Long-standing adviser Chris Kennedy is the newly appointed director for accounting and financial planning firm William Buck’s Adelaide office. He was appointed to manage growth on the back of budget changes and superannuation reforms.
Kennedy says the Adelaide office has experienced 18 per cent growth in fees and a 25 per cent growth in funds under management (FUM) to $500 million in the last two years.
“Right now we’re seeing a lot of demand from the federal budget changes in May last year.we have a high level of referrals,” he said.
Kennedy, who has 30 years experience in the industry and has been a senior adviser with William Buck for a decade, says his focus for 2007 will be high net worth clients. An average client has $1 million in FUM.
He predicts a surge in clients seeking advice about the federal government’s super simplification that will take effect from 1 July 2007.
“I’ve had three of them in the past few days and [all] of them are new clients,” he said.
He will also lead a strategy to attract more young people to seek financial advice and how a reduction in fees for this age bracket can benefit the client and the firm.
“It’s something we’re grappling with right now,” he said.
“The superannuation opportunities announced in the 2006 Federal Budget has broadened the need for more superannuation advice,” managing director Jamie McKeough said.
Under the new superannuation laws announced in the Federal Budget last May, investors can inject up to $1 million into their superannuation funds before July.
