Count Financial has announced that three new firms have joined its national network of advice businesses. Sydney-based advice firms Plan Protect and YS Financial Planning join Financial Stability from Melbourne as the three newest firms in the CountPlus-owned licensee.
Plan Protect is now the third firm to join Count Financial from Godfrey Pembroke, following the announcements of Ascent Private Wealth and Venture Financial Advisers in late 2020. Janne Ashton has been the Principal of Plan Protect since its inception in 2004, and the business has a strong reputation for providing strategic advice, often very technical in nature, to a key group of clients.
Plan Protect is very much a family business, with Janne’s son Byron Pritchard working in the practice, where he focuses on formulating advice strategies while completing his Professional Year through Count Financial’s dedicated program.
Speaking about their reasons for choosing to partner with Count Financial, Ms Ashton said the process commenced with as many as ten different licensees shortlisted.
“Changing licensees is a significant decision for any business, so we started with an open mind and spoke to a number of options in the market. In the end, you hear a lot of similar rhetoric, but after speaking with the Count team it was clear they are a full-service licensee committed to helping us offer the best service to our clients. The other important factors in our decision were Count’s investment in technology, which will help us to deliver advice documents more efficiently, as well as the succession opportunities on offer.”
Andrew Kennedy, Chief Advice Officer at Count Financial, said the appointment of Plan Protect was a huge coup for the licensee which continues to target quality advice firms to join its network.
“Janne and the team at Plan Protect have a reputation for delivering exceptional client outcomes so we’re extremely happy to have them coming on board. I know one of their key reasons for joining us was the succession opportunities we can provide, and we will work closely with them so that can eventuate in the years to come.”
The other firms that have recently joined Count Financial, Financial Stability and YS Financial Planning, were previously part of the IOOF network. Financial Stability is led by Sonia Turkovic, who has over 30 years’ experience in financial planning, and has featured strongly on radio and in print articles across Melbourne media during her career.
YS Financial Planning is headed up by Yasu Kuramochi, who moved to Australia from Japan in 2003, and studied at Griffith University. In 2015 he established his own firm which delivers holistic advice to clients.
“Sonia and Yasu are quality advisers that bring experience and expertise to our network and they will be a great cultural fit for the Count Financial community,” Kennedy added.