photo credit: nickwheeleroz
I attended a seminar on financial planning recently which was delivered by millionaire and one of country’s top financial advisers, Thomas Matthew. The organizer is IPP Financial Advisers which I believe Thomas Matthew is one of the partners.
An engaging speaker he is indeed, able to capture attention of the audience. Most of his principles that he brought across was rather a combination of ideas from famous investors, with emphasis on Warren Buffett and George Soros.
Approach to financial planning
If I am not wrong, IPP offers a customized bundle plan for each client. The comprehensive plan would cover insurance (life, medical, etc), investment to will, based on your budget and needs.
They served as an individual advisory where they have the flexibility to offer a wide range of products from various companies they represent.
He mentioned there are four ways to be a millioaire – investment, business, internet marketing and properties. He only covered investment during the seminar.
4 investment classes that IPP plans for
He also specifically identified Blackrock, La’Selle, Barclays Global Investors and currency, to fulfil the above classes.
I was actually more impressed with their marketing strategy as it was really different from any other companies.
- Unlike Prudential or NTUC Income, they do not stop passer-bys and try to sell them products. The chance of getting a client through interruption marketing (quote Seth Godin) is pretty low and rather irritating.
I believe IPP’s agenda of conducting the seminar is to educate people on the importance of financial planning. Instead of interrupting strangers, IPP ‘prep’ the audience through education so that they will be more receptive and it becomes easier to sell to them. He mentioned that all his seminars are ought not to be charged. On top of seminars, interested parties can join the famous Cash Flow game session. This furthers build credibility and relationship with the potential clients. Moreover, people will be more interested to participate because they can gain something out of it. The best thing is, they practice permission marketing where you choose the option in the feedback form whether you want them to contact you for a financial review.
I was actually invited by my friend who is one of the prospective financial advisors with IPP. He told me it was actually one of the tasks (or tests) he has to fulfil – getting people to attend the seminar. This greatly enables IPP to reach to a much larger audience and often from more diverese groups of people. This is unlike other companies where the advisors usually only ask clients for referrals.
The image they try to build (wholesome plan) and the unique strategy (educate to entice) differentiates IPP from the other companies. It is a win-win situation – IPP gets more sales conversion while the clients do something about their finances!
He does have a book with the same title as his seminar selling at S$25.80.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey, I attended the session too! It’s really Great and a MUST attend session.
He actually turn Financial Planning into a very simple and easy to understand subject. I like the way he explain, “Hedge Funds”. Its entertaining and simple to understand.
For those who have not attend the session, please visit http://www.thomasthecoach.com
I have invited many friends and colleagues to attend and they love it!
Do find out when is the next session and register for it!
Hi all,
Check out our critique of the NTUC Get Rich Slow ad in The Straits Times:
http://www.theviperpit-blog.com/2010/02/ntuc-income-urge-singapore-to-get-rich.html
Cheers,
TVP