Hogan Partners expands business

STOCKBROKING firm Hogan and Partners has appointed John Kerr (pictured) to manage its new financial planning division.

Formerly the managing director of Terrace Counsellors, which he sold to BankWest, Mr Kerr will develop the business’ new dedicated financial planning arm. Hogan and Partners employs 23 dealers in its stockbroking operations, but partners Terry Hogan and Eve Broadley see the merit in expanding into financial planning.

“Stockbroking firms are looking for the benefits of financial planning,” Mr Hogan said.

However, he said the monetary benefits come at the cost of time investment, saying that while financial planning was more lucrative than stockbroking, it required much more legwork to achieve the end result.

“You need to educate the client about the plan and the businesses. You want to protect the client and that requires informing them of what the plan is and what it will do for them,” Mr Hogan said.

“For example, retirees sometimes have difficulty understanding and they need to be walked through the process.”

Mr Kerr said the dedicated department was an independent revenue raiser for Hogan and Partners.

Mr Kerr has 15 years’ experience in financial planning and, at the time of sale to BankWest last year, Terrace Counsellors was underwriting $360 million worth of business.

Terry Hogan and Eve Broadley established Hogan and Partners in 1992.