants.

Our advisers are friendly and always ready to offer thoughts on their own experience to their industry comrades.

Why is HNW Group doing this?

To some degree this has been a natural journey for HNW Group Holdings. The synergy between B2P Mentoring, HNW Planning and SYNCRM FPS, the financial planning software, was such that it made sense to consolidate.

HNW Group Holdings strongly believes that there is a genuine niche market in servicing the needs of mortgage brokers and accountants transitioning to financial planners that is beyond the reach of large corporations that struggle to offer the one-on-one liaison and long term commitment that is required.

In addition, it is important for HNW Planning to grow their reputation in the industry for their authorised representatives.

Will my involvement in financial planning hurt my mortgage business?

Activity builds results and financial planning provides a reason to contact your clients on a more regular basis than you might should you solely broker mortgages.

Clients will be reminded that you are available to help them and they will see the multiple contacts from you as a proxy for quality.

What's the success rate of mortgage brokers transitioning to financial planners?

There are many great success stories but anecdotally there are many more mortgage brokers who have failed.

There are possibly a number of reasons for this, each of which can be overcome and these include:

• Financial planning systems have been unnecessarily complex and have created an artificial barrier;
• Dealer groups have long had a vested interest in compounding the artificial complexity;
• Mortgage broking has until recently been a profitable business thus making it hard to justify the re-direction of resources to financial planning; and
• There has been no guidance available to bridge the gap between formal education and operating as a financial planner.

Is it difficult for mortgage brokers to establish a financial planning business?

It's not easy but it is very worthwhile.

A mortgage broker will typically have key resources making it possibly easier than for other persons to establish a financial planning business.

A mortgage broker will typically have:

• Trusted relationships with existing clients;
• Infrastructure of an office;
• Selling skills; and
• An existing income stream.

Can I bring in a financial planner into my existing mortgage broking business?

Yes.

While we encourage the business owner to complete the training and gain the knowledge and skills required to manage their financial planning business, it may be an entirely sensible outcome to employ or partner with an experienced or full time financial planner.

B2P Mentoring believes you are best to own and control your business rather than rely on 'referral agreements'.

What are the ongoing costs?

We are only profitable when you are profitable.

We don't have products to push onto you and your clients in order to negate risks with vertical margins.

Our ongoing costs reflect the investment and risk that B2P Mentoring takes in spending time with you. The more risk you take from us and assume yourself the cheaper our program will be delivered.

Our program options and pricing structure for the Broker2Planner / Accountant2Planner Program are listed below.

* Adviser splits revert to the normal AFSL splits at the end of the B2P Mentoring Pty Ltd contract term with the moving average referencing the previous 12 months' revenue data.