The planner and the passion

A burning zeal to help his fellow man combined with impressive technical knowledge has led South Australian paraplanner Martin Letch to the winner’s podium in the 2007 Paraplanner of the Year award from a pool of 145 applicants.

The judges of this year’s award considered a number of factors when making the final decision, including the contribution each state finalist makes to their own organisation, their involvement in the industry as a whole, their commitment to ongoing professional development and training, and their passion for helping people meet their financial goals and, ultimately, lifestyle aims.

According to one judge, you “couldn’t have found a better advocate for the power of paraplanning to make a difference to people’s lives than Martin”.

This ‘power of paraplanning’ is highlighted by Letch’s efforts to assist underfunded pre-retirees and accumulators in understanding the importance of superannuation.

Currently a paraplanner for Mercer Wealth Solutions in Adelaide, Letch believes “paraplanners play an integral role in explaining to clients the importance of structuring their financial lives and strategies to better prepare for their future”.

Being a paraplanner in one of the smaller Mercer teams enables him to take a lead role in responding to client enquiries while being involved in the preparation of indicative insurance quotes for clients, defined benefit analysis and the organisation of client functions and appointments.

His additional roles of testing proposed software packages and training staff in the use of these is another aspect of his job that he finds “thoroughly rewarding”.

As the national winner, Letch receives a trip for two to Boston, USA, in October 2008 to attend the 2008 Financial Planning Association Success Forum.