Whether you’re saving for a house, starting a business, or looking ahead to retirement, money is on everyone’s mind.
Hub Australia sits down with Fox and Hare to gather insight into 21st-century financial advice and how the industry has changed.
q. What is the question you get asked most from clients?
Is this normal? I think money is probably the last taboo. People have no idea whether their financial situation is similar to everyone else’s, so I get asked a lot of ‘is it normal that I’ve got this amount of credit card debt or personal loans or this amount in savings’ because people don’t talk about it. It means Fox & Hare act as a kind of secret gateway into what everyone else is doing financially
People who aren’t clients yet and are interested in what we do ask us more about ‘what is a financial adviser?’ and ‘would I need financial advice because I don’t have any money?’ We spend a lot of time demystifying what financial advice is. It can sometimes be daunting or overwhelming, but we want to make it fun and for people to know financial advice is not just for old rich people, it’s for young people so that they engage in planning and get set up for success.
q. Is part of your business model to be accessible to the millennial market?
Absolutely. That’s what’s different about us. Our client base is very different to traditional financial advice firms – our youngest client is 23, our oldest clients are nearing 50. The average age of a financial adviser in Australia is around 55 years old, and they tend to work with people in a similar demographic to themselves. We’re not the same as the financial advisers of older times, who were likely working for an agent or a bank selling insurance. They’re more into retirement planning and superannuation, and even though we help with retirement planning, we’re more interested in helping people reach their goals.
If you want to travel every year, how do we make sure you’ve got a budget to do that? How do you buy your first house? It’s a different conversation opposed to ‘how do we boost your retirement?’, which is unsexy to our demographic. There’s a misconception that financial advisers are going to make you have a budget where you don’t get to do anything fun – that’s not our belief. It’s about balancing achieving your short and medium-term goals and planning for long-term stuff as well.
q. Do you think financial advice is something everyone could utilise?
I think financial advisers have done a rubbish job by promoting financial advice as exclusively for old rich people. I really truly believe that everyone has financial goals like getting out of debt or saving, starting a business, or buying a house. Most people just need a plan, otherwise, it’s very easy to get off-course.
I think financial advice is really relevant for anyone that has goals. A lot of what we do is behavioural coaching because this concept of Ying and Yang within relationships comes out all the time with money – people’s money behaviour is innately within them.
q. What did you learn about money growing up? What did your parents teach you about money? How do you feel about money?
Some people hate money and have a really negative connotation. Some people are enamoured with the idea that ‘I’m going to be rich and it’ll solve all my problems’. We work out how we can get people aligned because otherwise people’s money behaviours really conflict, and it can create tension.
It can be really interesting around how we help people move forward better as a couple, and that’s good when we’re working with millennials because you’re working with newer couples. When you’ve been together for 50 years and you’re undoing half a century of money habits it’s a much bigger journey.
q. Why did you choose to grow your business in a co-working space?
Sydney has a new wave of small businesses, and it’s so important to know that you don’t have to forego all the wonderful things big businesses have just because you don’t have the scale. Co-working means you’re able to band together and access the same quality for less.
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