November 28, 2024 • 19 mins
Join us in this weeks episode of Finance Friends with Fabian, as we sit down with Kieran Berry, CEO and Managing Director of RiverX, one of Australia’s fastest-growing investment advisory firms. Kieran shares his journey from selling stock market newsletters at 23 to building his own business, offering insights into the challenges of building a client book, managing a company, and balancing personal life. Beyond finance, Kieran highlights the importance of discipline, routine, and fitness in achieving success, offering advice for all aspiring financial professionals.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Finance Friends with Fabian, where we
give our listeners anopportunity to be a part of our
conversation with financialservices industry leaders, hear
their stories, the challengesthey've overcome and the
invaluable advice they have foranyone interested in the
financial world.
Keep up to date with us byfollowing Finance Friends
podcast on Instagram and TikTok,and welcome to our listeners.
(00:30):
Finance Friends with Fabian.
Another episode here and wehave the wonderful Kieran Berry
from RiverX.
Welcome, kieran, ceo of RiverX,founding partner, one of
Australia's fastest growinginvestment advisory firms.
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, good, thank you , mate.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Well, it's good to have you fly down from Sydney to
catch up.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou, kieran.
What's well, who are you andwhat do you do?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yes, well, thanks for the intro.
As Fabian said, my name isKieran.
I'm the CEO and ManagingDirector of RiverX.
My background is, you know,I've worked in the financial
services industry for over adecade now.
Previously at one ofAustralia's largest growing
mid-tier firms.
But really I'm just a regularguy.
(01:21):
Grew up in Western Sydney,played rugby league growing up
very sort of ordinary background.
But now I'm sort of busybuilding a business.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Fantastic, and well, that's one of our questions
towards the end around what'sour sporting team do follow.
So we'll leave it there for now.
But so what do you do?
Obviously, you're a managingdirector of the firm, but you're
also an investment advisor, isthat correct?
You still manage your ownclients.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yeah, that's right, yeah, so I transitioned out of a
large firm a while ago.
I maintain my own clients andI'm also responsible for the
day-to-day running of thebusiness as well, so it's a
pretty full-on job.
Recruitment, budgeting,regulatory compliance I'm
looking over quite a fewdifferent things, but I'm really
lucky that I've got a wonderfulteam around me as well.
(02:05):
That's helping me build andscale quite quickly.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Fantastic, that's great, and maybe let's just
touch on the investment advisorypiece.
So I imagine that's where youstarted and how did you get to
become an investment advisor?
And then we'll talk more aroundRiverX and being the CEO of the
business and the day-to-dayrunning of the organisation.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Okay.
So I had a bit of like adifferent way into the industry.
So most people you speak to arefinancial advisors that sort of
went to a private school.
They then got the tertiaryeducation degree and then
ultimately started off in adminand then basically made their
way into advice, whether it befrom a DA position or something
(02:45):
different or an analyst position, and then they became an
investment advisor later intheir career.
I was really different.
When I left high school, whilstI was studying, I worked at a
place called the Rivkin Reportwhere I was actually selling a
stock market newsletter.
I then worked at a boutiquevery briefly, and then at the
age of of 23, I approached CEOat what is now Shore Own
(03:07):
Partners for a role and theybasically gave me a desk and a
phone and said start dialing.
So I built my client book fromzero and then over the years
I've sort of scaled that up to amore significant client book
and then that was what gave methe assets and, I guess, the
financial capability tobootstrap and fund my own
business.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Fantastic and as a 23-year-old saying you know,
here's a list of people, givethem a call, build a list of
people and call them that's.
I don't know how many23-year-olds would be open to do
that today, so be keen to heara bit more about that and what
did that involve.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, so I was quite lucky in the sense that I had
worked at a business thatinvolved calling clients and
getting them to sign up forthings before yeah.
I knew that I wanted totransition out of the newsletter
sort of end of the market andinto advice, because it was a
more scalable offering.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I knew the deficiencies that were within
the prior role as in.
I knew what clients liked and Iknew what they didn't
particularly like about stockpicking and I knew the natural
progression was to become anadvisor and actually manage
wealth and look after clients.
So I had a level of clarityearly on in my life about sort
of how an advice business shouldwork in my mind.
(04:17):
So that's what gave me theconfidence to pick up the phone
and start winning clients and itwasn't just as simple as like
picking up the phone book backthen.
You know, I was lucky enough towalk into a firm that had a
bunch of inactive old accountsand my strategy was to call a
lot of those inactive accountsand convert them into active
accounts and reinvigorate theclient book.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Fantastic, and at what point in your time in your
life did you realize that youwanted to become an investment
advisor and also then maybestart your own business and
create a larger financialservices business?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So it was interesting .
