FAAA names Gwen Fletcher Memorial Award recipient

The Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) has named Andrew Dickinson of Strategic Wealth as the winner of the Gwen Fletcher Memorial Award for semester two of 2023.

Named in honour of the late Ms Fletcher, or the “first lady of financial planning”, the award goes to the highest performing student in the certified financial planner (CFP) certification unit in each semester.

According to the association, the Gwen Fletcher Award, first created in 2014, signifies a demonstrable dedication to providing high-quality financial advice.

Mr Dickinson first joined Strategic Wealth in 2017 and has almost seven years of experience in financial planning.

He became a financial adviser and partner at the firm in January this year and obtained his bachelor’s degree in commerce at Deakin University in 2016.

FAAA chief executive officer Sarah Abood congratulated Mr Dickinson on the award.

“I commend Andrew for his sheer dedication to the financial planning profession through his commitment to the CFP certification program while also running his own practice,” Ms Abood said.

“Gwen would have approved of Andrew’s willingness to go above and beyond to reach the highest levels of professionalism, and he provides a wonderful example to the rest of his colleagues.

“The CFP certification program has been around for more than 30 years as the standard of excellence for financial planners and will continue to be so for years to come.”

Mr Dickinson commented: “It is a privilege to be recognised by this award in Gwen’s honour. I am very appreciative of the support of my colleagues at Strategic Wealth and broader support through the Oreana Licensee network, who helped me along the way.”

He added that the CFP program was a valuable learning experience.

“The best thing about the program was learning from realistic client scenarios throughout the course. I found that I was often reading material on a topic and then applying it to client scenarios within days,” Mr Dickinson said.

“Different businesses specialise in particular segments of the market. Doing the CFP program is a great way to build your knowledge and gain exposure to advice situations that you may otherwise not have encountered during your everyday work.”