May 4, 2025 • 29 mins
Career journeys are rarely straightforward, and Marc Olynyk's path from accounting to academia proves just that.
In this weeks episode, our host Fabian Ruggieri chats with his past professor Marc, now the Senior Lecturer and Course Director at Deakin University's renowned financial planning program. Marc takes us through the unexpected twists that led him to his passion.
What makes Marc's story particularly valuable for aspiring financial planners is his practical advice on breaking into the industry, he advises students every day who struggle to find their first opportunity. Having guided countless students into successful careers, Marc emphasises that relationship-building skills are integral in determining long-term success.
The conversation provides a fascinating look at how financial planning education has evolved—from minimal requirements in the 1990s to today's comprehensive degree programs. A field he initially knew little about but would come to shape for decades.
For any of our listeners considering financial planning as a career, Marc offers this reassurance: finding your passion may take time but your career path, like Marc's journey from pub audits to professorship, can take unexpected but rewarding turns.
Enjoyed the episode? Follow Finance Friends Podcast on Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok for daily updates and more inspiring conversations. Got questions or ideas for future episodes? Send us a DM @financefriendspodcast!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to the Finance Friends podcast.
Whether you have followed usfrom the beginning or you're a
new listener, we are excited tohave you here.
Finance Friends gives ourlisteners a seat at the table
with successful finance industryleaders.
Follow us on our socials atFinance Friends Podcast, linked
in the description box of thisepisode, and stay tuned for
(00:30):
weekly episode releases.
Today's episode we have MarkOlenek, who's a senior lecturer
and course director of DeakinUniversity in Melbourne in
financial planning and Mark wasmy lecturer when I was at
university many, many, manymoons ago and sparked my
(00:50):
interest in financial planning.
And he talks about his journeyfrom being an auditor and having
to do stock take at a pub inBrunswick to becoming the
lecturer he is today.
Now he has seen many studentsrise from being students to very
successful professionals and heprovides us with his insights
(01:14):
and secrets to growing yourcareer and following your
passion.
Welcome, mark.
How are you today?
Good Thanks, fabian.
Thanks very much for invitingme.
Oh, you're welcome.
I've known you for a long time.
You're the reason why I startedin financial planning all those
years ago at La TrobeUniversity when you were running
the course there, but nowyou're at Deakin University.
Is that right, mark?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yes, that's right.
Been there for about nine,coming up for my ninth year and
10-year anniversary next year,so I think that entitles me to a
Deakin pin, a Deacon pin, adeacon pin.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
So you're going to throw a party A deacon party.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, I don't know, I think the pin might be.
You know, that's more thanenough.
What else would you want otherthan the deacon pin?
So yeah, so that's a well,that's sort of a bit of an
achievement.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
So I've been there for quite a few years, but yeah,
prior to that, la Trobe, andyeah, taught you there, yeah,
and you've made a big impact ona lot of people that are
currently in the financialplanning profession, because
there's a lot of people in ourclass that did an intro to
financial planning.
They ended up becomingfinancial advisors and without
your passion and your supportfor the industry, I think a lot
(02:25):
of people would have chosen adifferent career direction.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, so I don't know whether that's my influence or
the fact that I've just beenaround for so many years with a
number of students.
But yeah, one of my son's bestfriends, he also did his
financial planning degree at LaTrobe.
So I knew him at La Trobe andthen didn't see him for years
and suddenly I saw him at atennis match and he joined the
(02:51):
club and he said oh, and Ididn't exactly remember the face
, but he sort of said, oh, hello, mark, how are you?
And I said oh, yeah, oh, I'mtrying to remember where I know
him from and yeah, so it turnedout that I taught him at La
Trobe and it did come back to meeventually and, as it turns out
now he's one of my son's bestfriends and he's working as a
(03:13):
paraplanner.
Yeah, and yeah, he reallyenjoys the work.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Great.
So your current title is SeniorLecturer and Course Director of
Financial Planning at DeakinUniversity, correct, yes, so
what does that involve?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So we have different levels within a university.
So I'm a Senior Lecturer and Isuppose the work is fairly
varied.
So I suppose our requirementsare covering three main areas.
So obviously teaching andlearning is a major part of what
we do.
So that's you know, preparingfor classes, taking classes,
(03:50):
lectures, seminars, assessmenttasks and the boring work of
marking.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
But it has to be done .
Marking by name, marking bynature yeah, that's right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I'll leave that one Good choice, that was bad.
And then sort of a scholarlywork or research type work, and
that might be academic writing,papers, journals, industry mags,
industry submissions which I'vedone a few in my role within
the Financial Planning EducationCouncil, perhaps consulting
(04:26):
with industry, and then service.
So that service is, you know,sort of the normal admin stuff
meetings, graduations,prize-giving events but also a
large part of what I do isworking with industry to help
source opportunities forstudents.
So it might be internships,graduate roles, guest lectures
(04:49):
and potentially working withindustry to obtain grants to do
projects with industry.
So that's sort of probably oneof the major parts of what I do
and which I really enjoy.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yeah, and in terms of the core structure at Deakin,
Deakin is a leader in financialplanning studies.
What are the sort of core partsthat you cover within that
course?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Me personally.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Well, as a course, let's just talk a little bit
about the course because, if youknow, we have people listeners
that are thinking aboutfinancial planning.
I want to study financialplanning and Deakin is a leader
in the field, so just run usthrough just a quick summary of
the course.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So, just as a, perhaps in a broad way, first of
all, so the requirements to bea financial planner consist of
three main things.
So you need to have an approveddegree.
So there is a governmentlegislative instrument which
details all the universitiesthat have got an accredited,
approved degree.
So you need to do an approveddegree.
We can then discuss later onthat.
(05:55):
To become a financial planneryou then need to do a national
exam and thirdly, to do aprofessional year once you join
a practice.
So, but the first step is toget an approved degree.
Some universities have a degreein financial planning, some
degrees.
Some unis have, which is moretypical, a major in financial
planning.
So you did a major of financialplanning at La Trobe, but we'll
(06:20):
quickly, you know, skip LaTrobe and bring it back to
Deakin.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
They don't offer it anymore.