When I left high school Iactually did my Cert III and IV
in personal training.
I thought I was going to getinto the fitness industry.
I thought I was going to getinto the fitness industry.
I then realized that that lineof work back then didn't really
have the type of revenue that Iwanted or the type of work life
I wanted to have.
I then went and saw a recruiterand interestingly, they gave me
(05:14):
a go in recruitment andultimately they found that
wasn't for me and then I sort oftook to finance.
There was a role at the reportbusiness I mentioned.
I then got in the door.
That was my foot in the doorand then after that the GFC
actually happened.
So I had a really good periodof signing a lot of clients
Around that 06, 07 time, 08, gfchit and I actually tested the
(05:39):
waters outside of finance.
Very briefly, so, I tested afew other things, like I tested
advertising.
I went and worked at GQ, triedto sell, like you know, print
advertising.
That was not for me.
I then tried the buy now, paylater's.
That wasn't for me and thenultimately I just, you know, I
had those really short stintsbut then I gravitated back to
finance.
So I knew that was my home atthat point.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Fantastic, that's great.
And if you can look back now,is there an individual or a
couple of individuals that haveinfluenced your career and how
you've got to where you aretoday?
Can you share a little bit ofinsight about that person?
If there is someone that comesto mind, I wouldn't say there's
one person in particular.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
But I've had the privilege of working with some
very good executives over mycareer, or people who have been
advisors and have gone on tobecome really good executives
elsewhere, and I still keep intouch with some of those people
to this day and I take a lot ofgood things away about my
interactions with them.
But I'm kind of on the opposite, where I've also worked with
some other executives where Iknow what I don't want to bring
(06:40):
to the firm, and knowing what Idon't want is actually quite
helpful for me, perhaps evenmore helpful than knowing what I
actually want, because then Icould curtail my career and my
offering to my sort of investorsand now advisors to create a
completely different sharedoffering.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, and when you talk about what you don't want,
what you definitely know youwant, you know what you don't
want, but you also know whatyou're looking for.
So if you're a young or young,a young finance student or you
know, and it's a da, which meansdealer's assistant, and you
want to become an advisor, whatadvice would you give to those
(07:17):
people?
Like what are some a bit ofadvice or critical skills?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
you need to be successful in that role well, I
think that that being able toanalyse good investments is one
part of it that's an importantpart of it but I think the most
important part of it is beingable to develop client
relationships and relationshipsto help you build your business
and client book.
If I was a young guy cominginto the industry now, I would
suggest that you look to workwith a firm that's going to
(07:42):
nurture your growth and provideyou with opportunities to grow.
There are a lot of financialinstitutions out there that
create barriers to entry or youmight be stuck in a position
where you could be working therefor four, five, six years
without the opportunity forprogression.
There are other financialinstitutions out there that will
allow you to progress accordingto your skill set and how good
(08:03):
you are.
So, look for those institutionsthat have those pathways for
growth.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yeah, definitely.
Now.
That's really good andinsightful as well.
I just want to touch on now,maybe, your role as the CEO of
RiverX, and what does yourday-to-day look like?
Obviously, you're juggling lotsof balls, but maybe talk to us
about you know, how did yourrole change from being solely an
investment advisor to now beinga CEO and an investment advisor
(08:31):
, and how does your day-to-daychange?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Okay.
So like I'm pretty groundedwith health and fitness and it's
not just about work for me,Like if I didn't have my other
anchors then my work lifewouldn't flow in the way it does
.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
For me, like if I didn't have my other anchors,
then my work life wouldn't flowin the way it does.
So I've got two young kids, onethat's one and one that's two
and a half, plus I've got thebusiness, plus I'm trying to do
all these fitness events, plusI'm doing charity, all this sort
of stuff, and the answer tothat is like routine.
So a day typically for me lookslike a 4 am, start back at home
, normally by 6, to then get thekids out of bed and ready for
(09:07):
daycare.
Yeah, I'm normally droppingthem at daycare at 6.37.
I'm normally at the office by7.38 latest, yeah.
And then my day-to-day work is.
I'm normally Clearing my emailsto zero every single day,
catching up with keystakeholders within the business
, and then I go about my dailyroutine of checking in with my
advisors, seeing how they'regoing with their investment
(09:28):
process, their client onboarding, keeping an eye on the
financials, the funds undermanagement, and also working
with my support team, whichincludes EAs and DAs, to help
book client meetings, clientreviews, whilst keeping on top
of my client book.
