Committed to ensuring clients’ success

Ask Jo Tuck what she enjoys most about financial planning and there is no disguising the joy in her voice.

“I love it when people achieve something. I had one client, we went to a party to celebrate the completion of their new kitchen, and she said, ‘This is the woman that made it happen!’ When someone retires or achieves something, that’s the most wonderful thing. It really puts you on a high.”

This caring for clients carries through the whole philosophy of the practice Tuck, an authorised representative of Financial Wisdom, runs with business partner Anthony Menico in Cairns.

“Our basic philosophy is that it’s all about taking care of everyone — our family comes first, then our clients, and if we look after our clients then we can look after our family. We want a long-term relationship with our clients, we want to make sure they succeed, and in turn we succeed.”

Tuck explains that because of its holistic approach, the practice doesn’t undertake piecework — like tax returns or legal agreements in isolation.

“We become a part of our clients’ lives, we get to know things that a lot of people wouldn’t know, we have a very intimate relationship with them. And we have said that we will cap the number of clients we have until we can get someone on board that has the same philosophy.”

Tuck first stepped into financial planning when she moved to Australia from New Zealand in 1988, starting out with Geoff Davey at Davey Financial Management as client service manager.

In 1995 she moved to Cairns and began working as a paraplanner and practice manager with Chris Peters Financial Services, completed her Diploma of Financial Planning in 1999, and then going on to achieve the Certified Financial Planner designation in 2000. This was also the year when Anthony Menico bought Chris Peters’ business. Together, Tuck and Menico have built the practice, Menico Tuck Financial Services, into a business with 450 active planning clients with $58 million funds under management and a large insurance client base.

And she receives nothing but praise from her colleague.

Menico says, “She puts in 110 per cent effort and really delves deep to get to know the client. We’re not a high value, high volume practice, we form personal relationships with clients and get to be like friends, and hopefully we can help them along the way. We’re trying to do the right thing by the client first and foremost and then that flows through into everything.”

Tuck is well known in the Cairns area for her work with the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and in the community.

In 1998 she took on the mammoth task of being the local representative on the FPA Convention organising committee for the association’s Cairns conference, and since then has been a member of the FPA Cairns Chapter Committee, spending the last four years as chairperson.

Her involvement with the FPA has enriched her experience as a planner, according to Tuck.

“I never really understood the importance of networking before, and getting to know people within the industry who have so much experience, or even people starting out and the way they look at issues and problems. I’ve met some fantastic people like Gwen Fletcher — people who end up inspiring you. You’ve got to have things you want to achieve, and someone that you really admire.”

She has also rubbed shoulders with politicians — making ‘grassroots’ representations to Senator Helen Coonan and Dr Brendan Nelson on issues affecting the planning industry, assisted the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in gathering evidence against two local illegal investment schemes, and arranged annual seminars for the Cairns planning community to hear from industry luminaries such as Stephen van Eyk and Robert Maple-Brown.

But Tuck also finds time to reach out to her community — with promotion of the Dollarsmart program to school students, pro bono work, fundraising for the Cairns Base Hospital and presentation of financial planning sessions to cancer sufferers on behalf of the Queensland Cancer Fund.

“In a small area like Cairns it helps you understand exactly what’s going on — like how the sugar industry is affected by markets, or how the fishing industry is affected by legislation. All those things impact on clients, and being involved helps you keep an eye on what’s going on.”

And understanding her clients is essential for Tuck.

“The service to clients, helping them to succeed — that’s what it’s really all about.”