Mother of her own financial planning domain

Marisa Broome set out to create a totally online financial planning service in Australia. Kate Kachor reports on her progress towards that goal.

At first glance Marisa Broome's office looks more like a tastefully furnished meeting room than a workplace.

There are no papers cluttered on her desk. There are two cane chairs and a set of hand painted cups sitting with a pitcher of water on a nearby bookcase.

And amid the framed certificates of qualification adorning the room's walls is a child's colourful scrawl proudly displayed. You see, as well as being the managing director of Wealthadvice.com.au, a rapidly growing group that boasts $150 million under advice, Broome is also a mother of two.

Juggling young children while trying to grow a business and having personal time can be a challenge for many working mums, however, Broome appears to take it all in her stride.

"My children have to come first, and that's the harsh reality of it. And if I don't want to take on another client because it gets in the way of family, then I don't," Broome says.

She says her clients are very understanding about her business and her need for time with her family.

"My clients will ring me when I'm cooking dinner at home. They know that this year, during the first school term, I am not doing afternoon appointments. But I did work all day Saturday, and the Saturday before and the Saturday before that," Broome says.

"If they can't see me after hours, then I'm happy to be flexible and give up some time on the weekend," she says.

Broome, who has a client base of more than 90, says if her clients are not happy with her service then she has no issue with referring her clients to other licensed financial planners.

"I work in a co-op here with Paul (Brady), and I could pass on clients to him if I needed to," she says.

As well as having Paul Brady on hand to help, Broome says she has two other staff members - a paraplanner, who also doubles as an office manager, and another financial planner who specialises in compliance.

"Our paraplanner will be fully qualified by the end of the year, and at the moment, does the core part of my plans and my reviews," Broome says.

"I do all the technical bits, but she is coming up to speed. She is a third of the way through her DFP and by the end of the year she will have finished that. I was subcontracting other help prior to this, but decided to take on planners instead," Broome says.

Broome has recruited her two planners in the hope that in time she can pass down her clients to her financial planner team.

"I don't want to build an empire. At this stage, I don't think I will take on any more personal clients. Hopefully I will be able to pass down some clients to the paraplanner and to the new financial planner who is coming on board," she says.

Broome began her career in finance at an early age. She had two choices for occupations - an economist or a doctor. After discovering that hospital disinfectant disturbed her sensibilities, studies in economics was the next step.

She has worked in the financial services industry since 1983, in roles ranging from an economist in asset management to a business development manager role.

Many planners may know Broome from her days alongside Laura Menchik at Sydney-based financial planning group, Millennium Financial Planning. Broome became a partner at Millennium after moving from her role as business development manager to a financial planning position.

Last year, Broome sold her stake in Millennium Financial Planning group in a move to go out on her own.

"It was a very amicable split," Broome says. "I owned half of the business, so I just sold the other half to her [Laura] on the understanding that I would take my clients with me - and all of my clients came with me."

Broome founded Wealthadvice.com.au in June last year. The business was originally devised to be Australia's first fully fledged online financial planning service, however, due to regulations, Broome has had to settle for a little less.

In a previous report, Broome told Money Management she hoped her new venture would provide financial planning solutions to clients without any face to face contact. All communication with clients was to be done through e-mail contact.

However, Broome came across a stumbling block. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) says Broome and others who plan to provide advice online must provide sufficient information to ASIC to state what will be provided to clients, before it will allow planners to proceed down that path.

Despite this set back in her online strategy, Broome is hardly deterred. Instead of concentrating on the fact that she can't run her practice fully online, Broome is seeing clients in her office as well as chatting to clients online.

"I have an unrestricted license, so I can give a broad amount of advice on a lot of different products and services, and I can choose who is going to be on my approved list," Broome says.

"However, I'm not going to press the button to a full online model for attracting clients until I feel the water has been sufficiently tested. I'll let someone with lots of resources go out and test the water and I'll come in as a small fish."