From the moment he established his financial planning business in 2010, Peter Lee knew exactly the type of service he wanted to offer. He wanted to create a professional but highly personalised relationship with all his clients, which would take the time to understand more than just the client’s finances but their entire personal situation and family dynamic too.
It’s this deep engagement process with clients Mr Lee believes differentiates his business, as it enables him to offer a unique form of advice that directly targets client needs. This connection begins at the initial client meeting, where time is devoted to asking the client the right questions.
“We are always focusing on the client, we want to make sure we do the simple things well, and we want to ensure we have stable foundations – like building a house, we want to make sure the foundations are right before we build their wealth and assets,” says Mr Lee.
The effective delivery of client needs has enabled Mr Lee to grow his business organically through his clients and referral partners the firm works closely with. His engagement with clients proved particularly useful through the GFC and FOFA legislation, as clients had a deeper understanding of the value of his advice.
Mr Lee also considers this close client connection as the most fulfilling part of running his business.
“The most rewarding part of running a financial services business is having those really great relationships where sometimes the conversation isn’t about their finances; it’s about how their family is, their son’s wedding or having a grandchild,” says Mr Lee.
The firm mainly deals with clients who fall into two groups: high net worth individuals and successful females, and medical specialists and business owners. While the first group are highly successful and intelligent, Mr Lee says they strongly value quality advice as well as honesty and integrity.
“They make the final decision, but they take on board quality advice and make sure it’s right for them,” he says.
His other group of clients are time poor and value advice in a concise form.
“The service proposition we provide for them is very different. We’re about making their lives easier and making the complex simple; we want to make sure we can give them time to spend on what’s important – be it family or their business,” says Mr Lee.
One of the ways in which Mr Lee has achieved such a strong client focus is by having a strong team right from the start.
“I wanted to focus solely on the clients who were going to be engaged with me. So from my perspective, I wanted a strong team behind me to help me with all the compliance needs and every research and technical function, so I could actually spend more time in front of clients rather than on the business,” says Mr Lee.
Before developing his business, he held a number of different financial planning roles but started off as an accountant, working in chartered accounting and management roles. He decided to transition from accountancy to financial planning because he wanted to offer greater diversity to his clients and engage with them on a different level with their investments, superannuation and long-term needs.
In addition to his passion for client-focused advice, Mr Lee also has many passions outside the business. In his spare time he enjoys endurance sports such as triathlons, snowboarding and mountain biking, as well as travel and cooking.
“It’s all about having a balance,” says Mr Lee.
While he would like to see his business increase in size in the future, ensuring he maintains quality remains essential to him. In terms of the industry, he says he would love to see younger, highly-educated people continue to enter the industry. He considers educating the next generation about financial advice very important, especially in regard to estate planning and wealth preservation. «
