Thornhill leaves MLC

After five years with MLC, former adviser relations general manager Peter Thornhill has ventured out into the wild world of professional speaking.

Thornhill says his decision to leave MLC was based on the simple desire to go his own way.

After five years with MLC, former adviser relations general manager Peter Thornhill has ventured out into the wild world of professional speaking.

Thornhill says his decision to leave MLC was based on the simple desire to go his own way.

“I just wanted to do what I wanted to do,” he says. “After 35 years of being an employee, I decided I wanted to go out on my own. The parting with MLC was completely amicable and there are no hard feelings on either side.”

The public speaking and presentation experience Thornhill gained at MLC has helped him move with confidence onto the speaker platform.

“MLC gave me opportunities I had never had before — they have been very supportive.”

Thornhill plans to launch himself at venues both within and outside the industry.

“I’m consulting to the industry and to other organisations. So I’m working with dealer groups but I’m also still working with MLC, promoting their Income Builder product which was actually born with me and which epitomises my philosophy towards growing wealth.”

Thornhill says his role is to make people aware of the things he thinks influence their behaviour — and then turn them back to planners for advice.

“One obvious example is I talk about the attitudinal differences between men and women. Women’s life skills are better — and that’s because men spend 45 years finetuning a career — that’s where their focus is,” he says.

“I also try to get people to think about longevity — we are all walking around thinking we’re going to die tomorrow — and the truth is, we’re not. We are all going to live a very long time. All of these issues have an impact on how people invest. I raise them, give them food for thought, then pass them back to financial planners for individual advice.”