The Financial Planner of the Year 2009 was announced at the Annual Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI) Convention Gala Dinner at Emperors Palace, Kempton Park.
Co-presented by the FPI and Personal Finance magazine, this year’s award went to Alec Riddle, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional. Riddle is a Financial Planner at Money Talk Lifestyle Financial Planning in Port Elizabeth.
Alec has 8 years of experience in the financial services industry, focusing on Lifestyle Financial Planning, Retirement Planning and Estate Planning and was a finalist in the 2008 Financial Planner of the Year competition. Alec completed his teaching degree, at UPE in 1984, majoring in Mathematics and subsequently completed his post graduate studies at the University of the Free State in 2005. He currently lectures the 3rd year students at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University on Estate Planning and is also doing an advanced post graduate course on Estate Planning and Risk Management, through Free State University.
Alec writes a regular column for Business Link magazine and is a regular contributor to the PE Express newspaper and is often interviewed on Radio on Financial topics. Alec also conducts numerous presentations on Financial Planning, in an effort to improve financial literacy in his region.
A former national champion in 3 sporting disciplines, in which he achieved national colours, Alec highlights a 21st position in the Comrades Marathon and victory in the SA Ultra Triathlon Championships as two of his treasured sporting performances. Alec also recently won his age group in the Half Iron Man competition. He is a renowned athletics coach and motivator, having coached 5 Olympians and believes that his coaching and motivating abilities assist him a great deal in motivating clients to achieve their Lifestyle Goals.
Alec is committed to providing clients with quality advice and understands that investing is seen by many as a complex issue. However, his aim is to cut through the complexity and help his clients achieve their Lifestyle Goals through sound Financial Planning, enabling them to Live the Life they Choose!
Jointly sponsored by the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa and the magazine Personal Finance, the adjudication process starts with the submission of a complex case study prepared by other industry professionals and marked by five independent adjudicators who mark them individually without any collaboration. This constitutes 45% of the score. This is followed by site audits of the applicants’ practices by another five judges, which carries 35% of the total marks. The final stage is face to face interviews which take place in front of a five-member panel consisting of Board, senior members of the FPI and Personal Finance.
The Financial Planner of the Year Award is the highest accolade a financial planner can obtain.
Accepting the award, Alec said it was a privilege to be chosen to be one of the FPI’s ambassador’s for the coming year. “As a fierce sporting competitor in my youth, I learnt from my Dad never to focus on my opponents strengths, or to question my own weaknesses and as a result, always believed I had equal opportunities and that success would go to the man who prepared best and believed in himself. This has worked for me on the sporting field and I think it helped me to stay focused in this competition and to believe in myself. This is a very tough competition, especially mentally and is arguably my greatest achievement as sport came fairly naturally to me. In this competition I had to apply myself like never before and there was so much to learn. I know that no successful human being has ever achieved much, without the aid of a great team and at Money Talk, we have an awesome team, who live, breathe and work at doing their very best for our clients and the profession. We are also privileged to be guided by the FPI, who also strive for the best for the profession. I feel so blessed to be able to do what I enjoy and to be able to make a difference in people’s lives.”
As the national winner, Alec will be profiled in Personal Finance, as well as other media; he gets the FPI Financial Planner of the Year Award trophy; he will be featured as an ambassador for the FPI over the next year giving regional talks and presentations; and receives a trip to an international Financial Planning conference of choice as well as attendance at the next FPI Annual Convention.
Click on image to enlarge: Pictured above:
Godfrey Nti (FPI Acting CEO), Gerhardt Meyer (FPI Chairperson), Spalding Fourie (finalist), Mike Sacks (finalist), Alec Riddle (winner), Reg Thomson (finalist) and Laura du Preez (Personal Finance).
The FPI also acknowledges the other finalists for the Financial Planner of the Year Award 2009:
Spalding Fourie, an investment strategist and Certified Financial Planner® professional with 12 years’ experience, was appointed by First National Bank to head up the newly established Investment Product House in June 2005, a specialist fee based investment planning unit. Prior to joining IPH Investment Advice Services, Spalding was employed at Sanlam for 8 years in several capacities including development manager (responsible for the recruitment and training of financial advisors) and independent financial advisor. After completing a Bachelor of Commerce at Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, Spalding did his honours and masters in industrial psychology at the University of Pretoria. Prior to joining Sanlam, he held various human resources positions, including that of training manager, before launching out on his own with a training consultancy assisting companies to train, select and evaluate managers as well as negotiate with labour unions. Spalding is married to Frieda for 29 years, and has 2 children, Marcus and Jessie.
Reg Thomson obtained his LLB at the University of Witwatersrand in 1985 and practiced as an Advocate at the Johannesburg Bar until 1990. Having completed the Institute of Life and Pension Advisors examination in 1991 he joined Old Mutual as a legal advisor. In 1994 he moved to Investec Bank where he held the position of National Sales Manager. Reg has also been an examiner for the Institute of Life and Pension Advisors examination. In November 1998 he completed his Master of Law degree in taxation at the University of Witwatersrand. Reg also completed his Masters Degree in Philosophy in 2006. Reg has been a partner of the Bauer & Thomson Investment Group since 1999 and the business now trades as Roberts, Delport & Thomson Wealth Management with offices in Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg. When he is not advising clients, Thomson enjoys going to the gym, running, travelling and spending time in the bush, bird watching and reads constantly. Thomson is married to Teresa and has 2 children, Kirstie, aged 20, and Matthew, aged 18.
Mike Sacks started his business MJ Sacks & Associates in 1989. Over the last 20 years he has developed a team of highly motivated staff. His focus is Lifestyle Financial Planning to high net worth individuals and he has transformed to a fee based practice with funds under management. Mike differentiates himself in that his clients are his main source of referrals as they experience a high level of service and dedication which develops strong relationships. As a result of his business model, he is able to spend quality time with his clients. Mike completed the Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning through the University of the Free State and is a CFP professional member of the FPI. He is married to Michelle and has three sons Jonty, Jordan and Jayden and enjoys cycling, golf, fly fishing.
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