Having run a successful financial advice company for more than 20 years, Christine Hornery recognises the value of continuous learning. Now, after her 18-month journey with the Macquarie VAN Build for the Future program, she has the confidence to pursue her vision for a sustainable business led by the next generation of her team.
A former accountant, Christine has always believed in the value of investing in her skills and capabilities. That’s why dedicating time to the Macquarie VAN (Virtual Adviser Network) Build for the Future program, while also pursuing her Master’s in Financial Planning, was a decision that promised a clear return on investment.
“As stewards of our clients’ money, I believe we have a responsibility to invest in ourselves to be the best we can be at FMS Group,” she says. “We can never sit back and think we are the best at what we do. We constantly have to be improving, not only ourselves as individuals, but also our business as well.”
At the time, in late 2020, she knew her peers were focused on how to work through COVID. But she was craving fresh business ideas. She saw VAN as a positive and nurturing environment – a place where she could feel inspired and supported in her vision for the business and the industry.
“I wanted to understand how other people were growing. We needed something that would rejuvenate us to be able to take on new projects. To feel that sense of excitement again, after several fairly demoralising years implementing regulatory change.”
Big picture people
Clients have always been the heart of FMS’ business model. “Our whole philosophy is designed around client engagement and experience,” explains Christine. “We take on a responsibility as the guardian of all they've been able to achieve in their lives. Sometimes that means having tough conversations, or helping them set more realistic goals, or putting them on a path that truly reflects what they can achieve.”
Based in Long Jetty on the NSW Central Coast, FMS Group has close ties with the local community and a genuine family-first philosophy – with five family members spanning three generations all working in the business.
“My vision has always been to help people live their best life, and strategically working with people to make sure that they have the wealth they need to make the choices they want.” In some cases, she admits her services extend into relationship or lifestyle coaching – “because we’re big picture people.”
She says her core client group is aged 40-plus. “Many have complex financial structures, or are pre- or post-retirees,” she explains. “And we’ve tended to grow organically over the years, investing in new skills and qualifications to support broader advice areas as our clients’ needs expanded.”
Today, the business provides mortgage lending, self-managed super funds, accountancy services, and has recently launched an estate planning arm.
Getting everyone on the same page
Christine says one benefit of the VAN program was “it gave us back our why” – it reconfirmed her client-centric philosophy was the right path. It was also an opportunity to re-think some underlying business fundamentals.
“The program gave us the tools to revisit some of our ideas and goals, look at them in a different way, and then break them down to create more manageable tasks,” she explains.
Expanding into complementary advice areas is one example: Christine launched FMS Estate Planning in 2022, soon after completing the VAN program.
VAN also introduced her to some new processes to support a positive work culture as the business continued to grow.
“It can be difficult to align a team of 16 people, but being able to share some of the experiences during the VAN program has helped us. For example, every morning we now have a 15-minute huddle to connect everyone on our individual priorities for the day and any roadblocks. We're finding client engagement is much better, because we're taking that time to communicate and share things with each other.”
Learning from the best
Christine says she could tell a lot of thought had been put into the VAN program and says, “it’s real information you can use within your business.” Beyond hearing from guest speakers and putting proven business growth frameworks to work during workshops and benchmarking exercises, she gained tangible value from sharing ideas within her close cohort.
“Sharing experiences with each other was great. We have adopted a new outsourcing partnership and new technology as a result, and both have already improved our business,” she says.
FMS Group had experimented with outsourcing in the past and been disappointed. “We were initially reluctant to try outsourcing again. But after talking with similar firms about their experience, we realised the problem could be who we’d partnered with – and that the model has now grown into something that fits us better,” she says.
Finding the right client engagement and business management platform had also been a long-standing challenge for FMS Group. Christine soon realised it was also a pain point for other firms.
“Having others share their honest opinions on what worked for them was very helpful,” she says. “Because the best solution isn’t always the most cost effective one. It's the solution that gives you more efficiency, and allows you to deliver a great client experience. We realised Fin365 had evolved since we first looked at it, and now ticked at least 75% of the boxes for what I wanted.”
Succession in action
Christine also valued the flexibility of the VAN program, which allowed her to bring FMS practice manager Lauren Hornery to the sessions.
“She’s the person in charge of the engine room, so I needed her to be able to implement and run with these ideas. Being able to share the experience with her was incredibly powerful, and now I feel like we can share the decision-making across the business.”
Now she and Lauren have a momentum that allows them to work on the business strategy as well as FMS Group’s day to day demands, they’re ready to build a sustainable advice practice that’s future ready.
“My ultimate goal is to have a waiting list, because I want to protect the quality client experience we are known for,” says Christine. “So we'll cap our clients to 500 – our accounting business has already reached that limit – and to make that work for us, we need to embed efficiency tools.”
FMS Group has always been on a journey of continual improvement, and now its strategy has come full circle.
“Investing in the VAN program has been extremely worthwhile. It is inspiring and insightful, and helped me stay accountable.”
With Macquarie Bank’s innovative, client-centric philosophy aligning so closely to her business, Christine knew the VAN program would be a good fit for her family business. And now she feels confident she can put the right foundation in place to ensure her legacy will continue.
To learn more about the VAN Build for the Future program, visit macquarie.com.au/advisers/van.
This article has been prepared by the Macquarie Virtual Adviser Network (VAN) which is provided by Macquarie Bank Limited ABN 46 008 583 542 AFSL 237502 (MBL). The provision of VAN, including the contents of this article, do not amount to a financial product or financial service nor does it involve the provision of general or personal financial product advice. The views and opinions expressed by the relevant client in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of MBL.