That normally wraps up around 6or 7 at night and.
I'm normally home for bath timefor the kids.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Wow, it's a long day.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, yeah, but I'm kind of like you know, four
hours a night type of guy.
Yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, that's well.
I get up at 5.30 and I'm aneight-hour kind of guy.
I'm normally up at 5.30.
And I'm an eight-hour kind ofguy, they're normally up at 5.30
.
And if we want to touch on that, I guess that's really
important around.
What's important to you?
You talk about health andfitness and that's one of my
values, and obviously family isreally important to you.
(10:16):
But I do see some professionalsthat maybe don't focus so much
on health and fitness or don'tfocus so much on family, but do
you believe that's sustainableto have that?
Obviously, what's important toyou is maybe not so important to
other people, but when you'relooking for advisors, is that
what you're looking for?
People that have similar values?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
to you?
Ideally, yes, but it's not thebe all and end all and
ultimately, while I'm strivingto have balance, you can't
always have balance when you'rerunning a business or trying to
build a client book.
You know, when you're buildinga book of clients, it's very
much akin to building a business, in the sense that you're out
there trying to source talent,you're trying to find the right
people that will help youfurther your business and your
(10:55):
career, and there are times inyour life where you can't have
balance, like there have beentimes where I'll have to neglect
one of those things.
You know, family is normally thelast thing I'll neglect, but
maybe skipping the gym will bethe thing that comes up more
often than not.
But they're not the only thingsthat you need to look for, like
in this line of work.
You need integrity, you needcredibility, you need
(11:18):
reliability, integrity, I think,being the main thing.
Especially you're dealing withpeople's financial affairs.
Yeah, so while those keypillars for me are important, I
certainly don't think it's thebe-all and end-all for what we
look for in talent.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, no, that's really insightful and obviously
investment markets is reallyimportant and I don't want to go
and we're not talking aboutsort of specific advice.
But you know, when you talk toyour clients, what do you
believe in?
How do you run your money?
Or is there one way to runclients' money, or is there
multiple different ways?
(11:55):
Or what do you look at when youtalk to a client around
investment management?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, so there's so many different ways in which you
can manage a client's portfolio.
You know I used to be veryfocused on stockbroking, which
is where you're buying andselling direct equities and
you're you know you're reallyjust trading the domestic share
market or the internationalshare market.
I would say in the last 12 to18 months in particular, and
just towards the end of mytenure, before I set up this
(12:19):
business, I pivoted more to anasset allocation model where
we're looking at alternatives inaddition to traditional assets
and I'd probably have a split,something like 45% traditional
assets, which is your domesticequities, fixed income, cash,
and then I was looking at 55% inalternatives, which is your
commercial real estate, privatecredit, private equity, venture,
(12:41):
hedge funds, and I think thatsplit will grow the alternatives
market will probably continueto grow as our market becomes
more sophisticated in Australia.
The reason why I picked thatmodel is it gave my clients
access to a broader range ofinvestments and investment
solutions.
It was more scalable for mebecause I wasn't sitting there
watching company earnings.
(13:01):
I had active managers in theredoing the job for me and.
I found that over time, havingthat balance across alternate
asset classes really helpedsmooth out the investment
returns for my clients.
So, selfishly, that meant thatI could sleep better at night.
But also it made sure theycould sleep better at night too.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yeah, definitely.
Well, I guess every client hasdifferent needs and objectives,
but if you can make sure thatyou provide the best investment
solution for each of yourclients, then everyone benefits.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
That's right.
Yeah, and the main game here isobviously benefiting the
clients.
If the client wins, everyonewins.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yeah, definitely, and just maybe tell us a little bit
about you've touched on yourfamily life.
You've got two young kids,You're into health and fitness
and I have seen you know on yoursocials that you know you do do
some work fitness events, yeah,so maybe let's touch on a
little bit of that.
Why is health and fitnessimportant to you?
(13:57):
I know why it's important to meand I know why it's important
to life.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
But obviously you know what's um.
Why is health and fitnessimportant to you?
it's kind of always been part ofwho I am and what I do.
So I've always been competitive.
I always played sport growingup.
Anyone who's worked with mebefore knows it's a one or two a
day regime, but it's thatgrounding, that that discipline,
that regime that keeps me there.
And I find that you know, wheneverything's stacking up for me
like health, fitness, nutritionthen work normally stacks up as
well.
So it's just one of thosethings where everything tends to
(14:30):
fall into place.
I also find I'm not gettingdistracted by, I'm not doing the
long lunches, you're notdrinking very much, and that
means you have a better sort ofclarity of thought.
