REAL TALK SERIES: RYAN KING, FINANCIAL PLANNER

This one's a longer read, I knew it was going to be good as I sent out the questions to Ryan but as I went into edit, I was blown away by how much detail Ryan came back with.

So let's get into it, let's get to know Ryan King.

1.        Tell me a little bit about yourself in one sentence:

I’m an ex-military (infantry corporal) turned financial planner who loves anything sports and fitness related with a beautiful fiancé (soon to be wife) and 2 fur babies that are my life.

2.       Ryan, you actually came from the Army then transitioned into the financial services industry, talk us through how that came about and why?

Very interesting story this one and a bit left of field.

The funniest part is that prior to enlisting in the military I dated a lady who was studying her Bachelors of Applied Finance and I thought it was the most ridiculous degree ever, fast forward 9 years and I’m completing my Masters of Applied Finance as we speak!

The transition occurred when I injured myself in 2014 and had to have a shoulder reconstruction. I decided to get out and try something else while I recovered and return once I was fully rehabilitated. I ended up falling into insurance sales solely due to the attractiveness of the earning capacity, I had no idea about insurance or finances at this point.

I started earning very good money and along the way the business I was a part of decided to transition into a Financial Planning firm. For this I had to start studying and as part of my study I did a research piece on the relationship between Financial Stress and Mental Health issues. This was due to the fact that at the time we were experiencing an epidemic of suicides amongst our military brothers.

The study showed that over 50% of those I interviewed believed their mental health issues triggered via some sort of financial stress, gambling, alcohol or drug addiction, crippling debt, unemployment or just not having enough money in general. Of the other 50% the majority stated that at some point their mental health spiralled deeper due to some sort of financial stress. I felt this was absolutely astounding and an area I was good at, enjoyed and could make a difference.

The more I worked the more I realised it wasn’t just the military community this was relevant too. It was miners, athletes, tradies, corporate workers – it was basically everyone. Once I learnt the analytical side and found what I was good at I fell in love with the job and now could not think of doing anything else. Being able to work in this capacity and still be alongside the Defence area is something I really enjoy and along with helping athletes, celebrities and professionals, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

3.        What’s the one question from home buyers you always hear as a financial planner?

“Should I buy and live in it, or rent and invest?”

One of my favorite questions because both have some great arguments and pros and cons that suit different people and their circumstances. It's also amazing how many people don’t understand the extra costs outside of a mortgage that you have to take on when buying in comparison to renting and how much of a cash flow impact it has. This is the analytical stuff I love breaking down for clients.

4.        When should one approach a financial planner?

I think the question needs to have a caveat over it as I believe everyone should see a Financial planner as soon as possible.

The reason for this is that your “Required amount of Wealth Accumulation” has 3 variables – Time, Contribution and Return. Time is the only one you can’t alter and as it diminishes you either need to increase the amount you put into your investment/s (contribution) or chase a bigger return which increases the risk.

The earlier you start the easier it is and the more left-over cash you can use to enjoy the present while also planning for the future. It’s a no-brainer.

However, the caveat is that everyone should see a GOOD financial planner as early as possible because you need to find someone who will give you advice that will add value above and beyond the fees you will pay. Some advisers try to take on every person they meet, even if its not worth what the client pays. That’s why I have an obligation free first and second consult with prospects to see if they need my help and I can add value or if not give them some tips to do themselves or refer them to an adviser that is more suited to their stage of life and advice needs.

Reading books like The Barefoot Investor, Get Rich Slow, The Breakfast Club for Over 40 somethings etc. to improve and work on the basics early on. Just don’t take the product recommendations from the Barefoot Investor, that is the stuff you should see an advisor about.

5.       What’s your favourite part of the job as a financial planner?

Without a doubt my favourite part is challenging clients to think laterally and outside of the box. Often the best pieces from my meetings are when my clients get a little bit frustrated at how deep I go with my questioning. Just when they think they have the answer or know what they want to do I push it that little bit further to uncover the real reason to why they are on this Earth and get out of bed every morning. I also love challenging a client’s thoughts and strategies financially. So many people come to me to build wealth for the sake of building wealth. More times than not we actually end up reducing how much they save and increase the amount towards holidays and enjoying the now. Why put today on hold for a tomorrow that may not exist right? It’s all about balance, and challenging clients to achieve that balance is what gets me going.

6.       What’s the difference between a mortgage broker and a financial planner?

Financial Planners should have 3 main jobs:

1. Find out WHAT it is their clients want to do in their life
2. Figure out HOW MUCH that life will cost
3. Put together the best PLAN and STRATEGY to EXECUTE that life as efficiently and risk free as possible

A good Financial Planner should be product agnostic and focus on strategy first i.e. what money the client has available and where it should be directed in what portions at what time to achieve a specific outcome.

Once the strategy is completed then the products can be analysed and selected across multiple areas such as Superannuation, Insurances, Investments, Property, Lending etc. Essentially the person conducting the analysis on each of these areas is a “broker” as they are looking for the best product out of the market for the client in comparison to going to a provider who can only provide the product their company utilises, such as a bank.

A lot of the time Financial Planners will outsource the Mortgage Broking to a Mortgage Broking specialist due to the complexity and ever-changing environment which is good to have a particular person who focuses on that area solely and can get the best outcome given it is usually one of the client’s biggest allocations of money and assets. A lot of Financial planners are also getting their mortgage broking certificates to take care of that piece for their clients as well.

