The Wealth Designers (TWD) is looking to ‘seize the opportunity’ of national expansion across Australia.
The Perth-based financial advice firm, founded in 2009 by Troy MacMillan, has approximately $1 billion in funds under management and employs just over 10 financial advisers.
In October 2023, professional services firm AZ Next Generation Advisory (AZ NGA) acquired a stake in TWD which would provide it with opportunities to grow nationwide.
“We had grown to a certain size, mainly organically, but we recognised that in order to achieve our goals, we needed additional firepower. AZ NGA brings that firepower. We want to have a boutique office in every Australian capital city disseminating our unique style of values-based advice, and we are ready to start ramping things up,” said MacMillan, TWD chief executive, at the time.
Speaking recently with Money Management, Dawn Thomas, senior financial adviser at TWD, shared further details on the firm’s growth vision.
“We’re definitely seeing a lot of activity, where the intention is to go national. We definitely see that demand for really good-quality advice, and there’s no time like the present to seize the opportunity,” she explained.
“We’ve always had a model of holistic advice where we charge fixed-term fees and it’s really about working with the clients on a project basis, and that hasn’t changed actually for years.
“It’s really good to see that proposition has stood the test of time before and after the royal commission. It definitely hasn’t changed, it’s just confirmed that we were on the right track with how we were providing advice.”
The firm’s headquarters are currently based in Perth alongside its Sydney office, but the strategic plan to expand across other states remains at the forefront for 2024.
TWD’s financial literacy program
Building out TWD’s Start Well program, which offers financial literacy sessions to the children and grandchildren of its clients, is also a key focus for the firm over the next 12 months.
The program caters to children as young as seven years old to young adults in their early 20s, providing free-of-charge education regarding spending habits, superannuation and investing.
“What’s missing from the picture is that some clients have told us they’re not sure if their kids are actually up to speed with what they should know financially. We thought we could definitely help in that aspect,” Thomas said.
The program has received widely positive feedback from TWD’s clients and has attracted demand from new clients outside of the firm’s client base.
“Last November, we had our first parent session to help clients have [financial] discussions with their kids, which received very good feedback. We will be guiding parents, as well as their kids, with their journey around all things important regarding money,” the senior adviser added.
