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Kate McCallum’s a self-confessed control freak. So when she started her own business, it was always going to be one to break with tradition and operate its own way.
That meant determining how many clients is enough when it comes to offering financial services. Working with her husband in their financial advice business, MultiForte Financial Services, they have set that limit at the 100 mark, averaging fifty clients each.
It’s a strategy that’s clearly working for McCallum, who won the 2014 TAL and AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award, and is one of the sector’s most influential women.
A small client base means stronger personal relationships that have greater impact. McCallum says she knows exactly what her clients feel comfortable with, and likes when they feel open and willing to even challenge her on advice. “That tells me that those great relationships are working,” she says.
And so when McCallum won the Excellence Award, the win wasn’t about an opportunity to generate more business, but rather to celebrate the work she’s achieved with her clients.
“The biggest thing for me was the impact it had on my clients,” she says. “My clients told me how proud they were. That was a really nice reinforcement that we’re doing things right. I think it’s lovely that they could share in that. The Award is so important in our industry in that it puts a spotlight on some of the very good work being done by great people.”
Indeed, McCallum says it’s often the positive one-on-one relationships that go under the radar when it comes to mainstream media reports regarding the financial advice industry.
“There can be a tendency to focus on some of the negative events that have happened,” she says. “But there are plenty of advisers doing great work oneonone. It’s not grand stuff, but it’s happening, and it’s making a difference to people’s lives.”
After a successful management career with a number of large financial institutions, McCallum got into financial advice after becoming fascinated with the industry and deciding she wanted to personally get involved.
“At a grassroots level, I realised it’s [financial advice] about making a difference to people’s wellbeing. So that was the first motivation for me to get involved.”
The second motivation was something different — a belief that there was a better way to offer advice. Having come from management consulting, she saw the potential to start an advisory business using a consulting model.
“I did research and found other people like me who wanted to know that the advice they are getting is not tied to a product or some sort of sale.”
From day one, she designed the business to be fee-based only, so it could be completely independent. “I’m a control freak,” she says. “I want to be able to say hand on heart to clients that we, ‘recommend you do this because it will help you.”
McCallum welcomes initiatives like the TAL and AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award to help support and grow the number of women in the profession, noting she can still find herself in industry situations where she’s the only woman.
“I think part of the issue is that there’s this perception that you have to be really into investing, and that you have to be really into finance and economics, or that you have to be a really good sales person,” she says. “These skills and knowledge are important but that’s not all advising is about. The sales piece alone can be a significant barrier for women, particularly in a larger firm where it is required to get a client list together.”
But that shouldn’t deter women, especially when financial advice is a career that can offer great opportunities for running your own business and working your own way, as McCallum does. “There is a shift happening in how this industry operates, and I believe the visibility that’s being created by other work that AFA does with its Inspire network, is helping.”
Meanwhile, female financial advisers can also play a major role in shifting the dial on the general financial wellbeing of women. McCallum particularly wants to see women taking accountability and control of their finances, earlier on in life.
“It’s acknowledging and being prepared to say, ‘I need to take control of this’. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a relationship or single. Be conscious of the financial decisions early and the impact they can have on your life … This is your life. The financials are just the mechanisms to achieve what’s important to you.”
McCallum’s key tips for women include having enough income protection, being conscious of where money is going and setting aside savings for the future — by repaying a mortgage, investing or upping their superannuation.
“It’s not about being frugal, too often people get caught up on that and give up,” she says. “It’s about conscious cashflow and asking, what do I value most? And then being conscious of leakage so you can make the best use of your money.”
McCallum follows her own advice in saving and spending on what’s important to her: Every year she trades off other things to take her family overseas, knowing time with family is priceless.
Nominations for this year’s TAL & AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award close on 15 July 2016. Recognise an inspirational female adviser who’s giving her all to her profession, her clients and community, and help us celebrate the leading ladies of financial advice.
Interested in a career as a financial adviser? The Association of Financial Advisers can help. Call 1800 656 009 or email [email protected]