7.       What’s something that annoys you about our industry and how could that be changed?

One of my pet peeves is product “spruikers” or “professionals” who think everyone should buy their product regardless of that person’s circumstance. Whether it be Superannuation, Insurances, Property, Lending etc. there are pros and cons to every product out there (even Crypto currency LOL) but understanding the person in particular and then tailoring a strategy and then products specific to them is very important (ditto).

Having so called “professionals” who will sell their product to everyone and anyone regardless of their specific circumstances is a recipe for disaster. I think in a perfect world, product could only be sold on the back of strategy-based advice showing how that specific product is suitable for that particular client.

I think a lot of the issues sit around Lending and Property which, I believe, will be the next areas of the industry that will get heavily regulated and brought in line with where Advice has headed. Just like the Advice sector, the Brokers and Agents who are doing the right thing at present will be happy with that and continue to prevail while those doing the wrong thing will (hopefully) get weeded out. 

8.       What podcast/s are you listening to right now (for work and recreation)?

I am a HUGE Joe Rogan fanatic so his JRE (and other versions) of his podcast is on constantly. I also enjoy the XY Adviser podcasts, CMC Markets The Artful Trader, Mollie Grays Boss Woman Project (I’m very interested in the Female Athlete Space), Ben Pakulski’s The Muscle Expert Podcast, Outside of that I don’t have any I listen to religiously but quite a few of my Instagram pages that I follow have podcasts and when a good episode pops up I’m all over it and tend to binge for a bit (LOL).

9.     As a seasoned investor yourself, do you have a process on how and what locations or properties you pick?

No. It is all dependent on the client’s goals. For example, I have quite a few clients at present who love where they are renting and it is far more cost effective than purchasing once you take into account total mortgage costs, holding costs such as rates, insurances etc. So for them we want to get in the market near where they want to live so we can stay in line with the market. We then look to buy a place that is a good investment but also somewhere they would be happy to move into if need be.

Then I have others who are solely looking for a growth play so we have a completely different strategy for them.

And we have others who are looking at flipping so again completely different, we look for blue chip suburbs with average dwellings.

It is all different for all people, the only thing I keep consistent is not trying to time the market. We look at the purpose and then look at the best product for that purpose at present and as long as the client can afford it both now and in worse situations, we consider it.

The only thing I like to recommend with any investment is to narrow down to 3-5 options that all look good, run scenarios on all of them and then select the best one from those options according to what you like the most.

10.   What are the services you provide as a financial planner and who is the customer as per the service?

 From a big picture perspective, as outlined before our services and procedures are as follows:

1. Find out WHAT it is their clients want to do in their life:

• Outline their life timeline – present to death (usually budget to 100 years old)
• Break into working and not working periods
• Break into different levels of working and different levels of retirement
• Start detailing specific things clients want to achieve in each section of their life, travel, education, lifestyle purchases, helping family etc.

2. Figure out HOW MUCH that life will cost:

• Once the goals are detailed start costing out how much is needed to achieve and where it is going to come from and what gaps are left to be filled
• Re-adjust expectations to what is realistic given their current situation and likely capacity for the future

3. Put together the best PLAN and STRATEGY to EXECUTE that life as efficiently and risk free as possible:

• Begin with the foundations of Advice (Boring, Necessity) – Cashflow, Protection, Retirement, Transfer, Risk before we move onto the Wealth Accumulation Phase (Fun, Exciting)
• Start with cashflow structures such as budget, current income, employment growth prospects, cost cutting exercises, money allocation, money tracking software, implement money management system (client’s income gets paid to us and we distribute into areas – minimizes wastage on things they don’t value)
• Next, we move onto Protection – Asset Ownership, Insurances, Trusts etc.
• Then we look at Retirement – Generally, retirement being a dying concept these days, we look at when the client can access Superannuation and having it structured so it will take care of them from Preservation age (when they can access) until death
• Transfer of assets is then looked at – Estate Planning, Beneficiaries, Gifts, Pre – Death Transfer of Assets and Legacy funding
• Risk Tolerance – Understanding what risk levels the client is comfortable taking as well as what risk they need to take and finding the balance in between the two and ensuring their plan achieves their goals taking as little risk as possible
• Once the foundations are in place we can move onto the On-Going advice piece which is all around cash-flow and investing – Tracking where their money needs to go each year to achieve their goals such as – investments, savings, buffers, educations, debts, holidays, lifestyle purchases etc.

Our clients pay an up-front fee to become a client and at that stage we initiate the fundamentals to get them to square one. Once the fundamentals are complete, they then move to a monthly retainer where we offer a consultation / full concierge service with an open-door policy. At this point they also start working with the rest of our divisions, Tax, Lending, Business Advisory (for the business owners), Property and Legal team to start building their holistic Wealth Accumulation plan.

We see our clients for formal annual reviews and informal quarterly tracking catch-ups however due to the holistic nature of what we do we tend to touch base with them far more often, monthly for some as they are always doing something with our business to take their wealth to the next level!

Contact Ryan King:

E | [email protected]

M | 0400 110 744

P | (02) 9251 5558

W | www.announcer.com.au