They don't offer it.
No, that's right.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
So when I left, they decided not to offer financial
planning anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
When you lose the best in the business, it's hard
to recover.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
They probably thought thank goodness we got rid of
him so we can now get rid offinancial planning.
So at Deakin we've got anapproved degree.
So you come in and do aBachelor of Commerce, which is a
three-year degree, and withinthat you choose a financial
planning major.
So you need to have a deaconand approved role.
(06:51):
In the Bachelor of Commerce youcome in, the first year is
generic.
You try a little bit ofeverything accounting, finance,
marketing, management just togive you a bit of a feel about
the course.
And then you choose your majorsand one of them is financial
planning major.
And the other good thing thatwe've introduced is compulsory
internships or work integratedlearning.
(07:13):
So that's sort of nowencouraging or forcing students
that they have to do some sortof internship as part of their
course, which is great, yeah,which is good.
I'd encourage as many studentsas possible to do some sort of
work integrated learning, andthese days it's broad and really
interesting.
So in the old days it was aninternship.
You know you go and sit in a,you know, with a practice and
(07:35):
work.
But these days there'sconsulting projects, there's
international study tours youcan do.
But I think still the bestthing is to get some practical
work experience.
So if you're looking to moveinto financial planning or
financial services.
Go out and get a job, workpart-time, because then you can
sort of relate the theory to thepractice, and the theory means
a lot more when you kind of seehow it works in practice.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And also you enjoy the theory a lot more when it's
practical.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
And I regularly have.
You know, aspiring financialadvisors that are studying come
and see me and you know, find itreally hard to get their first
opportunity.
You know what I say.
Go look at your suburbfinancial planning firms.
Go knock on the door and sayyou're happy to.
You know, just do admin unpaidwork for a day a week, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Just get your foot in the door.
Yeah, I know.
Work for a day a week?
Yeah, just get your foot in thedoor, yeah, I know.
Well, that's what I keep ontelling students.
We have a work integratedlearning division that helps
students find jobs and somestudents are a little bit more,
you know, take initiative alittle bit more.
Some do it early, some leave itlate, some need a bit of
prodding, but it is so useful.
(08:42):
But, yeah, you're right, go andknock on doors.
Network, speak to people and yousee the ones that are
successful.
They're out there going tostudent events.
They're talking to people,talking to friends, industry
representatives and one of thestudents that I've had who
recently graduated and has donereally well.
He was working in part-time inretail and he's a very outgoing
(09:07):
bloke, just talking to retailand happened to be speaking to a
person who was buying somestuff from the shop and it
turned out to be, I think, thehead of advice at Australian
Super who said, oh, you know,and he spoke about his interest
in financial planning and hesaid, oh, at some stage come and
chat to me, which he did, andhe got an internship and that
(09:29):
led him on to a very successfulrole now in financial planning
industry.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
So, yeah, it's all about networking, getting out
there, knocking on doors andtrying to speak to people and
what is really important isfinancial advice has become very
technical because the educationrequirement and compliance
standards Yep.
The key skill to being asuccessful financial advisor is
(09:53):
being able to build arelationship and trust with your
client.
Yeah, so if you're verytechnical but you lack the
skills to engage, it's unlikelyyou're going to be very
successful in advice.
Yeah, so that's why it isimportant to, as you said, go
and put yourself out there.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
I mean different students, I think, mature at
different stages.
So some students are veryconfident very early on.
They've got great communicationskills, they're good at
relationship building and youknow they can progress in a
financial planning practice andmove ahead quite quickly.
Others, I find, and I don'tknow where you fit in, but I
(10:33):
think you were fairly confidentand you know, obviously moved
ahead very quickly.
Others, I find, and I don'tknow where you fit in, but I
think you were fairly confidentand you know obviously moved
ahead very quickly.
But others I think, mature a bitlater and so they might be a
little bit shy and a bithesitant to network.
But you know you get in and weall progress at different levels
and at different stages and youknow you might get in and it
might take you two years orthree years within a practice
(10:57):
where you learn your craft andyou learn the ropes and then you
might be ready then to moveahead and you might have the
confidence to then start sittingin front of a client and
helping them with their lifesavings.
But it just depends on thestudent.
But yeah.
I think the quicker you can getinto practice and see what's
happening and learn from otheradvisors because there's really
(11:17):
a lot of good ones out there thequicker I think that you'll get
that confidence and the abilityto you know build those
relationships.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, definitely, and I'm a committee member of the
FAAA Financial AdviceAssociation of Australia and we,
if you are a financial planningstudent, you can actually get
free membership to the FAAA andwe run events.
So we're running an event.
I think it's the 8th of Mayhopefully this podcast launches
before then but we're running anevent on, you know, eq and
(11:46):
building trust and relationshipwith a client, and that's
targeted to you know, the nextgeneration of advisors, so
something that you maybe cantalk to your students about yeah
, yeah.
But let's move on and let's talkmaybe about your career,
because that's where you are now.
Bring us back to the beginning,because you were telling me
before that you studiedaccounting originally.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
That's correct.
So I won't go right back to theday I was born because at that
stage, or through my you knowstudies, I had no idea about
well, no idea where I'd end up,and that's sort of something
that you know, just happens toeveryone.
Some people find their interestand passion very early on and
(12:27):
they move ahead, and others ittakes longer to find, perhaps,
their career path and where theyreally want to be and where
they're perhaps best at.
So, yeah, I started accountingat uni at Monash.
Didn't really have a lot ofidea what I wanted to do apart
(12:47):
from perhaps accounting, soanyway, I did my accounting
degree, got a job in a mid-tierchartered accounting firm,
stayed there for about fiveyears and did my PY.
Back then it was a professionalyear, oh, in accounting, in
accounting.
So with the well, it's theirdesignation program.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Ah, okay, Like a CA CPA.
Yeah, like a CA.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
So to do it better was really gruelling and really
tough and I think most peoplethought, said I'll do it once
and that's it never again.
So anyway.
So I did that, moved intomid-tier chatter firm and sort
of enjoyed it.
