A country practice

Greg Gunther has a pilot's licence, but has never used it in his work as a fi-nancial adviser in the Darling Downs of rural south-east Queensland. A shame, as the flying financial planner has a certain debonair ring to it.

It is unlikely that Gunther will ever reach his clients by hopping into the cockpit, not only because it is hardly the most cost-effective way to work, but also because technology such as the internet and email are now breaking down many of the boundaries formerly facing fina

Gareth Coslett

Greg Gunther has a pilot's licence, but has never used it in his work as a fi-nancial adviser in the Darling Downs of rural south-east Queensland. A shame, as the flying financial planner has a certain debonair ring to it.

It is unlikely that Gunther will ever reach his clients by hopping into the cockpit, not only because it is hardly the most cost-effective way to work, but also because technology such as the internet and email are now breaking down many of the boundaries formerly facing financial advisers working in rural prac-tices.

"Only about 10 per cent of my clients communicate with me by email, but it is sure to grow," he says. However, the personal touch will remain as important as ever, particularly with country folk, and rural financial planners will always be condemned to spend large swathes of time behind the steering wheel.

Gunther, director of Toowoomba-based independent advisers Gunther and Doyle, ventures as far south as Moree in northern NSW in the line of duty. He has built his practice over the past nine years by offering his services to clients of es-tablished rural accountants.

"In the early days of my practice, I did a lot of research on various townships and found out which accountants offered which services. I worked out which ones I was best aligned with and then offered my services in their practices," he says.

Gunther now works with five accountants, spending about a quarter of his time in their practices and the rest in his own office developing the contacts he has met through the accountants. He estimates only 10 per cent of the clients in his Toowoomba office have come to him directly - the rest he has met initially through the accountants or are referrals and recommendations from his accountant clients.

Like many rural independent financial advisers, the link with rural accountants is the lifeblood of the practice, but Gunther sees worrying changes around the corner.

Gunther only pays one accountant for the opportunity to meet his clients. But the days when accountants are willing to let in financial advisers for free, seeing their services as a valuable addition to rural clients seeking a one-stop shop, may be numbered as accountants continue to move into the financial plan-ning arena.

"You hear about accountants taking cuts of anything from five to 15 per cent from the financial advisers, and down the track an increasing number of account-ants may want to formalise the relationship and want a piece of the action," he says.

Gunther also predicts more formal partnerships as accountants, financial advis-ers, insurance brokers and legal advisers club together to offer one-stop shops - an attractive proposal for clients who have to drive eight hours to sort out their affairs.

As an adviser with NRMA Financial Management, linking up with independent ac-countants is not a concern for Julie Berry. She has been based in Port Mac-quarie, a town with a population of 60,000 in the mid-north coast of NSW, for 11 years. Berry describes herself as a Travelling Wilbury due to the amount of time she spends in her Commodore in the 200km radius between South West Rocks and Forster.

"When you spend four hours out of an eight-hour day in the car, it alters the way you work. It can be a bit lonely and I've developed a really good system of talking to myself! But I have my dictaphone in the car, which means I can do a bit of work while driving. Unfortunately, the mobile phone network does not cover large patches of the area, which means you really are cut off. It also means you are forever returning calls when you do get into the office," Berry says.

The fact that she divides her time between seven different NRMA offices in the region means her life on the road is likely to continue. Berry says her client base also means house calls will always be a necessary part of the job.

"Many of my clients have moved to the area to retire and retirees appreciate the fact that you are willing to pay them a visit and sit at home with them," she says.

Berry has noticed a significant increase in the average size of rural nest eggs over the past couple of years.

"Previously, we were dealing with sums of between $50,000 and $70,000. Now it seems to be about the $100,000 mark as people are getting more comfortable with the idea of investing. The Telstra floats have introduced a lot of new people to the market," she says.

Berry also says it is a myth that rural investors are not as up-to-date as met-ropolitan ones. She was astounded how many clients noticed when Personal Invest-ment magazine listed her as one of a number of financial advisers who had won an Internet quiz in May this year.

"You can't pull the wool over these people's eyes. They are in touch with the latest developments and our seminars are a lot less basic and a lot more educa-tional than they used to be," she says.

However, working in the country can often be a time-hungry experience with rela-tively low payback.

"Many a time I have driven two hours to someone, and opened half a dozen cow gates to get to their house, only to find that they've got something to put in fixed term," says Berry.

Most rural financial advisers acknowledge that the sums of money they deal with are smaller than in metropolitan areas. George Flack, a proprietor at RetireIn-vest in Eaglehawk, near Bendigo in Victoria, says that if his clients were cars, they would run on "the smell of an oily rag".

"Country people rely on lower budgets and find it relatively easy to dovetail a financial plan," says Flack. For this reason, his business has been built on a high volume of clients with lower average fund sizes.

Flack has 700 active clients and until recently was a single adviser with a sup-port staff of 10 people. He has taken on an extra five employees, four of whom are training for DFP1 (Diploma of Financial Planning) qualifications, to cope with the heavy workload.

"You've got to be incredibly efficient to run a rural financial planning busi-ness because of the sheer volume of clients. Not a minute is wasted. All my work is done on dictation tapes and then put to paper by the administrative staff," he says.

In a refreshing role-reversal, Flack has pioneered his own one-stop shop concept by moving to a modern, purpose-built office which means the local accountant and solicitor come to his office to offer their services rather than the other way around.

Flack, born and bred in Bendigo, typifies another aspect of the rural financial adviser: the pillar of the local community. How many city-based advisers can claim to be volunteer firefighter, brass band trombonist-cum-treasurer, bingo permit supervisor and athletic club president all rolled into one? Flack can.

"In the country, your credibility can be based on your background and whether people know your parents and relatives. You get personally involved with clients and sometimes have to gently let them know that you don't want to be talking about their finances every time you see them in the street or at a party," Flack says.

Mike Kearney, a financial adviser with AMP Financial Planning in Busselton, in the Margaret River region of Western Australia, says he is often struck by the difference between his working life and that of city advisers.

"I sometimes slide my feet under a farmhouse kitchen table and think how differ-ent it is working here from an office in St Georges Terrace in Perth," he says.

The importance of clustering client appointments and organising diaries well in advance is even more important in remote Western Australia, Kearney says.

He also notices a cultural difference between his rural clients and those on the east coast.

"Western Australia has always had a more prospective culture. People have tradi-tionally taken more risks out here. There's a lot of people who have gone to work in isolated areas with harsh climatic conditions. A lot of money has been earned, but a lot has been wasted," he says.

But as Kearney is working i