Speaking to ifa for an upcoming feature article, co-founder and director of Absolute Wealth Advisors, Dean Holmes – who currently works remotely from the UK – said advisers who want to work remotely will see a number of savings, as will their clients.
“If you were doing this full-time and working remotely from home, there would be a lot of cost savings,” he said.
“The rent in the city CBD is expensive. If you don’t have to have meetings with clients face-to-face, then that is a big saving as you don’t have to pay rent and you don’t have to rent a boardroom.”
Mr Holmes added that advisers who work remotely can also help their clients save money.
For example, clients whose adviser is city-based face the cost of transport or steep parking fees when attending a face-to-face meeting, he said.
“It can cost $80 to park in [Sydney’s CBD],” he said. “So, if I invite a client for a meeting here [in the city] it is going to cost them $80 for them to come and see me.”
Advisers who may be considering working remotely should, however, think about testing out how it will work within their business before jumping straight in.
“The next client you take on, try doing a Skype meeting or the next review that you are trying to do, do it remotely,” he suggested.
“You can still be in your office and at your desk; just make your client the remote person. That’s a good way to test things,” Mr Holmes said.
“Test your assumption about whether clients will actually embrace the technology – that is a good way of doing it.”
Great to see the new generation of advisers like Mr Holmes using technology to help their clients in new and interesting ways. Keep up the good work Dean!