I was doing auditing whicheveryone moves into, but then I
(13:37):
found that I don't know, I wasgetting a bit tired of just
sitting at a desk all dayworking with numbers, with
auditing.
There was a bit of peopleinteraction and I was going out
to visit, did audits on pubs andI'll never forget one where
they said oh you need to do astock take at a pub in Melbourne
(13:58):
in Sydney Road, which is backthen pretty rough, bit, dodgy
Bit dodgy, so they said be thereat nine o'clock sharp.
So okay, so I got there at about10 to nine and we know what
pubs are like pretty dead atnine o'clock, so anyway.
So I got in there, no onearound locked.
I'm knocking on the door, noone knocking, knocking, knocking
(14:19):
.
Eventually some bloke peers outof the top window because it
was double story.
Yeah, you know the old days too, we used to have rooms at the
top Living.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Still like that in the UK?
Yeah, still like that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So this bloke puts his head through the window,
singlet beer gut sticking out,and says, you know, bends down.
And I was only probably, youknow, eight, well, probably 20,
so, you know, fairly fresh outof uni, had no idea.
What do you want?
I'm going oh, I'm here for theaudit, oh, what audit.
(14:53):
And I said, oh, you know, I'mfrom this firm and I'm here for
the audit, oh, what audit.
And I said, oh, you know, I'mfrom this firm and I'm here to
do the stock take, oh, you know.
So there he is moaning andgroaning, oh, you know.
Oh, geez, you know, you'vewoken me up, I'll be down there
soon.
So half an hour later I'mstanding up there and it's
freezing cold.
I look like I was sort of, youknow, desperate for a drink at 9
(15:16):
o'clock in the morning, becauseyou know everyone's looking at
you, thinking you know, is thatdesperate Anyway, but it was.
so.
That was my client interaction,which is a bit different than
what you might have withfinancial planning.
So anyway, I did that for fiveyears.
But then I and again that wasmy career, you know aspiration,
but again just to sort of talkabout where you, you never know
where you might end up, I leftand I thought what do I want to
(15:38):
do?
Do I want to move to anothercharter firm or accounting?
I decided to leave and I wentto La Trobe to do a dip ed.
And I thought I'd move intoteaching to have that greater
people interaction.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
A bit more purpose.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah, a bit more purpose, a bit more meaningful,
and I thought that's all right,I can teach accounting.
So, anyway, went and did a diped, which was a really enjoyable
year, full-time, not having towork.
Then went and taught accountingand business at a school in
South Gippsland called LeangathaOkay, yeah, leangatha, nice
(16:18):
place, really nice and was therefor about two or three years.
The kids there probably weren'tas aspirational as perhaps what
I was hoping.
You know I was thinking, youknow I'm going to be, you know,
teaching the next CEOs and youknow all that sort of stuff.
A lot of the boys just wanted towork on the farms or be motor
mechanics and a lot of the girlstraditionally hairdressing was
(16:40):
the big thing back then, so nota lot of interest in accounting.
But anyway, I stayed there fora few years, which was really
interesting, and then a job cameup.
So how old were you at thispoint?
Probably 25, probably fiveyears, probably 26, 27.
Yeah, and then by the time Iwas, and then a job came up to
(17:01):
move into the university system.
So probably by then I was about30.
Yeah, so a job came up at auniversity to teach accounting
and tax.
So I moved into the universitysystem, which at that stage was
a university then which mergedwith RMIT, and I was at RMIT for
about 10 years teachingaccounting.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
So when you say teaching, is that lecturing?
Yes, lecturing.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
So similar to what I'm doing now, but it was in
accounting and I was teachingaccounting and tax.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
So did you need a DIP deployment education to
actually do that job?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
No, At the time.
At the time, no.
So the DIP ed was required toteach, yeah.
But then when I moved into theindustry back then universities
were a bit different.
What they valued was people whoobviously had a degree,
teaching helped teaching,qualification to be able to
teach students, but alsoindustry experience.
(17:58):
So the fact that I had had allthree was fairly valuable.
Industry experience is perhapsnot so important anymore in
terms of the university sector,it's more about qualifications
and research.
So, but just how I got intofinancial planning just quickly,
I was teaching there, I leftand again just to sort of talk
(18:21):
about you never know where youend up I left RMIT, got a job in
industry, but teaching, butworking with a travel franchise
as a finance manager, Okay.
So completely different.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I just took a break.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Did something different again for about three
years, visiting different travelagencies, helping them with
their finances, so setting upsome went broke, helping them to
improve their financials, solike a more sort of corporate
advisory type of role.
Yeah more corporate, but thesewere a lot of small businesses.
So again, you know, helpingsmall business, helping
(18:58):
individuals who were perhapsgood with travel but had no idea
about financials.
You know they barely knew whata profit and loss was.
You know they could sell travel, but you know, you showed them
a set of financials and they hadno idea, and they had no idea
how to run the business.
And then, out of the blue, Igot a call from a bloke at RMIT
who said do you want to comeback again?
I said eh, and he said oh,we're setting up this new course
(19:21):
in financial planning.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
So can I ask what year this was?
Because financial planning is arelatively new industry.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yes, so this would have been.
I suppose I'm just trying tothink, probably in the 90s Okay.
So early 90s?
Yeah, probably in the 90ssomewhere, yeah.
So I said, what's financialplanning?
I had no idea because it wasthen.
It really wasn't a profession,it was, you know, still an
(19:52):
industry.
There was no qualificationsbasically required back then.
You might have just done aquick diploma.
I think there might have beenPG Practice Guide 146.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Okay, requirements which were a diploma level, if
that at that stage, Because alot of people that early days in
financial planning came fromselling insurance.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Yes, correct.
And then superannuation became abig thing, and that's when
financial planning evolved, tookoff yes, rmit got into
financial planning at a fairlyearly stage, so I think one of
the first into financialplanning.
So I said I've got no idea whatit is.
And they said, oh, you'll beright, you know business and tax
.
So anyway, I jumped in and hadno idea and for the first couple
(20:33):
of years I battled, trying tolearn what financial planning
was all about, the knowledge,the skills, and that was the
start of my entry into financialplanning.
So again, just for studentslistening, you never know where
you might end up and somestudents find their career of
choice straight away.
