On her own but with a strong voice

Nicole Heales does things her way and it is no surprise that she is decisive and definite about who she partners with and why.

Nicole Heales runs her own financial advice practice in the inner Melbourne suburb of Balaclava. Selecting the handful of service providers that support her business is a decision she does not take lightly or without good reason.

In 2005 when she entered the financial services industry, Heales wanted to provide a service she herself was unable to find when seeking financial advice.

“I couldn’t find an approachable, professional adviser who spoke to me in a language I understood, so I studied and became the adviser I was looking for.”

Armed with a Master of Commerce (Financial Planning), Heales established her business in and is now an authorised representative of Capstone Financial Planning. She is a sole practitioner in her business and outsources its administration, paraplanning and social media.

It was the Financial Services Royal Commission from 2017 to 2019 that was the trigger for Heales to move away from anything bank-owned and to find another platform provider.

“I felt disgusted by what came out of the Royal Commission.  I wanted to move out of the bank-owned model, and I did that as soon as I could.”

Business of her dreams

Heales business services approximately 120 clients, not everyone is an ongoing service client.  She will be moving towards ethical portfolios, once her research house Lonsec come up with an appropriate solution.

Most of Heales clients are accumulation and growth risk profile – singles, couples and young families – with product selection being the very last part of the advice process.  She focusses on understanding her client’s needs and goals, building a connection with her clients that enables her to offer a tailored and bespoke service.

In terms of investment products, Heales favours listed portfolios over managed funds because of their lower fees and offers her clients direct share trading and ETFs via separately managed accounts.  Effectively outsourcing her investment management.

While Heales did an education course to be able to offer ETFs, she does not get involved with the strategic asset allocation, preferring to focus on strategies and client relationships.

“I am a financial adviser and a mortgage broker, I work through everything from attitude towards money, cashflow, mortgages, superannuation, investments, insurance and estate planning. I am not an investment professional; it’s not my area of expertise, I don’t have the time and I don’t want the risk.”

Choosing and moving

While Heales was also keen to move to managed portfolios as part of her change in platform providers, it was another thing to consider in a transition she had to manage for herself.

While reviewing other platforms, HUB24 stood out for a few reasons. “It looked clean, modern and it had good pricing. It can also be accessed on your phone.”

It highlighted to her that she was looking for a platform and managed portfolio provider that would partner with her, listen and support her.

HUB24 managed the pricing analysis and helped onboard clients.

Over the course of several months, Heales transferred her ongoing service accumulation clients to HUB24 while keeping her older pension clients with a simpler structure.

“HUB24 was helpful with plenty of opportunities to be trained up. They listened to my feedback and took on board what I was saying.”

Ultimately, Heales decision to go with HUB24 was a recognition and respect for her business model and what she was trying to do.

“I run a lean and efficient business; I have no intention on putting on another adviser.  I need to make sure there are business efficiencies with all the providers I use”.

Managed portfolios a platform essential

Heales started using managed portfolios with 90% of her clients as soon as she made the transition to HUB24, utilising Lonsec’s Listed Portfolios.

With ethical investing is a focus point of her value proposition, Heales is waiting for a researched ethical portfolio and ethical separately managed account to become available.

Do managed portfolios help her meet Best Interest Duty? “Yes, I think so. You are outsourcing to professionals, getting good products and trades done for all your clients at the same time”.