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In 2006 I decided to strike out on my own and begin a financial planning practice. My desire at that time was to help people save for their retirement and make sure that if they passed away, their families were protected through life insurance. It has been a wonderful journey through the past 14 years as the business has grown from me, sitting at a small desk in a corner at home to the BGN Financial Management we know today with an office, a team and a fantastic group of clients that we love working with. As the years have gone by the financial service industry has changed, a lot, and so have my goals for my financial advice business. While retirement saving and insurance management is still an important part of what we do, our scope has widened. We believe that financial planning has moved from a portfolio management style of interaction to more of a coaching role. We love to work alongside clients, helping them learn and grow as we focus not only on their account balance, but there goals.
What do clients want to achieve in their lives and how do they achieve those things.
Un surprisingly, not many people walk into my office with the goal of having a millions dollars in super, they rarely come in with any goal that focusses on an account balance at all. They are more likely to want to be able to travel in retirement, or save for a house, or put themselves in a position where they would consider themselves to be financially free. More and more we are coming across people who look at the way they use money and think ‘there must be a better way to handle this’. Client goals are real and applicable to their everyday lives.
Our financial planning has moved away from just portfolio management into a holistic area of advice, helping clients reach their goals and holding them accountable to the actions they agreed to take. This form of advice puts the client first. The portfolio management and day to day administration of the clients funds still makes up an important part of our work, however, when meeting with a client, we talk less about a 12 month return and more about progress towards their goal. This way, we can celebrate wins and make adjustments when necessary.
As the way we work has changed, we are changing our name as well. We are excited to announce that after 14 years of offering financial advice under the name BGN Financial Management, we are undergoing a name-change to better reflect our values and services that we offer.
From Oct 1st 2020 We be known as Smart Happy Money.
Why Smart Happy Money? We conducted a deep dive into what we do for our clients and wanted a name that reflected the broad range of services that we perform for them. When considering this, we noticed that our most successful and rewarding client relationships went beyond mere financial and portfolio management, however, the name BGN Financial Management didn’t suggest this as strongly as we would have liked. To better reflect our holistic dedication to people and their lives, we have decided to rebrand as Smart Happy Money. We believe this encompasses those most successful relationships we currently have, and our passion for future relationships.
SMART
Being smart with your money starts by making good choices. Simple things like spending less than you earn and investing the rest, knowing what is coming in and what is going out and having a plan in place to deal with the unexpected. We help our clients make smart decisions with their finances and we partner with them to review these decisions because we understand that life is full of changes.
HAPPY
Financial stress is a huge problem in Australia. We believe that having a plan for your money will lower the level of stress in your life. In addition, we build investment and superannuation portfolios using socially responsible and ethical investments to make sure that your money does no harm while working hard for you. Combined, these things create a happier planet and a happier you.
MONEY
Money is more than just dollars and cents. It is the tool we use to live our lives. This is why our advice reaches beyond portfolio management, focussing also on your personal lifestyle goals. We offer a holistic service that empowers you to achieve your goals and dreams.
All of this ties into our mission, which is to educate and advise people today, to improve their tomorrow. We believe that this is a positive change, and better reflects the image this business has in our community.
As part of this change, we are releasing 4 new fixed fee subscription style packages for clients that join Smart Happy Money. Ranging from money coaching through to full strategic financial advice and multiple progress meetings per year, we believe that there is a solution for everyone to improve their financial wellbeing.
We are committing ourselves to a better way of financial advice. As part of this we are formalising and continuing our commitment to education through free or highly subsidised money management courses held at local community houses and a membership with the PFAN, a pro bono financial advice network giving advice to those who need it but find themselves unable to access through the regular channels. We are committing to the use of socially responsible and ethical investments that not only form part of a strategic long term portfolio but also ‘do no harm’ to the planet or those who live here. And of course we are committing to work alongside our clients to achieve their goals and dreams.
I am excited for this change, I am excited for the new client relationships it will bring and I am looking forward to next stage of my financial planning business.
For more information about Smart Happy Money please visit our website www.smarthappymoney.com.au or contact me at ben@smarthappymoney.com.au or 0419 339 504.