(20:54):
Others it might take a while tofind out what you're good at,
what your passion and interestis.
Yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
So just to touch on that, studied accounting worked
in a mid-tier accounting firm,ordered at a pub out in
Brunswick and some bloke didn'twant to let you in because you
woke him up.
Yeah, so then… going back anddo a diploma of education, to
working as a teacher, to thenworking as a finance or a
(21:25):
university.
Finance role A finance role andthen back into university.
So it's been a bit of a yeah,it's a bit of a snake along the
way.
Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I think most well, a lot of people are looking at you
, know these days you have to beflexible and looking at you
know perhaps what your goal is,what's the ideal situation
you're trying to work towards.
And some people get there early, some not, and yeah, it's just
all these experiences.
And then I was at RMIT, cameback to RMIT, left, went to La
(21:56):
Trobe where I, you know,happened, fortunate enough, to
teach you, and then went intoDeakin financial planning.
But yeah, so different rolesstart off in accounting, which a
lot of students do, and that'swhat we find.
A lot of students move intoaccounting initially because
they do accounting at school andthe trouble we've got is
students don't do financialplanning at school, so they have
(22:18):
no idea what it is.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Is it possible to introduce financial planning in
high school?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Well, it would be, and you could do it by way of
financial literacy.
So run a financial literacyprogram and some schools do,
some schools, don't, you know?
And quite often it's a cannyteacher, right, you go and teach
financial literacy or thecareers teacher and they're
going.
Oh well, you know, there's noand there is some resource.
(22:46):
Now the FAAA has put together afinancial literacy pack which
is more around for practitionerswho want to go out to schools
to talk to students about whatfinancial literacy is to teach
them early.
But you know, if you don't knowwhat financial planning is,
you're not going to come intouni jumping into financial
planning.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
And that's the.
I guess the issue the industryhas now is that people don't
know what financial planning is,because only maybe top 10% of
people get financial advice.
Yeah, correct.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
So, yeah, it's only those that have heard from
friends or family, those who,perhaps parents, have got a
financial advisor and they think, oh, this actually looks all
right.
And most of the students we getis, you know, they're doing an
accounting degree or finance andagain, at that age you don't
know what to do quite often.
And then you might have heardfrom a friend or you think, oh,
(23:40):
I'll try financial planning asan elective.
You move in and then suddenly,with a bit of luck, you know,
you get this spark and you thinkthis is exactly what I want to
do.
Yeah, and that's how we get alot of our students who try
financial planning because theydon't know what it is and
suddenly think, yeah, this isgreat because it combines
finance with working closelywith people and helping people,
(24:04):
which is, you know, a lot ofstudents love that aspect where
it's finance but also helpingpeople.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, and you must have seen some students become
very successful in their career.
What are the key attributes yousee as students that you, I
guess, helps to get them to apoint where they have a very
well, obviously, success isdetermined by many things, but
you know successful career interms of, maybe, leadership
(24:30):
roles or running successfulbusinesses.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
So, as I said before, students mature at different
stages.
So you know one.
There's one particular studentthat well, apart from you,
another student that I had wasprobably slightly older, so I
think he went and worked for afew years and then came back, so
he might have been in hismid-20s, so perhaps a little bit
(24:53):
older than an 18, 19-year-old,but he was great communication
skills, he was confident, reallypersonable, really nice bloke
and he just fell into financialplanning and, you know, enjoyed
it and I knew he'd do wellbecause he was just one of these
(25:14):
people that really personableand would have been able to sit
with a client basically from dayone.
And so I introduced him to apractice and I said, you know
they were looking for someoneand I said I've got the ideal
person, Don't lose him becausehe's going to do really well.
And they did take him on andyeah and they said it's one of
the best people they've ever had, because he just had that
(25:36):
personal approach, loved workingwith people, was really good at
it.
So I think you just have tohave passion and an interest.
And you know it's the same asall of us.
We only do it because we enjoywhat we're doing.
So you know we enjoy teachingor you enjoy working with
different employees and students, helping them to, you know,
find good careers and goodrecruits.
(25:57):
So finding a passion, whichmight take a little bit of time,
you know, and I've been in andout different unis, different
sort of jobs, until what I'vegot now, the confidence and
communication skills and, as yousaid, the ability to network.
And again, networking is hardand you know it's required in
(26:20):
all jobs.
My brother is sort of a partnerin an accounting firm but even
at his level to move ahead andbecome sort of like a managing
partner, he's required to donetworking.
So you just have to go out andyou have to be able to sell
yourself to an employer or toclients and it never goes away.
(26:41):
It's always there, at whateverlevel.
So you may not find it easyalways, but the key thing is get
out there to as many events asyou can talk to as many people.
Network, build up thatconfidence, build up that
interest and something will comealong.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Your network is your net worth.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's the same even for those
who are looking at you know,perhaps other related
professions?
It's networking.
It's you know.
Whether you're in accountinglaw, financial planning, you
know your success is based onyour networks.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Yeah, and I've been in very technical roles and very
much relationship-focused rolesand I've found that the most
successful people I've been ableto engage with have had the
best networking skills andrelationship skills.
Yeah, Not always the besttechnical skills, but you know,
top-tier relationship skills.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
That's correct.
I mean the knowledge you needboth to be you know really good.
But the key traits that I seeand one of the best financial
planners that I've come acrosswas because I worked in my own
practice in financial planningfor about 15 years, so I was
sort of teaching and running myown financial planning practice.
(27:55):
But one of the best financialplanners I know was my licensee
whose name was Darren Borg, Oneof the best financial planners.
He was an ex-teacher so he hadthe ability to relate to people
really great, but you know hecould.
He was a great networker.
Ability to relate to any client, whether they were a butcher
(28:19):
you know tradie or a surgeon.
He could just relate to anyclient, whether they were a
butcher you know tradie or asurgeon.
He could just relate to anyperson.
Knowledge was good but hiscommunication skills and ability
to relate to people wereexcellent and that's what made
him so successful and so good.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I'm mindful of time Mark, because we've been
speaking for 27 minutes now.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
It's been great and I've really loved it.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
So a big thank you for coming on the Finance
Friends podcast and, yeah, it'sbeen a pleasure knowing you over
the last.
