Blue Chip Journal - June 2019 edition

TRANSFORMATION
No, no, and no
Advocating a new mindset for financial advisors
By divine decree none of us
know where our careers will
eventually lead us. I started my
career back in 1982 as a qualified
analytical chemist with Warner Lambert
Pharmaceuticals (WL), only to change
my profession six years later to become
a business planner at WL. Ironically, my
nickname at WL in the 1980s was Mojaff.
My affinity for financial planning started in
1995/96 when I was contracted to the first
LISP company, TMA, and “sold” my first unit
trust investment to a former colleague
at WL. I learned my first very expensive
lesson as secretary of an investment club
at WL in 1998: never try to time the market.
Fortunately, it was with my own money.
After two lucky strikes I got it horribly
wrong the third time.
At the time I also obtained my BCompt
degree from UNISA and I acquired the
proficiency of being circumspect, especially
with “broker-the-salesman” characters who
had a reputation for selling products that
clearly were not in the clients’ interests.
Soon after I left the corporate world in
1999 I had a nauseating encounter with one
such salesman. His sole aim was to make a
quick sale and score big on commission,
but I could see through his pitch and
unceremoniously disarmed him. That was
my second important lesson.
Also in 1999, some friends and I invested
in a paint manufacturing business. Disaster
struck when our factory went up in flames
in 2000. Our insurers declined our claim and
I faced another radical readjustment, from
a senior position at WL to a jobless and
penniless state three years later.
After finally closing down the businesses
in June 2003 I carefully considered my
options. After one job interview, I decided
that working for a boss is not for me. A friend
who helped me at the time asked why not
start my own business?
It was a light bulb moment, almost as
though the chemistry at WL and the paint
factory had prepared me for this – my own
business in financial planning! Another
friend of mine assisted me to enter the
industry and set up shop as financial
planner from my own home.
My vision was to add value to clients’
lives, and not to pursue personal interests
above that of my clients. It was particularly
challenging getting the required training
in an environment where the average
financial advisor had already been in the
profession for over 20 years. Everyone
seemed to complain about the FAIS act,
although I was of the view that it was an
overdue and effective measure to contain
the broker-the-salesman persuasion.
I recall a case where a broker advised
a client to cash in his provident fund and
invest it into an equity fund offered by
his company. This clearly served his own
interests while his client would have to
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