Pre-Conference Pro Series CPD Workshops

Wednesday 16th November
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre

Pre-Conference workshops are being run separately to the National Conference and are not included in any conference packages. Pre-Conference workshops are an additional cost and must be purchased in addition to your conference registration. Morning tea is included in all morning workshops; afternoon tea is included in all afternoon workshops. Lunch catering is included in all workshop registrations. A discounted rate applies to those attending a full day of workshops. You can attend one morning and one afternoon workshop. Please ensure you note on your registration which workshops you would like to attend.

Wednesday’s Program

Pre-Conference Pro Series CPD Workshops

The CPD Pro Series takes place the day before the big event and is for planners who are looking for intensive training on specialist topics that have an immediate impact on your advice proposition and professional reputation.

Earn up to 4 CPD Points each!

On the Pro Series agenda this year:

Aged Care Situational Strategies with Louise Biti

This workshop facilitated by the industry expert is focussed on the advice approaches needed to effectively transition your clients or their parents into the Aged Care system.   If you have a good understanding of the rules and structure of aged care this session is the next step to build your Aged Care advice skills.

Emotional Intelligence for Relationship Performance

A dedicated day to bring the world leading emotional intelligence (EI) training to your client relationships.  Helen Parker and Wayne Lear (CFP) will show you how the words you use to frame conversations can inspire trust and confidence in all situations.

Value Creation – Standing out in a sea of sameness

As the biggest changes in the Industry’s history come upon us, ‘Value’ is THE buzz word being talked about right now in terms of how we create it and make sure our clients are aware that we have it!  In this half day session, Christina Foster from Huthwaite’s International will explain what ‘value’ now means for fee-for-services professionals and  guide you  through the creation and positioning of your  own personal value proposition.

Advice Strategies & Advanced Portfolio Techniques – is new thinking needed post GFC 1 & 2

This advanced technical workshop for planners and paraplanners will explore and discuss pre & post retirement issues using a case study based experiential learning format. It will also explore the effect of GFC 1 & 2 on past thinking in client portfolio design and whether  the past way of building portfolios should be challenged.

Estate Planning Advice & Strategies

SME business owners have been recognised as a growing segment of the financial planning market requiring multi dimensional guidance on not only their business structures but also their related family wealth management objectives. Andrew Andreyev and Michael Perkins of Andreyev Doman Lawyers will lead workshop participants through a case study based learning experience where common issues that arise in the context of advising SME and family businesses will be discussed.

Aged Care Situational Strategies with Louise Biti

This workshop facilitated by the industry expert is all about the advice approach needed to effectively transition your clients or their parents into the Aged Care.  It goes beyond the basics of calculating fees so if you already have an understanding of the rules and structure of aged care this session is the next step to build your Aged Care advice skills.

The advice process will be put into practice by workshopping client scenarios to help advisers:

• Identify the advice approach and issues to consider
• Understand the critical decision points
• Select appropriate strategies
• Create client understanding and overcome objections
• Position the value of your advice

 The client scenarios will look at situations such as:

• Couples –  one needs high care and the other low care
• Single person – assets tied up in house
• Single person – currently living with family.

You will also hear an update on recent changes and the potential implications arising from the Productivity Commission review.

Note: this workshop is beyond the basics of aged care advice so before attending you need to ensure you have an understanding of the fees in aged care and how they are calculated.

About your facilitator

Louise Biti CFP®, MTax, BEc, BA(AS), Dip FP
Louise has over 18 years experience in financial services and is well respected across the industry. She is a co-founder of Strategy Steps, an independent boutique business supporting the financial planning industry with the development of financial planning strategies that are client-focussed and practical. The core of this business is the Desk Caddie on-line subscription service.

Louise has always been actively involved in the industry and her interactions include: 

• Director on the Self-managed Super Fund Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) Board
• Previous Director on the Financial Planning Association (FPA) Board
• Contributor to CCH publications such as Master Financial Planning Guide and Small Business Tax Concessions Guide as well as co-author of the Practical Guide to SMSFs
• Regular contributor of articles for Your Life Choices (a consumer finance magazine)
• Involvement with Finsia education
• Speaker at industry conferences
• Regularly quoted in both consumer and trade media.