What is it?
16 or more, maybe 18 years now?
So thank you, and you've made amassive contribution to the
industry financial planningindustry.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
So well done and thanks very much for the
invitation and yeah, it's beeninteresting.
And, as much as I'd like totalk for a couple of hours, I've
got a class early afternoon, soyeah, so life as an academic
goes on and it stops.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
No, thank you, and I appreciate your time.
All right, thanks very much.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
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
recommendations and may not berelied upon.
Welcome to the Finance Friends podcast.
Whether you have followed usfrom the beginning or you're a
new listener, we are excited tohave you here.
Finance Friends gives ourlisteners a seat at the table
with successful finance industryleaders.
Follow us on our socials atFinance Friends Podcast, linked
in the description box of thisepisode, and stay tuned for
(00:30):
weekly episode releases.
Today's episode we have MarkOlenek, who's a senior lecturer
and course director of DeakinUniversity in Melbourne in
financial planning and Mark wasmy lecturer when I was at
university many, many, manymoons ago and sparked my
(00:50):
interest in financial planning.
And he talks about his journeyfrom being an auditor and having
to do stock take at a pub inBrunswick to becoming the
lecturer he is today.
Now he has seen many studentsrise from being students to very
successful professionals and heprovides us with his insights
(01:14):
and secrets to growing yourcareer and following your
passion.
Welcome, mark.
How are you today?
Good Thanks, fabian.
Thanks very much for invitingme.
Oh, you're welcome.
I've known you for a long time.
You're the reason why I startedin financial planning all those
years ago at La TrobeUniversity when you were running
the course there, but nowyou're at Deakin University.
Is that right, mark?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yes, that's right.
Been there for about nine,coming up for my ninth year and
10-year anniversary next year,so I think that entitles me to a
Deakin pin, a Deacon pin, adeacon pin.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
So you're going to throw a party A deacon party.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, I don't know, I think the pin might be.
You know, that's more thanenough.
What else would you want otherthan the deacon pin?
So yeah, so that's a well,that's sort of a bit of an
achievement.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
So I've been there for quite a few years, but yeah,
prior to that, la Trobe, andyeah, taught you there, yeah,
and you've made a big impact ona lot of people that are
currently in the financialplanning profession, because
there's a lot of people in ourclass that did an intro to
financial planning.
They ended up becomingfinancial advisors and without
your passion and your supportfor the industry, I think a lot
(02:25):
of people would have chosen adifferent career direction.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, so I don't know whether that's my influence or
the fact that I've just beenaround for so many years with a
number of students.
But yeah, one of my son's bestfriends, he also did his
financial planning degree at LaTrobe.
So I knew him at La Trobe andthen didn't see him for years
and suddenly I saw him at atennis match and he joined the
(02:51):
club and he said oh, and Ididn't exactly remember the face
, but he sort of said, oh, hello, mark, how are you?
And I said oh, yeah, oh, I'mtrying to remember where I know
him from and yeah, so it turnedout that I taught him at La
Trobe and it did come back to meeventually and, as it turns out
now he's one of my son's bestfriends and he's working as a
(03:13):
paraplanner.
Yeah, and yeah, he reallyenjoys the work.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Great.
So your current title is SeniorLecturer and Course Director of
Financial Planning at DeakinUniversity, correct, yes, so
what does that involve?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So we have different levels within a university.
So I'm a Senior Lecturer and Isuppose the work is fairly
varied.
So I suppose our requirementsare covering three main areas.
So obviously teaching andlearning is a major part of what
we do.
So that's you know, preparingfor classes, taking classes,
(03:50):
lectures, seminars, assessmenttasks and the boring work of
marking.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
But it has to be done .
Marking by name, marking bynature yeah, that's right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I'll leave that one Good choice, that was bad.
And then sort of a scholarlywork or research type work, and
that might be academic writing,papers, journals, industry mags,
industry submissions which I'vedone a few in my role within
the Financial Planning EducationCouncil, perhaps consulting
(04:26):
with industry, and then service.
So that service is, you know,sort of the normal admin stuff
meetings, graduations,prize-giving events but also a
large part of what I do isworking with industry to help
source opportunities forstudents.
So it might be internships,graduate roles, guest lectures
(04:49):
and potentially working withindustry to obtain grants to do
projects with industry.
So that's sort of probably oneof the major parts of what I do
and which I really enjoy.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yeah, and in terms of the core structure at Deakin,
Deakin is a leader in financialplanning studies.
What are the sort of core partsthat you cover within that
course?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Me personally.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Well, as a course, let's just talk a little bit
about the course because, if youknow, we have people listeners
that are thinking aboutfinancial planning.
I want to study financialplanning and Deakin is a leader
in the field, so just run usthrough just a quick summary of
the course.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So, just as a, perhaps in a broad way, first of
all, so the requirements to bea financial planner consist of
three main things.
So you need to have an approveddegree.
So there is a governmentlegislative instrument which
details all the universitiesthat have got an accredited,
approved degree.
So you need to do an approveddegree.
We can then discuss later onthat.
(05:55):
To become a financial planneryou then need to do a national
exam and thirdly, to do aprofessional year once you join
a practice.
So, but the first step is toget an approved degree.
Some universities have a degreein financial planning, some
degrees.
Some unis have, which is moretypical, a major in financial
planning.
So you did a major of financialplanning at La Trobe, but we'll
(06:20):
quickly, you know, skip LaTrobe and bring it back to
Deakin.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
They don't offer it anymore.
They don't offer it.
No, that's right.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
So when I left, they decided not to offer financial
planning anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
When you lose the best in the business, it's hard
to recover.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
They probably thought thank goodness we got rid of
him so we can now get rid offinancial planning.
So at Deakin we've got anapproved degree.
So you come in and do aBachelor of Commerce, which is a
three-year degree, and withinthat you choose a financial
planning major.
So you need to have a deaconand approved role.
(06:51):
In the Bachelor of Commerce youcome in, the first year is
generic.
You try a little bit ofeverything accounting, finance,
marketing, management just togive you a bit of a feel about
the course.