So that means that I'm gettinga better quality of work output
as well, and it normally meansI'm getting better outcomes.
So that's why that's a reallyimportant anchor.
And on the work front, Inormally try and include a
(14:52):
handful of fitness events eachyear that we all get involved in
, and we normally try andassociate some sort of
charitable works with that too.
So recently we did the City toSurf in Sydney.
We ran as a team, I mean, westarted as a team, but I kind of
took off.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
It's like you know, it finishes a team.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
But yeah, we do things like that and we did the
High Rocks fitness event inSydney recently, you know, I
think it's really good forcamaraderie in amongst your team
and it's just something good toget the team out of the office
together as well.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, that positivity as well.
Mindset clear the mind, workhard, that's fantastic.
So you touched on.
You played rugby league alittle bit.
So rugby league, talk to usabout sort of you growing up in
Western Sydney playing rugbyleague.
What got you in?
Obviously, well, I'm aMelbourne guy, I'm an AFL guy.
But, you know, if you grew upin Western Sydney, it's probably
(15:43):
league and maybe a bit ofcricket in the off-season.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
But what made you get into rugby league?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, so you know.
All of my friends at schoolplayed rugby league growing up.
All the guys I went to the gymwith played rugby league Before
that.
I was actually into competitiveswimming.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
So you know, when I was in school my parents had me
in squad every morning and night.
You know you'd be swimming 5,10k a day over the course of
those two sessions if you're inthe gold squad and you have to
train out at Homebush, atOlympic Park, and then, as I got
older, like all, the all thecool kids did boxing and played
rugby.
So that's what I did as well, um, as I started to sort of not be
(16:20):
as competitive on the swimmingfront, um, but you know, being
in western sydney, I played outat campbell town collies.
I then played at narellan, jetsand cabramatta two blues and
these are all like westernsydney teams like you're playing
with a very sort of rough groupof guys out there.
So naturally you had to getinto boxing at the same time,
yeah, but that meant Igravitated towards the local
(16:42):
teams.
So you know, I did some likerep footy out at West and stuff
like that, but I was never asuperstar on the footy pitch, it
was just something that I loveddoing.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, and what did sport playing sport, growing up
and both individual sport andteam sport teach you in your
life and your career to date?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Like again, it's back to discipline yeah, and that's
what it was and routine, and italso taught me the importance of
achieving small and achievablegoals.
So when you're playing sport orwhen you're training for an
event, it's all about small wins.
It's all about getting small,measurable, achievable wins that
ultimately culminate to alarger goal, and that has a lot
(17:25):
of parallels between what we dowhen we're running businesses or
managing client books thatcompounding effect of getting
good results for your clients orthe compounding effect of
getting good results in yourbusiness.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, and which rugby league team do you follow?
Unfortunately, it's the WestTigers.
Oh, so struggling a bit, so Ithink they've got the spoon
locked in.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
So yeah, I've got a soft spot for that.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah Well, you never know, maybe next year might be
the year.
I doubt it, and we like tofinish.
Obviously, I'm a Melburnian andone thing that I do a lot of is
have coffees, and I alwayswonder what's your coffee order?
If someone wants to take youout for a coffee, kieran, what?
Speaker 2 (18:06):
would you order Long black, long black.
I've got to try and keep theweight down.
If I have like an almond cap orsomething, it's game over for
the rest of the day.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Um, you know we're not as sophisticated as you on
the coffee, but we've got allright coffee in sydney.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Fantastic well to our listeners.
Thank you very much, kieran.
Thank you for coming in.
It's been a pleasure getting toknow you.
But just maybe, just before wefinish, just give us a maybe a
little bit more of a rundown ofriver x and, and what you do,
give your business a bit of aplug yeah, sure, sure.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So RiverX is a wealth management firm.
We're currently based in Sydneyand looking at other locations
around the country.
We provide advice to wholesaleand retail clients on
traditional assets andalternatives, as we said before.
So it's a holistic wealthmanagement solution and we're
actively out in the marketbringing on advisors at the
moment.
So that's why I'm here inMelbourne and I'm sure I'll be
(18:55):
around the country a little bitmore often.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Well, fantastic.
We look forward to financefriends with Fabian's, look
forward to seeing yourcontinuous growth and I'm sure
you'll be.
You know, continue to be amarket leader, so for our
listeners.
Thanks, kieran, for coming inand keep an eye on our socials
and keep an eye out for ourpodcast for next week.
Thank you for joining Cheers.
Thanks, david, cheers.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Disclaimer this podcast exists for informational
and entertainment purposes only.
