Niching has become increasingly commonplace in the advice industry, ranging from medical and legal professionals to athletes and divorcees, among myriad other options, though the cost of financial advice often puts a limit on who can reasonably afford to access their service.
Targeting what he believes is an underserved demographic, financial adviser Benny Yang has launched Wealth for Tradies, an advice firm aiming to help tradespeople manage their finances and plan for retirement.
Officially opened on 1 April, Yang said his decision to focus on tradies actually stems from the lack of advisers in the profession following the royal commission.
As the cost of advice has led to a market focused on high-net-worth clients, Yang said he wanted to create a service designed for tradies who earn a significant income but lack the guidance on how to best manage their finances.
“Since the royal commission, the number of advisers has reduced, and the number of advisers joining the industry has not been increasing quickly, and there’s a big market of people who need financial advice – which are tradies – and there’s not enough financial advisers to serve this demographic,” Yang told ifa.
“So, it’d be solving two problems.
“First, it’d be obviously helping the tradies become better versed with their wealth management and money management, and at the same time, create this opportunity for younger advisers to start becoming a financial adviser, because there’s this demographic of tradies that need advice, so, more financial advisers are motivated to help tradies as well.”
When it comes to working with tradies, Yang explained that the key difference is in the way he engages with his clients, taking a slightly different approach to the typical generalist adviser.
“I think the communication for tradies is very different to communication with a general audience. They focus on simplicity, and they trust people in a different way to, I guess, what the general audience trusts people,” he said.
“That’s kind of what I’ve been focusing a lot on, is trying to understand how I can communicate to them perfectly, so that they become responsive to wealth management because, for a lot of tradies, wealth management to them is, ‘That’s something that I don’t really need. I’m making money. I’m happy doing what I’m doing’. So, it’s that communication piece.”
With this in mind, Yang has taken to social media, creating content that will reach and resonate with tradies, as well as working with industry contacts to build referral relationships.
“I’m working with a business now – Lydian, which is a mortgage broker – and we’re planning to speak to some hiring companies who hire tradies to see if we can incorporate something like a financial review for tradies who are looking for a new job as part of their onboarding into a recruitment service,” he said.
“It’s a benefit for the recruitment company because it helps them provide a differentiated service to the tradies but then it’s also a benefit to the tradies if they get their finances looked after.”
If the unique specialisation of his practice wasn’t enough, Yang has also taken an interesting path in his pursuit of starting a business.
He completed his professional year (PY) with Altus Financial early last year but instead of taking on the load of a full financial adviser, Yang decided to remain in the less demanding associate adviser role and spend the next 12 months making plans to start his own business.
Challenge and opportunity
Although Yang is currently handling most of the workload with no official support staff, he is receiving some assistance from a business coach, HR specialist and his licensee to get the business up and running.
Starting out, he is focusing on electricians and plumbers who are nearing retirement as it is easier to communicate value to a pre-retiree audience while the business grows, though he plans to expand the client base to younger clients in the future.
“I’m hoping in five years I can create a financial planning service that isn’t only catered to tradies who are closer to retirement and have all that wealth, it’s one that’s flexible for the tradie depending on where they are in their journey. The cost for younger tradies would be lower,” he said.
“Really adapting to the changes in the financial planning industry where there’s already a push to reduce the cost of advice by potentially removing something like the statement of advice and using a different document but still meeting all of the compliance and goals and objectives and everything still in the best interest of the client.
“Being able to produce advice at a lower rate, lower costs, so that younger advisers can join the business and provide advice to these tradies, so that more people actually want to become financial planners, and then that way the financial planning industry can grow.”
As expected, he said it has been challenging managing the myriad tasks that come with this new venture, including juggling being an adviser, marketing and attracting clients, on top of the challenges of establishing a new business.
However, Yang explained that he still relishes the opportunity to create something that is all his own.
“My favourite part is that I can use my creativity and really work on something that I’m passionate about and being able to make decisions on the very small parts of the practice, and being able to design things from the ground up and having the control to, I guess, make creative decisions,” he said.
