When you start your career as a teenager there is a lot you can do before you're 30. This is certainly true for Jonathan Wu, who at the tender age of 27 is a leader in two successful financial services businesses and is already well respected across the industry.
This is why he was named Money Management Young Achiever of the Year for 2013 – an award presented to him at the Fund Manager of the Year awards ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney.
Jonathan is the associate director and head of distribution and operations at Premium China Funds Management, but he also works as a financial adviser at SWU Financial Planning – a practice run by his father and which predominantly serves Chinese clients.
Despite his father Simon Wu heading up both companies, Jonathan had to prove himself and start at the bottom.
He began his career in the basic paraplanning team at SWU before becoming an adviser who today specialises in retirement strategies for high net worth clients.
Before joining Premium China Funds Management he was a trainee analyst at Global Value Investors, working on international equity models as well as analysis.
He was also previously a research assistant for Investors Mutual Limited, looking after their investment research database.
Importantly, Jonathan made sure he has the right educational backing.
He holds a Bachelors of Commerce from the University of Sydney, majoring in accounting and commercial law; a Diploma of Financial Services in Financial Planning; and he is a Certified Practicing Accountant.
Today he is regarded by his peers as an ambassador of his generation and a future leader of the financial services industry.
One of the primary drivers of Premium China while the firm was still in the start-up phase, Jonathan has seen it thrive and deliver successful results for its clients.
Jonathan's business development efforts at Premium China made him winner of the Money Management 2011 BDM of the Year Award for NSW/ACT.
"No-one accomplishes what Jonathan has without a great deal of passion, and Jonathan has evidenced this consistently to all who work with him," said Paul Harding-Davis, chief executive officer of Premium Wealth Management – a dealer group under which SWU Financial Planning is licensed.
"We recently had the opportunity to observe him at close hand during a difficult challenge, and a board sub-committee remarked on the level of professionalism he displayed in the face of adversity," Harding-Davis said.
"I would assert there are few in the industry who can demonstrate that they have been a key figure in the establishment and running of more than one successful business, and few young achievers who have more respect."
Meet the finalists
Matt Heine
Matt Heine is the executive director of netwealth Investments – a wealth management firm he built with his father, Michael Heine.
Matt joined the company 12 years ago when it had five employees and no services and products on offer.
Since that time he has been instrumental in the development of the distribution, strategy, branding and marketing of netwealth and its subsidiaries – which today has 150 staff and more than $5 billion in funds under management.
Matt's role and experience in the sales and marketing field brings a ‘hands on' understanding of the industry and client base to the business, and to his role as a group executive and director of netwealth, Bridgeport Financial Services, Pathway Licensee Services and Financial Planning Services Australia.
Mark Natoli
Mark Natoli is the commercial operations manager at IOOF-owned financial planning firm Bridges Financial Services.
Mark spent 10 years in the financial services industry and joined Bridges a little more than a year ago.
There he deals with many different issues and various stakeholders internally and externally, ranging from financial advisers to the leadership group within IOOF Holdings, as well as industry associations, fund managers, insurers and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
He was also heavily involved with IOOF's Future of Financial Advice policy formation internally and liaised with various industry associations.
Aaron Kane
Aaron Kane is a financial planner for the EK Financial Group where he has spent the last eight years. Today he is an equity partner in the practice and is completing his Bachelor of Business (Financial Planning) with RMIT University in Melbourne.
In addition to servicing his clients, Aaron is also responsible for the strategic direction of EK Financial Group.
He started his career as an authorised representative for AMP, initially specialising in superannuation and risk insurance. He soon expanded his skills to include mortgage consulting and self-managed super fund advice.
Aaron was also named AMP's New Planner of the Year for Victoria.
Sing Koay
Sing Koay is a financial planner at ipac Western Australia. He started his career in financial services with Sealcorp as a client/adviser services representative while he was completing his first post-graduate degree.
He also worked for the Advance Funds Management and ASGARD teams before discovering financial planning.
Through a chain of events, the practice he was working for changed ownerships a couple of times and Sing ended up building his career with firms like Rabo and Hillross.
