Craig Ball, Director & Senior Estate Planner, Succession and Estate Planners, shares why he chose estate planning, his biggest inspirations and his great love of Africa!

1. Why financial advice?

   I decided to specialise in Estate Planning because I found all of the intricacies fascinating. The dynamics of a family are always different and when you throw in the complexities of blended families, children with special needs, assets owned within different entities etc. – it’s just a convoluted web that needs to be untangled by someone.

2. Who inspires you?

   There is not one person, but a number of people in different fields always make me strive to be better:

• Sportsperson – Johnathan Thurston – the ultimate competitor. A champion on the field and an amazing ambassador off it.
• Intellectual – Christopher Hitchens – the best orator I have listened to. So knowledgeable on so many topics.
• Politician – John Howard – the champion for small business in Australia. His father was a small business owner and he understood the risks that we all take every day to run what is actually Australia’s largest employer of Australians.

3. What advice would you give to your younger self?  

   There are three things in life that can pretty much guarantee your success:

1. Education,
2. A strong work ethic, 
3. Luck.

If you only have one or two out of the three then things are going to be a lot tougher for you.

4. Your most recent ‘high-five’ moment? 

Getting the commitment from some of our state’s most noted specialists to build our new venture. The Australian Financial Advisory Network will encompass Financial Planning, Financial Counselling, Cash flow Management, Risk, Aged Care, Finance, Estate & Succession Planning, Estate Administration, & General Insurance.

5. Favourite holiday destination? 

Africa. I have been several times and, had I been introduced to this continent in my youth, I truly believe that I would have become a wildlife photographer.

6. Your big hairy audacious goal for 2019? 

FASEA is going to force an enormous amount of experienced practitioners out of this industry & we, as an industry, plus the general population cannot afford to lose that experience. Currently, the only options available for ALL advisers are 1) get a degree, or 2) get out.
My BHAG is to offer a 3^rd option. I, and a few very experienced specialists, are building a multi-faceted business that will allow those advisers, who are being forced out of the industry, to remain in the industry. They can continue to add value to their clients plus they will be able to take advantage of a range of more favourable exit options.

7. The one word you wish everyone would stop using!

Bespoke. It seems to have crept into the English vocabulary in the last decade or so and I don’t know why it annoys me, but it just does. Being a typical Seinfeld fan, I have developed an intolerance for strange things I guess.