In 2005 Louise was awarded the FPA’s Distinguished Service Award. She has a Masters of Taxation, a Bachelor of Economics, a Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies) and a Diploma of Financial Services. She is a SMSF Specialist Adviser™, a Registered Tax Agent and has achieved Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP) status. 

Emotional Intelligence for Relationship Performance

World leading relationship training specifically for Financial Planners

This workshop offers a dedicated day to bringing the latest emotional intelligence (EI) training to your client relationships.  Helen Parker and Wayne Lear (CFP) will show you how the words you use to frame conversations and hold-up the emotional space with clients, can inspire trust and confidence in all situations.

You will discuss the latest insights into achieving  lasting ‘buy-in’ from clients and provided  ‘real life’ examples of  powerful interview techniques to create trusting and enduring relationships.

This workshop aims to support you as a financial planner to:

1. To become better at perceiving and ‘reading’ clients emotions, as well as your own.
2. Become better at being more mindful of the moment- to- moment client experience and be less caught up and ‘sabotaged’ by emotionally charged thoughts.
3. Create more clarity about how emotions link to thinking, decision-making and action.
4. Learn more helpful ways of responding to emotionally-reactive clients and deal more effectively with emotional conflict.
5. Practice EI based dialogue skills to enhance conversations with clients.
6. Put your new EI skills into action and move your business forward.

Helen and Wayne have been described as the “missing link” in evidence based relationship training specifically for financial planners.  We hope you can join us for this unique and timely session.

About your facilitators

Helen Parker, PhD Candidate, University of Sydney.
B. Psych. (Hons.), MBA. 
Helen Parker, is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Sydney and she also works as a Research Assistant at the Australian National University.  Helen holds a B. Psych (Hons – 1st class) from the University of Canberra and an MBA from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management. Prior to her current position, she had a 20-year work history in senior sales and marketing positions across the IT, publishing and pharmaceutical sectors in both Australia and the UK.  In addition to building market leading positions for companies in Asia Pacific, she has extensive presentation and training experience, presenting at international conferences both here and abroad.  In 2006, she facilitated adult education courses at the Canberra Institute of Technology and more recently achieved a student satisfaction rating above 90% as a tutor in the School of Psychology.

Wayne Lear, CFP.  Principal, Conscious Money
Wayne Lear (CFP®) is an international leader in the new Financial Life Planning field. He has been providing financial services advice to clients since 1982 and has been a representative of Madison Financial Group since 1 July 2006. He holds the following qualifications/Professional Memberships: Certified Financial Planner (CFP); Certified Self Managed Superannuation Fund Specialist Advisor (SSA) and Financial Life Planning and Financial Psychology accreditation.

Wayne Lear has facilitated numerous workshops in Australia, the United States and the UK.  His company, Conscious Money, is a unique fee for service provider that offers a value-based life planning approach with over 300 active clients with AUS$100 Million in direct assets under management.

Value Creation – how to stand out in a sea of sameness

As the biggest changes in the Industry’s history come upon us, ‘Value’ is THE buzz word being talked about right now in terms of how we create it and make sure our clients are aware that we have it!

In this half day session, Christina Foster from Huthwaite’s International will explain what ‘value’ now means for fee-for-services professionals and  guide you  through the creation and positioning of your  own personal value proposition.

You will learn about ‘value’ and the steps that are needed to ensure you crate it and effectively communicate it to your clients.

You’ll be shown:

• What ‘value’ now means for financial planning professionals
• The client’s perspective and what’s important to them
• Why clients will pay for what they value
• Why selling the ‘benefits’ no longer proves or generates value
• How asking the right questions is critical to uncovering  value triggers
• Seeing the real value you deliver for clients in a new way
• Create your own value proposition that clients will connect with
• Why communication is really the point of difference
• Get your value communication process moving with new and existing clients

As an industry we need to get better at articulating the value we create for our clients.  We look forward to helping you achieve this through your participation in this workshop.

About your facilitator

Christina Foster, Partner – Huthwaite
Christina started working in Financial services within a brokerage in 1994. She actively worked in the business from Marketing support to Brokering as well as moving into Pension Funds/Superannuation. She additionally holds a qualification in Pension Funds advice. In 2003 she transitioned her skills into learning and development and has been specialising in sales performance development since, supporting and engaging the development of skills to the industry as well as beyond. 

