‘HALCYON DAYS’ CONFERENCE
In the month of November, WT Financial held a conference drawing together hundreds of advisors and industry participants to Hamilton Island in North Queensland. It was a week-long event with lots of industry specific information sessions, as well as some fun activities along the way.
The conference was given the working title ‘Halcyon Days’ because, as a profession, we believe financial advisors have never been more needed than now. With our focus being on the retiree demographic, this is particularly true for Financial Edge Group because with aging population, Australia is set to experience a huge wave of people heading into retirement over the next 40 years. In fact, over 150,000 people are expected to retire this year, with this number growing exponentially over the coming decades. Naturally, advice in relation to generational wealth transfer from Baby Boomers down to Generation X and Y, and the protection of this wealth, has never been more important. As a business, we certainly see the demand for, and complexity of advice that is required to put maximise our clients position, and this is something we pride ourselves on.
Throughout the conference there were several keynote speakers, including the powerhouse Olympic swimming sisters, Cate and Bronte Campbell. It was inspirational to hear them talk about resilience, their competitive nature and what it takes to be ultra successful - no matter whether you're swimming or providing financial advice. Keeping to the theme of Olympic swimmers, Grant Hackett was also one of the keynote speakers. Some of you might be surprised to learn that, following his swimming career, Grant has become very successful in the finance industry and is a highly knowledgeable leader in his particular field. It was very interesting to hear him talk about how he’s used the same concepts from his experience in successful relay swimming teams, and how he’s applied this to the business he's now involved in when building teams and getting the best performance out of people. This is something that really resonates with us at Financial Edge Group, because as a member of your financial team, we strive for excellence in the advice we provide to you. This pursuit of excellence has recently been recognised through the various nominations and awards that both Martin and Wayne have been nominated for. However, our advisers couldn’t do this without the wider team of vibrant, passionate and hard-working people behind them.
Another keynote speaker was the Chief Economist of AMP, Shane Oliver. Shane has been around for decades and is one of the most respected economists in the country. Therefore, Wayne was in his element when he was lucky enough to have a one-on-one discussion with Shane over a couple of drinks the day before Shane was due to deliver his address. Their discussion ranged from interest rates, inflation, employment, geopolitical tensions across the world, the Australian dollar, the new RBA governor and much more. The key takeaway from these interactions is that Shane believes the interest rate cycle probably is nearing or at a top now and we could potentially see declines in interest rates from mid 2024 onwards. He also believes that there is a risk of a recession in the next 12 months or so but, if this does occur, he thinks that it will be fairly mild. For our clients, interest rates are important for defensive assets such as bonds and term deposits, and this is something we’ll be keeping an eye on over the next year or so. Importantly, Shane pointed out that over the long term the share market has massively out-performed versus the likes of cash and bonds. Therefore, no matter what happens in the world, we must refrain from making knee jerk reactions when volatility eventually arrives.
Another speaker at the conference was our very own Martin McGrath, who joined a panel of advisors and the CEO of WT Financial. Martin is becoming a somewhat sought after mentor among the advice community in relation to how to run a viable advice business which will be around for many years, and whose purpose is to serve clients who need our advice, particularly in relation to the aforementioned wave of people heading into retirement. It is always nice to see this sharing of information among peers, which ultimately helps our profession better serve the population.
But let’s be honest, it was not all work and no play for Martin and Wayne. They did attend a Melbourne Cup day by the beach, overlooking the water with islands in the distance (which apparently was a terrible experience - yeah right guys!). Unfortunately, the neither of them won ‘fashions on the field’, but the recipients of those awards were all very well deserving. Furthermore, in their wisdom (and despite organising a conference in North Queensland to avoid any cold weather), WT Financial decided that every morning they would have ice baths available for anyone who wanted to participate - and we're glad to report that Martin did decide to participate in this completely illogical activity, achieving a time of eight minutes submerged in the ice bath.
Martin and Wayne have returned with many ideas about how to best serve our clients and we look forward to continuing to help people in their retirement journey’s.
