Wealthy and Wise to combine real estate with advice

Wealthy and Wise Lifestyle Planning will be opening a chain of retail shopfronts that will serve as one-stop-shops for both financial advice and real estate services.

The general manager of Wealthy and Wise Financial Services, Scott Heathwood, said the financial planning group had recently bought a new licence and had been taken over by a Queensland-based development and construction company, Dodmark.

The group is looking to open its first outlet for combined financial advice and real estate services within the next six months. It will be leveraging the financial resources of the Dodmark group and its experience in real estate and construction to bring this to the Sydney market while offering ancillary financial services to the client base, according to Heathwood.

The group had also acquired the activities of a major investment house and would be looking to consolidate that client base into the financial services business, he said.

"It's a new licence for an old name. Wealthy and Wise has been around for more than 15 years," he said.

The emphasis for advisers and agents to run the outlets would be on quality rather than quantity, with Wealthy and Wise currently interviewing for positions for the first outlet. Each outlet would likely have a qualified adviser and a real estate agent, he said.

The group was developing its own platform rather than being affiliated to any existing platforms, a process that was almost complete now, he said.

"We have developed relationships with all the major groups but we intend on bringing our own lending products to the market to facilitate the activities of the retail outlets," he said.

Advisers who joined the group would not be franchisees, but would be offered the chance to acquire equity in the business over time, he said.

Wealthy and Wise's sister company, HHB Securities, which has a separate licence, is releasing Metropolitan First Mortgage Fund, which is being rated by Adviser Edge, with SQM rating its real estate activities.

The final step is finding the right location for the initial outlet, Heathwood said.

"Location is very important - we want it to be a destination, not just a place where you stop off while you do your shopping. It needs to be prominent, but accessible."

The group is aiming to have about 12 outlets opened within the next three years, Heathwood said.

"It will be a one-stop-shop where you can get your real estate transactions as well as all other aspects of advice - risk, super, insurance, et cetera."

The value proposition for clients is that they can go to Wealthy and Wise to sell their house and stay on as clients [of] the financial planning business for life, Heathwood said. "It's about advice - not just financial advice but lifestyle advice," Heathwood said.