Future Gen Solutions

Tell us about your role in the business and how you started.

Our firm is called Future Gen Solutions. We're actually a second-generation advice practice. We've been in business for over 35 years now. Currently, we've got 7 people here in Australia. Overseas, we've just started the journey with VA Platinum. We've got 3 remote outsourced employees at the moment.Most of our clients are pre-retirement or post-retirement. But, obviously, being in business for 35 years, you've got a whole range of clients, from family groups through to small businesses.

How did you hear about VA Platinum?

Yeah, so we actually were probably a bit late to the outsourcing party. We thought about it for a while. We tried to work through the Australian domestic staff. However, in the end, we decided we needed to actually go down the route of outsourcing. Once we made that decision, we put inquiries out to our wider advice group. We spoke to people in the BFP (Boutique Financial Planners Organization) and a number of the FAAA. VA Platinum kept coming up. So we heard about them from a whole range of areas. It just so happened that when I was at the FAAA conference in 2023, I actually sat next to Shirley, and she gave me a bit more of an introduction into VA Platinum.Still, at that point, we were slow to dip our feet in. We went and spoke to a number of other advisers who had been using VA Platinum for a number of years to really get that confidence that they were the right group for us.

How has your experience been working with the VA Platinum team?

As a long-running Australian financial planning group, we were pretty dedicated to keeping staff onshore. It's what our clients have always expected, and to be frank, running this business for at least 10 years myself, it's what I was used to. However, once we made the commitment to try outsourcing, our experience has been really positive. Onboarding with Anna and Wong, our first two employees, to be frank, has exceeded expectations.For an advice group that's considering outsourcing, the concept can be quite daunting. You're thinking about bringing in new staff members who aren't onshore and having to have the processes and systems in place to manage them and ensure they succeed.VA gave us the confidence to say, "This is what we need to prepare ahead of it. This is what can be prepared during, and also tips and tricks along the way of what we need to focus on."

How useful is the onboarding process?

VA's onboarding and training of the staff members were above and beyond what we expected. The onboarding videos that Brian prepared, explaining as a group what we need to be aware of, were enlightening. They helped us understand areas of significance that we hadn't necessarily considered from our own perspective.

Why did you decide to outsource rather than hire locally?

Financial planning as an industry is incredibly challenging. It's fast-paced. It's changed a lot in the last 10 years from where it was the 20 years prior. What we've found is that, obviously, retaining quality Australian staff has been difficult.Getting them, putting in the years and years involved in training them and upskilling them to a level where they're self-sufficient, only to then have them walk down the street for more money, has left us struggling to retain that high-quality talent. This is what led us to actually consider outsourcing.

Why did you choose to work with VA Platinum?

We actually tried the domestic staff market first. We spent a lot of time—24 months, 2 years—coming into a position to outsource. Most advisors on this call probably know the difficulties with recruiters. I think finding good quality talent post-COVID is difficult, but we actually went both routes. So we have extended our team here in Australia and Brisbane while at the same time trying outsourcing. The reason we selected VA Platinum is due to quality reviews from people we trust.When we were considering VA Platinum, one of the areas we really liked was their advice academy, where staff members would receive training to make them successful in the industry and understand some of the basic concepts. However, they are still fresh enough that we can mold them to back off the support we're looking for.

How has your remote team member helped your business?

So we are 3 months into our outsourcing journey, and it's been an interesting 3 months. Already, our outsourced teams assist in taking a lot of the review meeting preparation off our hands entirely. They've taken ownership of that task. They're completing it at a level where we don't necessarily need to check it ahead of the meetings. Going forward, we're looking for them to assist in doing more of our initial onboarding items for clients, while at the same time continuing to upskill.

What advice would you give to a business looking to hire a VA?

When we were thinking about dipping our toes into outsourcing, our initial thought was we'd start with 1 staff member to see how it was and what the experience was like. Shirley and Brian actually convinced us not to start with 1, not to start with 2. Together, they create their own bond where they can support each other in a competitive environment, which enables them to succeed. That advice is some of the best advice I'd give to anyone during this journey. If you're going to start with 1, please just start with 2 because in 3 months' time, you'll want a second.

Would you consider hiring additional VAs?

So we've actually embarked on the paraplanning journey now with VA. Initially, we started with administration support. In a week's time, we will get our first paraplanner. That was daunting given we'd had negative paraplanning experiences before in outsourcing arrangements out of India. However, VA Platinum has given us the confidence that this will be a success.

Would you recommend VA Platinum?

We actually have recommended VA Platinum to a number of colleagues, not only in our wider advice group, Boutique Financial Planners, but also to the FAAA, and a number of clients have also asked us for their own businesses. I'll recommend VA Platinum to anyone considering it. They're a great partner to outsource with.