The personal opinions of thespeaker and guests do not
represent the view of any otherparty.
If this recording containsreference to financial products,
that reference does notconstitute advice nor
(19:43):
recommendations and may not berelied upon.
Thank you.
Welcome to Finance Friends with Fabian, where we
give our listeners anopportunity to be a part of our
conversation with financialservices industry leaders, hear
their stories, the challengesthey've overcome and the
invaluable advice they have foranyone interested in the
financial world.
Keep up to date with us byfollowing Finance Friends
podcast on Instagram and TikTok,and welcome to our listeners.
(00:30):
Finance Friends with Fabian.
Another episode here and wehave the wonderful Kieran Berry
from RiverX.
Welcome, kieran, ceo of RiverX,founding partner, one of
Australia's fastest growinginvestment advisory firms.
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, good, thank you , mate.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Well, it's good to have you fly down from Sydney to
catch up.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou, kieran.
What's well, who are you andwhat do you do?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yes, well, thanks for the intro.
As Fabian said, my name isKieran.
I'm the CEO and ManagingDirector of RiverX.
My background is, you know,I've worked in the financial
services industry for over adecade now.
Previously at one ofAustralia's largest growing
mid-tier firms.
But really I'm just a regularguy.
(01:21):
Grew up in Western Sydney,played rugby league growing up
very sort of ordinary background.
But now I'm sort of busybuilding a business.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Fantastic, and well, that's one of our questions
towards the end around what'sour sporting team do follow.
So we'll leave it there for now.
But so what do you do?
Obviously, you're a managingdirector of the firm, but you're
also an investment advisor, isthat correct?
You still manage your ownclients.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yeah, that's right, yeah, so I transitioned out of a
large firm a while ago.
I maintain my own clients andI'm also responsible for the
day-to-day running of thebusiness as well, so it's a
pretty full-on job.
Recruitment, budgeting,regulatory compliance I'm
looking over quite a fewdifferent things, but I'm really
lucky that I've got a wonderfulteam around me as well.
(02:05):
That's helping me build andscale quite quickly.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Fantastic, that's great, and maybe let's just
touch on the investment advisorypiece.
So I imagine that's where youstarted and how did you get to
become an investment advisor?
And then we'll talk more aroundRiverX and being the CEO of the
business and the day-to-dayrunning of the organisation.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Okay.
So I had a bit of like adifferent way into the industry.
So most people you speak to arefinancial advisors that sort of
went to a private school.
They then got the tertiaryeducation degree and then
ultimately started off in adminand then basically made their
way into advice, whether it befrom a DA position or something
(02:45):
different or an analyst position, and then they became an
investment advisor later intheir career.
I was really different.
When I left high school, whilstI was studying, I worked at a
place called the Rivkin Reportwhere I was actually selling a
stock market newsletter.
I then worked at a boutiquevery briefly, and then at the
age of of 23, I approached CEOat what is now Shore Own
(03:07):
Partners for a role and theybasically gave me a desk and a
phone and said start dialing.
So I built my client book fromzero and then over the years
I've sort of scaled that up to amore significant client book
and then that was what gave methe assets and, I guess, the
financial capability tobootstrap and fund my own
business.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Fantastic and as a 23-year-old saying you know,
here's a list of people, givethem a call, build a list of
people and call them that's.
I don't know how many23-year-olds would be open to do
that today, so be keen to heara bit more about that and what
did that involve.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, so I was quite lucky in the sense that I had
worked at a business thatinvolved calling clients and
getting them to sign up forthings before yeah.
I knew that I wanted totransition out of the newsletter
sort of end of the market andinto advice, because it was a
more scalable offering.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I knew the deficiencies that were within
the prior role as in.
I knew what clients liked and Iknew what they didn't
particularly like about stockpicking and I knew the natural
progression was to become anadvisor and actually manage
wealth and look after clients.
So I had a level of clarityearly on in my life about sort
of how an advice business shouldwork in my mind.
(04:17):
So that's what gave me theconfidence to pick up the phone
and start winning clients and itwasn't just as simple as like
picking up the phone book backthen.
You know, I was lucky enough towalk into a firm that had a
bunch of inactive old accountsand my strategy was to call a
lot of those inactive accountsand convert them into active
accounts and reinvigorate theclient book.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Fantastic, and at what point in your time in your
life did you realize that youwanted to become an investment
advisor and also then maybestart your own business and
create a larger financialservices business?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So it was interesting .
When I left high school Iactually did my Cert III and IV
in personal training.
I thought I was going to getinto the fitness industry.
