Financial Planner of the Year finalists

George Flack

A two-time winner of the Money Management Financial Planner of the Year award (1996 and 2004), George Flack has again demonstrated his continued commitment to the financial planning industry.

After 22 years with RetireInvest, his practice (then RetireInvest Bendigo) rebranded as Flack Advisory in August this year and switched licensees to Charter Financial Planning in becoming the latest ipac equity partner. George has almost 40 years experience in banking, social security and financial services.

 William Johns

William Johns belongs to the younger generation of financial planners. He is a 29-year-old Certified Financial Planner working at Fiducian Financial Services and specialises in helping clients with special and complex needs.

When he started with Fiducian, Johns implemented the Benefiting the Community model, where each client nominates a charity and donates part of the advice fee payable to Fiducian to that charity.

He is a member of the policy and regulation committee at the Financial Planning Association.

Selecting the 2011 Financial Planner of the Year

Four judges had the considerable task of selecting the 23rd Financial Planner of the Year: Money Management managing editor Mike Taylor, last year’s winner Catherine Robson, former Financial Planning Association (FPA) chair Julie Berry and the managing director of Matrix Planning Solutions Rick Di Cristoforo. 

The judges evaluated each application in its entirety and awarded points to each candidate in seven separate areas, including education, quality of advice and customer service. The results produced both a clear winner and runner-up.

The award, which aims to recognise and reward excellence in the provision of financial advice, required nominees to submit entries that highlighted their contribution to the financial planning profession, their career milestones to date and their service to the community at large. The process involved two parts, with applicants who were successful in the first part moving on to the final part.

Part One required applicants to submit a comprehensive review of their personal attributes and career achievements, including contributions to the community.

Part Two asked entrants to complete a questionnaire about the practical application of advice principles, and provide three client testimonials that detailed how the financial adviser had met the client’s needs.

This year’s winner receives a trip to the US 2012 Financial Planning Association (FPA) annual conference – a prize to the value of $10,000.

The winner was announced at the 2011 FPA national conference.