Christina not only understands the world of the financial advisor, but how to find answers to the challenges currently being faced by the industry. She is able to bring together her own experience and knowledge, as well as employ globally recognised sales research methodology.

In addition to her experience in Training/Consulting and Leading change in client/industry segments, Christina has successfully led a small business and built highly capable and engaged sales consultants within the Financial Services world and understands the need to create value around an intangible outcome and services.

She looks forward to supporting the leaders in the financial planning industry in driving highly effective outcomes in business and supporting a positive engagement strategy around the new Fee-For-Service world.

Advanced Portfolio Techniques – is new thinking needed post GFC 1 & 2 (or Creating effective strategies for clients)

This workshop promises to dive into the technical details of a range of pre and post retirement topics and provide planners and paraplanners the opportunity to workshop contemporary strategies, discuss ideas, broaden thinking, up date knowledge and most importantly, enhance strategic planning skills in a collaborative, intelligent environment.

It will also explore, and perhaps challenge, current thinking on the design of client portfolios. Experienced planners and paraplanners understand that markets go up and down over time but in the context of GFC 1 and now 2, are existing techniques and theories used in devising client strategies and portfolios, based principally on a “risk profiling” approach,  always  appropriate?

How could planners and paraplanners develop better, lower stress and yet still flexible portfolios that could truly deliver for clients?

About your facilitators

Gemma Dale, Head of Technical Services, MLC Advice Solutions
Gemma is Head of Technical Services at MLC, which comprises of more than fifteen technical specialists. Prior to being appointed to this role, she managed the ThreeSixty Technical team, which provided exclusive technical support to 1,400 advisers with Godfrey Pembroke, Apogee, Garvan, MLC and NAB Financial Planning.

Prior to joining MLC, Gemma was a Senior Technical Manager at Asgard Wealth Solutions and Head of Technical Services at Suncorp. She has over twelve years experience in the financial services industry.

Gemma holds a Bachelor of Business (Honours), Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Arts, as well as the Advanced Diploma of Financial Planning.

Dominic McCormick, Chief Investment Officer, Select Asset Management
Dominic has worked in financial services and investment management for over 25 years and co-founded Select in 2002. Dominic’s expertise, particularly in research and portfolio construction, became the foundation for the first Select Diversified Portfolios, launched in late 2002. Dominic has overall responsibility for investment strategy and research for Select’s range of multi-asset, multi-manager portfolios, investing across the spectrum of traditional and alternative investments. He maintains a high and well respected industry profile through his regular contribution to industry articles and conferences.

Before co-founding Select in 2002, Dominic provided investment consultancy advice to a number of Australia’s major financial services organisations after leaving Bridges Financial planners in early 2001 where he had managed the Research team.  Prior to this he also worked at Pembroke Financial Planners, MLC and AMP in a variety of investment and technical roles since 1985. 

Family Business Succession & Estate Planning Case Study

It’s been recognized that there is a growing need for small business clients to gain proper guidance on not only their business affairs but their related, and sometimes quite complex, family wealth management objectives

Issues that are commonly confronted by SME business owners where professional guidance is required include:

• The passing of control and ownership of a business between generations
• The passing on of other non-business related assets
• Adequately providing for a surviving spouse – and securing the children’s legacy
• Ensuring that control over trust structure and superannuation passes between spouses, and then to children, in an effective manner

Through interactive, facilitator led analysis of real case study based situations, participants will gain an understanding of issues that arise in the context of advising SME and family businesses; the proper processes planner’s should follow and discover solutions to enhance their client’s sometimes complex affairs .

About your facilitator

Andrew Andreyev, Partner Andreyev Doman, Lawyers
Andrew is well known for his business and investment structures, as well as his breadth of practical knowledge in the area of corporate, taxation and superannuation law working closely with financial planners in satisfying their client’s family wealth management objectives..

Andrew holds Bachelor degrees in Commerce and Law from Adelaide University. He also holds a Masters of Law (in Taxation and International Law) from Melbourne University. He is admitted to practice law in Australia and the United Kingdom. 

Click here for a PDF version of Wednesday’s program