W&F Issue 4 2018

www.wealthandfinance-news.com 16 Wealth & Finance International - Issue 4 2018 Established in 1995, 1FINPLAN boasts over 23 years of experience in the financial industry and is well-renowned across the sector for its expert independent financial advice. Operating under the South African Financial Services Board, the team is passionate about the financial industry and empowering its clients. With a professional and highly skilled team, the company’s philosophy is to take hands with its clients and through its unique independent advice processes, ultimately achieve its client’s financial goals and needs with a long-term commitment on service. Riaan starts off the interview by outlining the firm’s overall mission and what steps the team plan to take in order to achieve this. He talks about adapting accordingly to the constant developments within the finance industry, and how the team work hard to ensure that they provide the best possible service. “Basically, the team work towards providing independent financial advice to clients. Over the years, more and more independent financial advisor firms have converted into agencies, giving up their independence. We continually look at new product offerings and compare with current offerings, ensuring we have the most competitive and comprehensive solutions for our clients.” Operating within such a vital industry, it is vital that 1FINPLAN adopts a personal approach to client service. Riaan explains how the team ensures that clients receive only the best support and advice from the firm. “To ensure our clients leave satisfied, we have processes and procedures in places and continually review them. We like to get feedback from clients on their experience to see where we can improve the client experience in their journey to independent financial wellness.” Subsequently, employing the right techniques and utilising the correct methods is something that the team is working exceptionally hard on, and therefore it is important that the company employs the right people. Cultivating a thriving work environment in which staff enjoy coming to work is something that the team has worked on, and the company is now reaping the benefits of an excellent internal culture. “Here at 1FINPLAN, we are a relatively small firm in staff numbers and with that comes a family environment. Happy staff results in happy clients, we have a very low staff turnover with one of our staff members that’s been with the firm for over 12 years. Ensuring that staff enjoy regular time off work is very important to us.” With the financial industry seeing an increasing number of developments arising on a regular basis, Riaan believes the team is well placed to adapt to any concerns, as they look to embrace and potential challenges and turn them into opportunities. “One thing our firm has learned over the last 23 years is that change continually happens and even more so in the Financial Advice space. We had to adapt our process over the years and will continue to do so. Currently our industry in SA is going through huge changes especially on the regulatory side, and the team embrace change, as it is our opinion that these changes are for the good of each and every client, as we improve the level of professional advice given in SA.” One Life. One Chance. One Plan. 1FINPLAN is owned and managed by Riaan Lessing and Sean Engelbrecht, who are both highly skilled authorised independent financial advisors. We spoke to Riaan who provides us with more information about the expert services that the company offers, and what techniques they use in order to provide the best quality advice. 1804WF10 Company: 1FINPLAN Contact: Riaan Lessing Address: 68 Metropolitan Street, Irene View Estate, Highveld, Centurion, 157, South Africa Phone: 012 665 1790 Website: www.1finplan.co.za