And then you choose your majorsand one of them is financial
planning major.
And the other good thing thatwe've introduced is compulsory
internships or work integratedlearning.
(07:13):
So that's sort of nowencouraging or forcing students
that they have to do some sortof internship as part of their
course, which is great, yeah,which is good.
I'd encourage as many studentsas possible to do some sort of
work integrated learning, andthese days it's broad and really
interesting.
So in the old days it was aninternship.
You know you go and sit in a,you know, with a practice and
(07:35):
work.
But these days there'sconsulting projects, there's
international study tours youcan do.
But I think still the bestthing is to get some practical
work experience.
So if you're looking to moveinto financial planning or
financial services.
Go out and get a job, workpart-time, because then you can
sort of relate the theory to thepractice, and the theory means
a lot more when you kind of seehow it works in practice.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And also you enjoy the theory a lot more when it's
practical.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
And I regularly have.
You know, aspiring financialadvisors that are studying come
and see me and you know, find itreally hard to get their first
opportunity.
You know what I say.
Go look at your suburbfinancial planning firms.
Go knock on the door and sayyou're happy to.
You know, just do admin unpaidwork for a day a week, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Just get your foot in the door.
Yeah, I know.
Work for a day a week?
Yeah, just get your foot in thedoor, yeah, I know.
Well, that's what I keep ontelling students.
We have a work integratedlearning division that helps
students find jobs and somestudents are a little bit more,
you know, take initiative alittle bit more.
Some do it early, some leave itlate, some need a bit of
prodding, but it is so useful.
(08:42):
But, yeah, you're right, go andknock on doors.
Network, speak to people and yousee the ones that are
successful.
They're out there going tostudent events.
They're talking to people,talking to friends, industry
representatives and one of thestudents that I've had who
recently graduated and has donereally well.
He was working in part-time inretail and he's a very outgoing
(09:07):
bloke, just talking to retailand happened to be speaking to a
person who was buying somestuff from the shop and it
turned out to be, I think, thehead of advice at Australian
Super who said, oh, you know,and he spoke about his interest
in financial planning and hesaid, oh, at some stage come and
chat to me, which he did, andhe got an internship and that
(09:29):
led him on to a very successfulrole now in financial planning
industry.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
So, yeah, it's all about networking, getting out
there, knocking on doors andtrying to speak to people and
what is really important isfinancial advice has become very
technical because the educationrequirement and compliance
standards Yep.
The key skill to being asuccessful financial advisor is
(09:53):
being able to build arelationship and trust with your
client.
Yeah, so if you're verytechnical but you lack the
skills to engage, it's unlikelyyou're going to be very
successful in advice.
Yeah, so that's why it isimportant to, as you said, go
and put yourself out there.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
I mean different students, I think, mature at
different stages.
So some students are veryconfident very early on.
They've got great communicationskills, they're good at
relationship building and youknow they can progress in a
financial planning practice andmove ahead quite quickly.
Others, I find, and I don'tknow where you fit in, but I
(10:33):
think you were fairly confidentand you know, obviously moved
ahead very quickly.
Others, I find, and I don'tknow where you fit in, but I
think you were fairly confidentand you know obviously moved
ahead very quickly.
But others I think, mature a bitlater and so they might be a
little bit shy and a bithesitant to network.
But you know you get in and weall progress at different levels
and at different stages and youknow you might get in and it
might take you two years orthree years within a practice
(10:57):
where you learn your craft andyou learn the ropes and then you
might be ready then to moveahead and you might have the
confidence to then start sittingin front of a client and
helping them with their lifesavings.
But it just depends on thestudent.
But yeah.
I think the quicker you can getinto practice and see what's
happening and learn from otheradvisors because there's really
(11:17):
a lot of good ones out there thequicker I think that you'll get
that confidence and the abilityto you know build those
relationships.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, definitely, and I'm a committee member of the
FAAA Financial AdviceAssociation of Australia and we,
if you are a financial planningstudent, you can actually get
free membership to the FAAA andwe run events.
So we're running an event.
I think it's the 8th of Mayhopefully this podcast launches
before then but we're running anevent on, you know, eq and
(11:46):
building trust and relationshipwith a client, and that's
targeted to you know, the nextgeneration of advisors, so
something that you maybe cantalk to your students about yeah
, yeah.
But let's move on and let's talkmaybe about your career,
because that's where you are now.
Bring us back to the beginning,because you were telling me
before that you studiedaccounting originally.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
That's correct.
So I won't go right back to theday I was born because at that
stage, or through my you knowstudies, I had no idea about
well, no idea where I'd end up,and that's sort of something
that you know, just happens toeveryone.
Some people find their interestand passion very early on and
(12:27):
they move ahead, and others ittakes longer to find, perhaps,
their career path and where theyreally want to be and where
they're perhaps best at.
So, yeah, I started accountingat uni at Monash.
Didn't really have a lot ofidea what I wanted to do apart
(12:47):
from perhaps accounting, soanyway, I did my accounting
degree, got a job in a mid-tierchartered accounting firm,
stayed there for about fiveyears and did my PY.
Back then it was a professionalyear, oh, in accounting, in
accounting.
So with the well, it's theirdesignation program.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Ah, okay, Like a CA CPA.
Yeah, like a CA.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
So to do it better was really gruelling and really
tough and I think most peoplethought, said I'll do it once
and that's it never again.
So anyway.
So I did that, moved intomid-tier chatter firm and sort
of enjoyed it.
I was doing auditing whicheveryone moves into, but then I
(13:37):
found that I don't know, I wasgetting a bit tired of just
sitting at a desk all dayworking with numbers, with
auditing.
There was a bit of peopleinteraction and I was going out
to visit, did audits on pubs andI'll never forget one where
they said oh you need to do astock take at a pub in Melbourne
(13:58):
in Sydney Road, which is backthen pretty rough, bit, dodgy
Bit dodgy, so they said be thereat nine o'clock sharp.
So okay, so I got there at about10 to nine and we know what
pubs are like pretty dead atnine o'clock, so anyway.
So I got in there, no onearound locked.