I thought I was going to getinto the fitness industry.
I then realized that that lineof work back then didn't really
have the type of revenue that Iwanted or the type of work life
I wanted to have.
I then went and saw a recruiterand interestingly, they gave me
(05:14):
a go in recruitment andultimately they found that
wasn't for me and then I sort oftook to finance.
There was a role at the reportbusiness I mentioned.
I then got in the door.
That was my foot in the doorand then after that the GFC
actually happened.
So I had a really good periodof signing a lot of clients
Around that 06, 07 time, 08, gfchit and I actually tested the
(05:39):
waters outside of finance.
Very briefly, so, I tested afew other things, like I tested
advertising.
I went and worked at GQ, triedto sell, like you know, print
advertising.
That was not for me.
I then tried the buy now, paylater's.
That wasn't for me and thenultimately I just, you know, I
had those really short stintsbut then I gravitated back to
finance.
So I knew that was my home atthat point.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Fantastic, that's great.
And if you can look back now,is there an individual or a
couple of individuals that haveinfluenced your career and how
you've got to where you aretoday?
Can you share a little bit ofinsight about that person?
If there is someone that comesto mind, I wouldn't say there's
one person in particular.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
But I've had the privilege of working with some
very good executives over mycareer, or people who have been
advisors and have gone on tobecome really good executives
elsewhere, and I still keep intouch with some of those people
to this day and I take a lot ofgood things away about my
interactions with them.
But I'm kind of on the opposite, where I've also worked with
some other executives where Iknow what I don't want to bring
(06:40):
to the firm, and knowing what Idon't want is actually quite
helpful for me, perhaps evenmore helpful than knowing what I
actually want, because then Icould curtail my career and my
offering to my sort of investorsand now advisors to create a
completely different sharedoffering.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, and when you talk about what you don't want,
what you definitely know youwant, you know what you don't
want, but you also know whatyou're looking for.
So if you're a young or young,a young finance student or you
know, and it's a da, which meansdealer's assistant, and you
want to become an advisor, whatadvice would you give to those
(07:17):
people?
Like what are some a bit ofadvice or critical skills?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
you need to be successful in that role well, I
think that that being able toanalyse good investments is one
part of it that's an importantpart of it but I think the most
important part of it is beingable to develop client
relationships and relationshipsto help you build your business
and client book.
If I was a young guy cominginto the industry now, I would
suggest that you look to workwith a firm that's going to
(07:42):
nurture your growth and provideyou with opportunities to grow.
There are a lot of financialinstitutions out there that
create barriers to entry or youmight be stuck in a position
where you could be working therefor four, five, six years
without the opportunity forprogression.
There are other financialinstitutions out there that will
allow you to progress accordingto your skill set and how good
(08:03):
you are.
So, look for those institutionsthat have those pathways for
growth.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yeah, definitely.
Now.
That's really good andinsightful as well.
I just want to touch on now,maybe, your role as the CEO of
RiverX, and what does yourday-to-day look like?
Obviously, you're juggling lotsof balls, but maybe talk to us
about you know, how did yourrole change from being solely an
investment advisor to now beinga CEO and an investment advisor
(08:31):
, and how does your day-to-daychange?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Okay.
So like I'm pretty groundedwith health and fitness and it's
not just about work for me,Like if I didn't have my other
anchors then my work lifewouldn't flow in the way it does
.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
For me, like if I didn't have my other anchors,
then my work life wouldn't flowin the way it does.
So I've got two young kids, onethat's one and one that's two
and a half, plus I've got thebusiness, plus I'm trying to do
all these fitness events, plusI'm doing charity, all this sort
of stuff, and the answer tothat is like routine.
So a day typically for me lookslike a 4 am, start back at home
, normally by 6, to then get thekids out of bed and ready for
(09:07):
daycare.
Yeah, I'm normally droppingthem at daycare at 6.37.
I'm normally at the office by7.38 latest, yeah.
And then my day-to-day work is.
I'm normally Clearing my emailsto zero every single day,
catching up with keystakeholders within the business
, and then I go about my dailyroutine of checking in with my
advisors, seeing how they'regoing with their investment
(09:28):
process, their client onboarding, keeping an eye on the
financials, the funds undermanagement, and also working
with my support team, whichincludes EAs and DAs, to help
book client meetings, clientreviews, whilst keeping on top
of my client book.
That normally wraps up around 6or 7 at night and.
I'm normally home for bath timefor the kids.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Wow, it's a long day.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, yeah, but I'm kind of like you know, four
hours a night type of guy.
Yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, that's well.
