Regional advice businesses tested by physical isolation

Speaking to ifa, Haydn van Nek, operations manager at Kelly Wealth, explained that the experience of running an advice firm in today’s uncertain legislative environment is compounded by the vast remoteness of its regional setting.

“For us even little things like buying a lounge, we automatically pay an extra few hundred dollars just for freight. So, the cost to serve for our business is a really big challenge,” Mr van Nek said.

The skills shortage, although common throughout the country, is also made more challenging by Kelly Wealth’s sheer remoteness.

“I know it’s across the board in the financial services industry, but I really feel that it’s really prominent in regional Far North Queensland doesn’t offer a financial planning accredited degree, which really makes it hard for our up-and-comers. They’re then forced to study remotely,” Mr van Nek said.

Expounding further on this people barrier, Mr van Nek explained that Kelly Wealth has to “start from scratch”.

“We’re very lucky at the moment because we have a couple of legal students who are after working here have decided they might consider transitioning their degrees to something more financial-based,” he said.

“We’ve been lucky in the sense of the major banks stepping out of advice, there were obviously a lot of advisers who needed somewhere to go. But honestly with that skills shortage, and it’s not just the skills shortage, but retaining new staff on the back of that because it’s such a competitive industry.”

Another major barrier for advice practices in general, he noted, is the “ever-changing regulation”; this one, he acknowledged, is not just a regional matter.

“I mean, who is not complaining about the ever-changing regulation?”

But Mr van Nek is not the “glass-half-empty” type, and he does see progress on the horizon — at least in the regulatory sense.

“I do believe that we’re at the point now where we’re at peak regulation. It can only ease up; it can’t get any tougher,” Mr van Nek explained.

To hear more from Mr van Nek, tune into our podcast from Wednesday, 21 December.