Money Management Financial Planner of the Year finalists

TheMoney ManagementFinancial Planner of the Year Award is now in its 15th year since awarding the inaugural prize in 1989 to David Worley.

Since that time some great names in the field of financial planning, such as Robert Keavney, Neil McKissock, Ray Griffin, Neil Heriot, Kevin Bailey and Dominic Alafaci, have taken out the top prize for adviser excellence.

In preparation for the announcement of this year’s winner in the next edition,Money Managementprovides a profile of the finalists and wishes each one of them the very best as the judges make their final decision.

—Jason Spits, Editor Money Management

Scott Alman

ScottAlman first joinedAMPin Mackay as a life adviser in 1985, and after moving into financial planning in 1987, has practised there ever since, setting up his own independent practice, Alman Financial Planning, in 2001.

DFP and CFP qualified, Alman is currently completing a masters of financial planning at Sunshine Coast University. He maintains a high profile in the local Mackay community, running regular free financial planning workshops and writing a weekly column in the local newspaper. He is also a trustee of The Mackay Foundation, a charitable trust established to support the needy in the Mackay community. In 2000, Alman Financial Planning received theHillross Financial ServicesNational Practice Business Champion award, and Alman personally received the National Individual Champion award.

Kim Bailey

Alsoa principal consultant withGodfrey Pembrokein Western Australia, Kim Bailey sees himself as a strategist and works hard at both honing his technical skills and sharing this expertise.

Bailey runs a regular in-house training program at Godfrey Pembroke, both in his own practice and around the country for financial planners and their executive assistants, to ensure they remain at their technical best. He has also delivered seminars to bodies such as the WA Superannuation Board and the Taxation Institute of Australia. Despite this additional activity, Bailey consistently rates at the top level of the Godfrey Pembroke network, generally being placed in the top five advisers each year for excellence in financial planning. He holds a DFP, CFP status, is a CPA Financial Planning Specialist, and was awarded thePersonal Investormagazine Master Class Award in 2000 and 2001.

Nick Bruining

WesternAustralia-based Nick Bruining has not let his relative isolation from the rest of the country stop him from making a national contribution to financial planning. With almost 15 years experience as a financial planner, Bruining has served on theFinancial Planning Association(FPA) board for the last four years, and participated in numerous committees and sub-committees since 1994. While advising over 200 clients in his own dealership, NC Bruining & Associates, he also lectures at the Curtin University School of Economics and Finance. Bruining is a regular commentator on ABC Radio and contributor to newspapers includingMoney Management, where he brings a lighter tone to the serious business of financial planning.

David Haintz

DavidHaintz is managing director and senior financial planner of Haintz Financial Services in Melbourne, with over 250 clients and $65 million in funds under advice.

Haintz migrated to financial planning after beginning his time in the industry on the life insurance side but did not feel comfortable with the focus on sales. As a result, he says he has developed a business model encompassing comprehensive financial planning and the coaching of clients. Haintz is a fellow of the Financial Planning Association and the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a member of the FPA Disciplinary Committee and a member of theMLCPlatform Advisory Board.

Miranda Hui

Originallyfrom Hong Kong, Hui has used her background to carve out a niche as a financial planner.

Gaining experience with the Bank of China in Hong Kong, Perpetual Funds Management and Colonial State Bank before becoming a financial planner with the Commonwealth Bank in 1999, Hui holds MBA, CFP and CPA qualifications as a financial planning specialist. She speaks Cantonese, Mandarin and some Japanese as well as English. She is heavily involved in promoting financial planning among the non-English speaking Asian community, through direct contact and contributions to Chinese radio, TV and newspapers in Australia.

Peter Leggett

A proponentof holistic financial planning, Peter Leggett has been a financial adviser for 20 years.

Based in Balwyn, Victoria, he personally advises 90 clients with investments of $84 million in his practice Leggett Financial which, based on income and assets under advice, is ranked among the top Hillross Financial Services practices. This success also saw him become the youngest qualifier for the AMICUS award within AMP, by winning the top sales award for 10 consecutive years. Leggett is a member of the Hillross Strategist Group and is on the advisory board of fund manager Perpetual.

Maurice Nistico

Nisticohas spent most of his professional life as a financial planner, and many of those 19 years with AMP/Hillross.

He has recently established a partnership with David Sen Chartered Accountants in Port Augusta, South Australia, where he is actively involved with the local community. As well as doing pro bono work including Centrelink assistance for the elderly and education forums in schools and other workshops, Nistico founded the Community Superannuation Plan in 2003, which is a public offer super fund available to employees, employers and the self-employed. A portion of the administration fee earned by the fund is then donated back into youth employment initiatives in the local community. Nistico is also currently developing a self-paced financial planning program, following strong feedback from his free workshops.

Lawrie O’Neill

GodfreyPembroke principal consultant Lawrie O’Neill is based in Western Australia, and has been a financial planner since 1987.

Joining Godfrey Pembroke (or as it was then, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell) in 1993 after six years with Portfolio Planning Services, O’Neill went on to be recognised as the highest achiever for Godfrey Pembroke’s consultants listing for five consecutive years.

O’Neill has also served on the FPA education committee, as well as various adviser committees, as a registered FPA lecturer and joint writer of the DFP 8 manual and exam. He is also a director of Paramount Capital and Capital Works, a board of advice member of 1st Corporate, and an official ambassador of the Arthritis Foundation of Western Australia. O’Neill was highly commended inMoney Management’s2001 Financial Planner of the Year award.

John Vaitsas

Fullyqualified with DFP and CFP status, as well as being halfway through an MBA with Deakin University, Vaitsas has made a substantial commitment to education since joining the financial planning industry five years ago.

He has also been a member of the FPA 5 curriculum taskforce for 18 months. Prior to entering the financial planning arena, he was a partner in a successful retail food chain in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, and says he has brought the same service ethos to his financial planning business. Currently principal of Acclivity Wealth Management, a member firm ofAssociated Planners Financial Services, Vaitsas has also worked with Westpac, National Australia Bank and Prophet Wealth Management.

Simone Vanden-Driesen

Vanden-Driesen has worked her way through the ranks of Leishman Financial Services in Glen Waverley, Victoria, to now hold the position of senior financial planner and director.

She has actively promoted education throughout her 14-year career. Appointed as a speaker for the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments for public financial education sessions in 1999, Vanden-Driesen received highly commended awards for customer service in the 1998, 2000 and 2001 Australian Achiever Awards. She is also actively involved with the FPA, serving on the continuing professional development committee among others.