I get up at 5.30 and I'm aneight-hour kind of guy.
I'm normally up at 5.30.
And I'm an eight-hour kind ofguy, they're normally up at 5.30
.
And if we want to touch on that, I guess that's really
important around.
What's important to you?
You talk about health andfitness and that's one of my
values, and obviously family isreally important to you.
(10:16):
But I do see some professionalsthat maybe don't focus so much
on health and fitness or don'tfocus so much on family, but do
you believe that's sustainableto have that?
Obviously, what's important toyou is maybe not so important to
other people, but when you'relooking for advisors, is that
what you're looking for?
People that have similar values?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
to you?
Ideally, yes, but it's not thebe all and end all and
ultimately, while I'm strivingto have balance, you can't
always have balance when you'rerunning a business or trying to
build a client book.
You know, when you're buildinga book of clients, it's very
much akin to building a business, in the sense that you're out
there trying to source talent,you're trying to find the right
people that will help youfurther your business and your
(10:55):
career, and there are times inyour life where you can't have
balance, like there have beentimes where I'll have to neglect
one of those things.
You know, family is normally thelast thing I'll neglect, but
maybe skipping the gym will bethe thing that comes up more
often than not.
But they're not the only thingsthat you need to look for, like
in this line of work.
You need integrity, you needcredibility, you need
(11:18):
reliability, integrity, I think,being the main thing.
Especially you're dealing withpeople's financial affairs.
Yeah, so while those keypillars for me are important, I
certainly don't think it's thebe-all and end-all for what we
look for in talent.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, no, that's really insightful and obviously
investment markets is reallyimportant and I don't want to go
and we're not talking aboutsort of specific advice.
But you know, when you talk toyour clients, what do you
believe in?
How do you run your money?
Or is there one way to runclients' money, or is there
multiple different ways?
(11:55):
Or what do you look at when youtalk to a client around
investment management?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, so there's so many different ways in which you
can manage a client's portfolio.
You know I used to be veryfocused on stockbroking, which
is where you're buying andselling direct equities and
you're you know you're reallyjust trading the domestic share
market or the internationalshare market.
I would say in the last 12 to18 months in particular, and
just towards the end of mytenure, before I set up this
(12:19):
business, I pivoted more to anasset allocation model where
we're looking at alternatives inaddition to traditional assets
and I'd probably have a split,something like 45% traditional
assets, which is your domesticequities, fixed income, cash,
and then I was looking at 55% inalternatives, which is your
commercial real estate, privatecredit, private equity, venture,
(12:41):
hedge funds, and I think thatsplit will grow the alternatives
market will probably continueto grow as our market becomes
more sophisticated in Australia.
The reason why I picked thatmodel is it gave my clients
access to a broader range ofinvestments and investment
solutions.
It was more scalable for mebecause I wasn't sitting there
watching company earnings.
(13:01):
I had active managers in theredoing the job for me and.
I found that over time, havingthat balance across alternate
asset classes really helpedsmooth out the investment
returns for my clients.
So, selfishly, that meant thatI could sleep better at night.
But also it made sure theycould sleep better at night too.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yeah, definitely.
Well, I guess every client hasdifferent needs and objectives,
but if you can make sure thatyou provide the best investment
solution for each of yourclients, then everyone benefits.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
That's right.
Yeah, and the main game here isobviously benefiting the
clients.
If the client wins, everyonewins.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yeah, definitely, and just maybe tell us a little bit
about you've touched on yourfamily life.
You've got two young kids,You're into health and fitness
and I have seen you know on yoursocials that you know you do do
some work fitness events, yeah,so maybe let's touch on a
little bit of that.
Why is health and fitnessimportant to you?
(13:57):
I know why it's important to meand I know why it's important
to life.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
But obviously you know what's um.
Why is health and fitnessimportant to you?
it's kind of always been part ofwho I am and what I do.
So I've always been competitive.
I always played sport growingup.
Anyone who's worked with mebefore knows it's a one or two a
day regime, but it's thatgrounding, that that discipline,
that regime that keeps me there.
And I find that you know, wheneverything's stacking up for me
like health, fitness, nutritionthen work normally stacks up as
well.
So it's just one of thosethings where everything tends to
(14:30):
fall into place.
I also find I'm not gettingdistracted by, I'm not doing the
long lunches, you're notdrinking very much, and that
means you have a better sort ofclarity of thought.
So that means that I'm gettinga better quality of work output
as well, and it normally meansI'm getting better outcomes.
So that's why that's a reallyimportant anchor.
