A burning drive to excel
Cherie Feher, the Money Management/Super Review Women in Financial Services Awards' Rising Star, is no stranger to financial planning, having worked as a compliance manager and paraplanner for seven years before stepping into financial planning four years ago.
It has been a busy four years, with Feher gaining her Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation late last year while raising six-month-old twins and working four days a week.
Feher got her foot in the door of the profession after offering to work for free for a financial planner while studying for the Diploma of Financial Advice, after her graduation from university in 2001.
Since then her path has taken her through a number of different roles, but Feher said her aim had been to be a financial planner, a career she describes as “the most rewarding job of all”.
Feher, who also holds the Life Risk Specialist Accreditation, has also been appointed as a panel member for the Financial Planning Association’s Conduct Review Commission. She said she was proud of the profession and does not take her responsibility as a planner lightly.
“I chose it for my career as I believe people who work hard all their lives deserve to have a comfortable retirement, and too many Australians never get there due to misfortune or ill-informed financial decisions.
"lt’s my responsibility to help Australians understand what they want and then give them a plan on how to get there.”
At the same time Feher brings to the table technical abilities involving a range of client issues drawn from her paraplanning background – a background in which she prepared and examined hundreds of Statements of Advice.
While gaining her CFP designation Feher continued to service 100 clients, increasing Centrelink pension entitlements, reducing product fees paid by clients and improving their tax situations.
Centric Wealth chief executive Phil Kearns said that Feher had established a new office for the firm in the southern suburbs of Sydney after quickly coming up to speed following her shift to the group.
“An outstanding characteristic is her drive to do her best for her clients with whom she enjoys a high level of rapport and trust. Within the organisation this drive is often a catalyst for review and improvement and ‘good enough’ does not appear to be on her agenda,” Kearns said.
This drive to excel continues outside of work, with Feher working to achieve her second-degree blackbelt in Taekwondo while captaining her football team and contributing to the North Cronulla Surf Lifesaving Club, raising nearly $10,000 in funds for the club.
Click here to find out more about the winners in the Women in Financial Services Awards.
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