I'm knocking on the door, noone knocking, knocking, knocking
(14:19):
.
Eventually some bloke peers outof the top window because it
was double story.
Yeah, you know the old days too, we used to have rooms at the
top Living.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Still like that in the UK?
Yeah, still like that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So this bloke puts his head through the window,
singlet beer gut sticking out,and says, you know, bends down.
And I was only probably, youknow, eight, well, probably 20,
so, you know, fairly fresh outof uni, had no idea.
What do you want?
I'm going oh, I'm here for theaudit, oh, what audit.
(14:53):
And I said, oh, you know, I'mfrom this firm and I'm here for
the audit, oh, what audit.
And I said, oh, you know, I'mfrom this firm and I'm here to
do the stock take, oh, you know.
So there he is moaning andgroaning, oh, you know.
Oh, geez, you know, you'vewoken me up, I'll be down there
soon.
So half an hour later I'mstanding up there and it's
freezing cold.
I look like I was sort of, youknow, desperate for a drink at 9
(15:16):
o'clock in the morning, becauseyou know everyone's looking at
you, thinking you know, is thatdesperate Anyway, but it was.
so.
That was my client interaction,which is a bit different than
what you might have withfinancial planning.
So anyway, I did that for fiveyears.
But then I and again that wasmy career, you know aspiration,
but again just to sort of talkabout where you, you never know
where you might end up, I leftand I thought what do I want to
(15:38):
do?
Do I want to move to anothercharter firm or accounting?
I decided to leave and I wentto La Trobe to do a dip ed.
And I thought I'd move intoteaching to have that greater
people interaction.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
A bit more purpose.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah, a bit more purpose, a bit more meaningful,
and I thought that's all right,I can teach accounting.
So, anyway, went and did a diped, which was a really enjoyable
year, full-time, not having towork.
Then went and taught accountingand business at a school in
South Gippsland called LeangathaOkay, yeah, leangatha, nice
(16:18):
place, really nice and was therefor about two or three years.
The kids there probably weren'tas aspirational as perhaps what
I was hoping.
You know I was thinking, youknow I'm going to be, you know,
teaching the next CEOs and youknow all that sort of stuff.
A lot of the boys just wanted towork on the farms or be motor
mechanics and a lot of the girlstraditionally hairdressing was
(16:40):
the big thing back then, so nota lot of interest in accounting.
But anyway, I stayed there fora few years, which was really
interesting, and then a job cameup.
So how old were you at thispoint?
Probably 25, probably fiveyears, probably 26, 27.
Yeah, and then by the time Iwas, and then a job came up to
(17:01):
move into the university system.
So probably by then I was about30.
Yeah, so a job came up at auniversity to teach accounting
and tax.
So I moved into the universitysystem, which at that stage was
a university then which mergedwith RMIT, and I was at RMIT for
about 10 years teachingaccounting.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
So when you say teaching, is that lecturing?
Yes, lecturing.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
So similar to what I'm doing now, but it was in
accounting and I was teachingaccounting and tax.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
So did you need a DIP deployment education to
actually do that job?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
No, At the time.
At the time, no.
So the DIP ed was required toteach, yeah.
But then when I moved into theindustry back then universities
were a bit different.
What they valued was people whoobviously had a degree,
teaching helped teaching,qualification to be able to
teach students, but alsoindustry experience.
(17:58):
So the fact that I had had allthree was fairly valuable.
Industry experience is perhapsnot so important anymore in
terms of the university sector,it's more about qualifications
and research.
So, but just how I got intofinancial planning just quickly,
I was teaching there, I leftand again just to sort of talk
(18:21):
about you never know where youend up I left RMIT, got a job in
industry, but teaching, butworking with a travel franchise
as a finance manager, Okay.
So completely different.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I just took a break.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Did something different again for about three
years, visiting different travelagencies, helping them with
their finances, so setting upsome went broke, helping them to
improve their financials, solike a more sort of corporate
advisory type of role.
Yeah more corporate, but thesewere a lot of small businesses.
So again, you know, helpingsmall business, helping
(18:58):
individuals who were perhapsgood with travel but had no idea
about financials.
You know they barely knew whata profit and loss was.
You know they could sell travel, but you know, you showed them
a set of financials and they hadno idea, and they had no idea
how to run the business.
And then, out of the blue, Igot a call from a bloke at RMIT
who said do you want to comeback again?
I said eh, and he said oh,we're setting up this new course
(19:21):
in financial planning.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
So can I ask what year this was?
Because financial planning is arelatively new industry.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yes, so this would have been.
I suppose I'm just trying tothink, probably in the 90s Okay.
So early 90s?
Yeah, probably in the 90ssomewhere, yeah.
So I said, what's financialplanning?
I had no idea because it wasthen.
It really wasn't a profession,it was, you know, still an
(19:52):
industry.
There was no qualificationsbasically required back then.
You might have just done aquick diploma.
I think there might have beenPG Practice Guide 146.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Okay, requirements which were a diploma level, if
that at that stage, Because alot of people that early days in
financial planning came fromselling insurance.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Yes, correct.
And then superannuation became abig thing, and that's when
financial planning evolved, tookoff yes, rmit got into
financial planning at a fairlyearly stage, so I think one of
the first into financialplanning.
So I said I've got no idea whatit is.
And they said, oh, you'll beright, you know business and tax
.
So anyway, I jumped in and hadno idea and for the first couple
(20:33):
of years I battled, trying tolearn what financial planning
was all about, the knowledge,the skills, and that was the
start of my entry into financialplanning.
So again, just for studentslistening, you never know where
you might end up and somestudents find their career of
choice straight away.
(20:54):
Others it might take a while tofind out what you're good at,
what your passion and interestis.
Yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
So just to touch on that, studied accounting worked
in a mid-tier accounting firm,ordered at a pub out in
Brunswick and some bloke didn'twant to let you in because you
woke him up.
Yeah, so then… going back anddo a diploma of education, to
working as a teacher, to thenworking as a finance or a
(21:25):
university.
Finance role A finance role andthen back into university.
So it's been a bit of a yeah,it's a bit of a snake along the
way.
Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I think most well, a lot of people are looking at you
, know these days you have to beflexible and looking at you
know perhaps what your goal is,what's the ideal situation
you're trying to work towards.
And some people get there early, some not, and yeah, it's just
all these experiences.
And then I was at RMIT, cameback to RMIT, left, went to La
(21:56):
Trobe where I, you know,happened, fortunate enough, to
teach you, and then went intoDeakin financial planning.
But yeah, so different rolesstart off in accounting, which a
lot of students do, and that'swhat we find.
A lot of students move intoaccounting initially because
they do accounting at school andthe trouble we've got is
students don't do financialplanning at school, so they have
(22:18):
no idea what it is.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Is it possible to introduce financial planning in
high school?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Well, it would be, and you could do it by way of
financial literacy.
So run a financial literacyprogram and some schools do,
some schools, don't, you know?
And quite often it's a cannyteacher, right, you go and teach
financial literacy or thecareers teacher and they're
going.
Oh well, you know, there's noand there is some resource.
(22:46):
Now the FAAA has put together afinancial literacy pack which
is more around for practitionerswho want to go out to schools
to talk to students about whatfinancial literacy is to teach
them early.
But you know, if you don't knowwhat financial planning is,
you're not going to come intouni jumping into financial
planning.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
And that's the.
I guess the issue the industryhas now is that people don't
know what financial planning is,because only maybe top 10% of
people get financial advice.
Yeah, correct.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
So, yeah, it's only those that have heard from
friends or family, those who,perhaps parents, have got a
financial advisor and they think, oh, this actually looks all
right.
And most of the students we getis, you know, they're doing an
accounting degree or finance andagain, at that age you don't
know what to do quite often.
And then you might have heardfrom a friend or you think, oh,
(23:40):
I'll try financial planning asan elective.
You move in and then suddenly,with a bit of luck, you know,
you get this spark and you thinkthis is exactly what I want to
do.
Yeah, and that's how we get alot of our students who try
financial planning because theydon't know what it is and
suddenly think, yeah, this isgreat because it combines
finance with working closelywith people and helping people,
(24:04):
which is, you know, a lot ofstudents love that aspect where
it's finance but also helpingpeople.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, and you must have seen some students become
very successful in their career.
What are the key attributes yousee as students that you, I
guess, helps to get them to apoint where they have a very
well, obviously, success isdetermined by many things, but
you know successful career interms of, maybe, leadership
(24:30):
roles or running successfulbusinesses.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
So, as I said before, students mature at different
stages.
So you know one.
There's one particular studentthat well, apart from you,
another student that I had wasprobably slightly older, so I
think he went and worked for afew years and then came back, so
he might have been in hismid-20s, so perhaps a little bit
(24:53):
older than an 18, 19-year-old,but he was great communication
skills, he was confident, reallypersonable, really nice bloke
and he just fell into financialplanning and, you know, enjoyed
it and I knew he'd do wellbecause he was just one of these
(25:14):
people that really personableand would have been able to sit
with a client basically from dayone.
And so I introduced him to apractice and I said, you know
they were looking for someoneand I said I've got the ideal
person, Don't lose him becausehe's going to do really well.
And they did take him on andyeah and they said it's one of
the best people they've ever had, because he just had that
(25:36):
personal approach, loved workingwith people, was really good at
it.
So I think you just have tohave passion and an interest.
And you know it's the same asall of us.
We only do it because we enjoywhat we're doing.
So you know we enjoy teachingor you enjoy working with
different employees and students, helping them to, you know,
find good careers and goodrecruits.
(25:57):
So finding a passion, whichmight take a little bit of time,
you know, and I've been in andout different unis, different
sort of jobs, until what I'vegot now, the confidence and
communication skills and, as yousaid, the ability to network.
And again, networking is hardand you know it's required in
(26:20):
all jobs.
My brother is sort of a partnerin an accounting firm but even
at his level to move ahead andbecome sort of like a managing
partner, he's required to donetworking.
So you just have to go out andyou have to be able to sell
yourself to an employer or toclients and it never goes away.
(26:41):
It's always there, at whateverlevel.
So you may not find it easyalways, but the key thing is get
out there to as many events asyou can talk to as many people.
Network, build up thatconfidence, build up that
interest and something will comealong.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Your network is your net worth.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's the same even for those
who are looking at you know,perhaps other related
professions?
It's networking.
It's you know.
Whether you're in accountinglaw, financial planning, you
know your success is based onyour networks.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Yeah, and I've been in very technical roles and very
much relationship-focused rolesand I've found that the most
successful people I've been ableto engage with have had the
best networking skills andrelationship skills.
Yeah, Not always the besttechnical skills, but you know,
top-tier relationship skills.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
That's correct.
I mean the knowledge you needboth to be you know really good.
But the key traits that I seeand one of the best financial
planners that I've come acrosswas because I worked in my own
practice in financial planningfor about 15 years, so I was
sort of teaching and running myown financial planning practice.
(27:55):
But one of the best financialplanners I know was my licensee
whose name was Darren Borg, Oneof the best financial planners.
He was an ex-teacher so he hadthe ability to relate to people
really great, but you know hecould.
He was a great networker.
Ability to relate to any client, whether they were a butcher
(28:19):
you know tradie or a surgeon.
He could just relate to anyclient, whether they were a
butcher you know tradie or asurgeon.
He could just relate to anyperson.
Knowledge was good but hiscommunication skills and ability
to relate to people wereexcellent and that's what made
him so successful and so good.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I'm mindful of time Mark, because we've been
speaking for 27 minutes now.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
It's been great and I've really loved it.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
So a big thank you for coming on the Finance
Friends podcast and, yeah, it'sbeen a pleasure knowing you over
the last.
What is it?
16 or more, maybe 18 years now?
So thank you, and you've made amassive contribution to the
industry financial planningindustry.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
So well done and thanks very much for the
invitation and yeah, it's beeninteresting.
And, as much as I'd like totalk for a couple of hours, I've
got a class early afternoon, soyeah, so life as an academic
goes on and it stops.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
No, thank you, and I appreciate your time.
All right, thanks very much.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
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
recommendations and may not berelied upon.
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