And on the work front, Inormally try and include a
(14:52):
handful of fitness events eachyear that we all get involved in
, and we normally try andassociate some sort of
charitable works with that too.
So recently we did the City toSurf in Sydney.
We ran as a team, I mean, westarted as a team, but I kind of
took off.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
It's like you know, it finishes a team.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
But yeah, we do things like that and we did the
High Rocks fitness event inSydney recently, you know, I
think it's really good forcamaraderie in amongst your team
and it's just something good toget the team out of the office
together as well.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, that positivity as well.
Mindset clear the mind, workhard, that's fantastic.
So you touched on.
You played rugby league alittle bit.
So rugby league, talk to usabout sort of you growing up in
Western Sydney playing rugbyleague.
What got you in?
Obviously, well, I'm aMelbourne guy, I'm an AFL guy.
But, you know, if you grew upin Western Sydney, it's probably
(15:43):
league and maybe a bit ofcricket in the off-season.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
But what made you get into rugby league?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, so you know.
All of my friends at schoolplayed rugby league growing up.
All the guys I went to the gymwith played rugby league Before
that.
I was actually into competitiveswimming.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
So you know, when I was in school my parents had me
in squad every morning and night.
You know you'd be swimming 5,10k a day over the course of
those two sessions if you're inthe gold squad and you have to
train out at Homebush, atOlympic Park, and then, as I got
older, like all, the all thecool kids did boxing and played
rugby.
So that's what I did as well, um, as I started to sort of not be
(16:20):
as competitive on the swimmingfront, um, but you know, being
in western sydney, I played outat campbell town collies.
I then played at narellan, jetsand cabramatta two blues and
these are all like westernsydney teams like you're playing
with a very sort of rough groupof guys out there.
So naturally you had to getinto boxing at the same time,
yeah, but that meant Igravitated towards the local
(16:42):
teams.
So you know, I did some likerep footy out at West and stuff
like that, but I was never asuperstar on the footy pitch, it
was just something that I loveddoing.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, and what did sport playing sport, growing up
and both individual sport andteam sport teach you in your
life and your career to date?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Like again, it's back to discipline yeah, and that's
what it was and routine, and italso taught me the importance of
achieving small and achievablegoals.
So when you're playing sport orwhen you're training for an
event, it's all about small wins.
It's all about getting small,measurable, achievable wins that
ultimately culminate to alarger goal, and that has a lot
(17:25):
of parallels between what we dowhen we're running businesses or
managing client books thatcompounding effect of getting
good results for your clients orthe compounding effect of
getting good results in yourbusiness.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, and which rugby league team do you follow?
Unfortunately, it's the WestTigers.
Oh, so struggling a bit, so Ithink they've got the spoon
locked in.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
So yeah, I've got a soft spot for that.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah Well, you never know, maybe next year might be
the year.
I doubt it, and we like tofinish.
Obviously, I'm a Melburnian andone thing that I do a lot of is
have coffees, and I alwayswonder what's your coffee order?
If someone wants to take youout for a coffee, kieran, what?
Speaker 2 (18:06):
would you order Long black, long black.
I've got to try and keep theweight down.
If I have like an almond cap orsomething, it's game over for
the rest of the day.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Um, you know we're not as sophisticated as you on
the coffee, but we've got allright coffee in sydney.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Fantastic well to our listeners.
Thank you very much, kieran.
Thank you for coming in.
It's been a pleasure getting toknow you.
But just maybe, just before wefinish, just give us a maybe a
little bit more of a rundown ofriver x and, and what you do,
give your business a bit of aplug yeah, sure, sure.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So RiverX is a wealth management firm.
We're currently based in Sydneyand looking at other locations
around the country.
We provide advice to wholesaleand retail clients on
traditional assets andalternatives, as we said before.
So it's a holistic wealthmanagement solution and we're
actively out in the marketbringing on advisors at the
moment.
So that's why I'm here inMelbourne and I'm sure I'll be
(18:55):
around the country a little bitmore often.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Well, fantastic.
We look forward to financefriends with Fabian's, look
forward to seeing yourcontinuous growth and I'm sure
you'll be.
You know, continue to be amarket leader, so for our
listeners.
Thanks, kieran, for coming inand keep an eye on our socials
and keep an eye out for ourpodcast for next week.
Thank you for joining Cheers.
Thanks, david, cheers.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Disclaimer this podcast exists for informational
and entertainment purposes only.
The personal opinions of thespeaker and guests do not
represent the view of any otherparty.
If this recording containsreference to financial products,
that reference does notconstitute advice nor
(19:43):
recommendations and may not berelied upon.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.