Victorian detective Rob Jones was on his honeymoon in Vanuatu when he bumped into The Money Managers' Kevin Bailey. From that fateful meeting seven years ago the two became good friends and eventually business partners. Jones, now the chief executive of The Money Managers, told the story to Madeleine Collins.
What's in your CV? I'm an ex-Victorian police officer of 10 years. I joined The Money Managers back in January 2001 as general manager. There was about eight staff at the time. The business has now grown substantially to about 46 employees. I was appointed CEO in July 2005. Over that time I've had exposure to the management and administration side of the business. I completed a graduate course from the Australian Institute of Company Directors and some similar courses to round out my skill set.
Your honeymoon in Vanuatu was the start of your career change. What's the story there? I first met Kevin when he was running a marriage education course. My wife [Jacinta] and I were doing the course prior to getting married. Kevin and his wife were running the session, which included general finance issues and we struck up a bit of a friendship. Six months later I got married and we were on our honeymoon in Vanuatu. During the honeymoon I bumped into Kevin in a travel agency shop. I recall we were both complaining about something to do with our respective trips - I had been ripped off by a taxi driver. We ended up spending some time with Kevin and his wife, Grace, and their five kids at the time. It was a chance meeting but having known Kevin for eight years now I am not so sure. Twelve months later I joined The Money Managers.
You were still with the police force at the time? Yes. I was very happy in the force, and had won a detective's job and I had no intentions of leaving. Kevin was very passionate about his business and it was alluring. I've always had an interest in the finance field. I'd commenced a commerce degree at Deakin University years earlier and thought this opportunity fit in well with what I'd like to do.
What's happened since then? We were a relatively small outfit at the time. We managed around $150 million in funds under management [FUM] for 300 clients. We were progressing rapidly, which required an internal review of how we delivered our service. In June 2004 we established our partner program, partnering with like-minded financial planners who were looking to grow or develop a business along the same lines that we were developing ours. We had a point of differentiation we wanted to exploit. I was a director and started to focus on this distribution strategy. The partner program has evolved to seven businesses with $200 million plus in FUM in the last couple of years and is projected to grow rapidly as each business expands. Across the group we manage in excess of $650 million FUM for 1200 clients.
What kind of skills do you need to be a company director in today's market? Many - you need to be a communicator, investigator, risk manager and decision maker. In my time as a company director I have been exposed to a broad range of company and corporate issues and it's working through these and coming out of them that provide you with a good seat of knowledge and experience to counter new challenges. You apply that experience when deliberating on board-related matters. And a board needs to show a united front.
From what part of your job do you derive the most satisfaction? It sounds clichéd but working with our team at all levels is the most satisfying. We are developing further as a dealer group and have established a licensee services division which includes technical, compliance and research services. This talented team of professionals is providing real leverage for our planners in the field and we are a more valuable business as a result. Developing people and having them make decisions that ordinarily you would make is very satisfying and is one of the signs of a maturing business with depth.
What is one of the biggest challenges for financial advisers? Providing relevant services and remaining irreplaceable to clients I believe is one of the challenges facing advisers and advice businesses. In these times consumers have so much information and options at their disposal that they will question and probe advisers regarding services provided to them and results achieved. This is where benchmarking performance is very important. Another challenge will be the pricing of services into the future and the value clients will attach to these services. An adviser needs to look at the complete picture of an investor and offer a package that the investor will say delivers value to them and exceeds their expectations no matter what services they are seeking.
Is there any great similarity between detective work and managing a financial services company? Yes. Part of policing is conducting operations in an environment of scarce resources and then managing outcomes. I don't see managing businesses as substantially different. It's simply a different field. You need sound organisational skills, effective communication and planning skills and a focus on achieving the aim of the operation no matter the complications/distractions encountered along the way. In policing, effective communication skills are highly desirable for obvious reasons and it's the same in managing financial services businesses and any business for that matter.
Have you taken any more holidays with Kevin? No, we haven't as yet. He's now increased the head count to seven kids, so that would be potentially diabolical. We have two ourselves now. Do the numbers.
In Part 2 of our exclusive series, we ask leading names to nominate their best investments, the most effective industry group and the importance of platforms.
