Industry fund Non-Government Schools Super (NGS Super) has appointed the first two advisers to its recently-launched financial planning service.
Former State Super Financial Services planner Ken Whitton will be based in the NGS Super Sydney office, while former Industry Funds Financial Planning planner Graham O'Donohue will be based in Adelaide and will also service Melbourne clients.
Both new hires will be licensed by Mercer Investment Nominees and will start training on 3 August before starting work in the NGS Super offices.
"This arrangement is integral to the 'embedded planner' model that we have arranged with Mercer, and allows NGS Financial Planning to provide expert advice in association with Mercer," NGS Super chief executive Anthony Rodwell-Ball said.
Rodwell-Ball said NGS would retain discretion over delivery, execution, member experience and fee arrangements and reflect the fund's not-for-profit model.
As part of the financial planning service rollout, NGS Super will also launch a telephone-based advice service from 1 November.
Rodwell-Ball said he expected around 80 per cent of member needs would be serviced by the single-issue advice provided over the phone to members.
"NGS Super's approach in launching this integrated solution has been to have an emphasis on making the member experience as easy as possible," he said.
He said he expected that once demand built, a full-time Melbourne planner would also be appointed.
