McGrath Foundation’s Pink Stumps Day

Last week the Crest team hit the nets for a couple of games of indoor cricket to show our support towards the McGrath Foundation’s Pink Stumps Day. The team showed their support by rocking a variety of pink outfits as they sweated it out in 2 high stakes games of indoor cricket.

The day was filled with excitement, camaraderie, and good old-fashioned cricketing fun. Our team came together to support a great cause, and the results were nothing short of spectacular. We are thrilled to announce that we’ve raised an impressive $1,914 for the Glenn McGrath Foundation, securing our spot at number 7 on the national leaderboard as things stand.

The Glenn McGrath Foundation has been doing incredible work in breast cancer support and research, and our firm is immensely proud to contribute to their mission. Our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who participated, donated, and helped make this event a success.

As we continue to strive for excellence in financial advice, we also remain committed to making a difference beyond the balance sheets. We look forward to future opportunities to support causes that matter and to serve our community in more ways than one.

2022 Special Children’s Christmas Party

Once again, Crest was proud to sponsor the 2022 Special Children’s Christmas Party held on Wednesday the 7th of December at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre. Each year, this special event assists thousands of children to experience something we all take for granted – a break from the stresses and strains of everyday life, unconditional acceptance and a chance to experience the joy of Christmas like all children should. Jordan, Mitchell, and Thomas represented Crest at the event and participated in the festivities.

The party allowed the children to enjoy the magic of Christmas with lots of fun activities, including face painting, craft, ice creams, and a band. The highlight of the evening was a special visit from Mr. and Mrs. Claus, who took time out of their busy schedule to visit the children.

Every child received their own gift to take home at the end of the party. Jordan, Mitchell, and Thomas were fortunate enough to hand a number of these gifts out to the children and see lots of smiles appear on their little faces.

Crest is proud to sponsor local charities, such as the Special Children’s Christmas Party, and we look forward to continuing our support in the future.

Advice Live 2022

Earlier this month, a number of our staff made the trip up to Queensland to attend the AMP Advice Live Conference. The two-day conference was held at the Gold Coast Exhibition Centre and allowed our team at Crest to interact and network with AMP representatives, product providers and other financial service providers, from all around the country.

Over the two days, our team were able to listen to presentations from a broad variety of speakers ranging from the CEO of AMP, Alexis George to the 2022 Australian of the year, Dylan Alcott. They were also able to attend several workshops based on areas such as cyber security, software training and ethical investing. This presented our staff with the opportunity to collaborate with other industry professionals to engage in discussions regarding how we can improve our business and enhance the overall client experience that we offer.

Overall, the team had a great experience and benefitted a lot from gaining insights and ideas from their industry peers and look forward to applying this knowledge in a practical sense at Crest.

Professional Development Days

At Crest, we pride ourselves on keeping up with the ever changing financial services industry in order to provide the best service to our valued clients. Recently members of our paraplanning and administration teams were able to partake in professional development days to grow their skill sets in order to assist in providing quality service.

On the 3rd of May, the administration team attended the “Admin Essentials Day” held at Rydges in Newcastle. Here they discussed changes to legislation and compliance, cyber security and new office administration processes. The event featured a number of guest speakers including Danielle Nichol, Clint Musgrave and Sarah Gillies.

Similarly, on the 18th of May, 3 members of our paraplanning team, Jake, Tegan and Jessica, travelled down to the AMP head office in Circular Quay to attend the “Paraplanning Development Day.” Here they spent time learning about new advice document processes, compliance and software development. This was then followed by a Q&A hosted by the manager of the AMP Advice Service Desk; Bec, and AMP Legislative Support Team; Yannick.

Reports from the attendees were overwhelmingly positive and following the events, a lot of useful hints and tips have been passed around the office.

Australia Day 2018

‘I conquered Kozzie on Aussie Day’

To celebrate Australia Day, Thredbo has a weekend of iconic Australian celebrations headlined by the annual ‘I conquered Kozzie on Aussie Day’ walk to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko (the top of Australia) and enjoy Australia’s highest Australia Day BBQ.

Mount Kosciuszko is Australia’s highest mountain, at 2,228 metres above sea level.  It is located on the main range of the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park, part of the Australian Alps National Parks in New South Wales.

This year saw Richard and his friend Kira embarking on the 13km hike (5 hour round trip) which started at Eagles Nest (top of the Kosciuszko Express Chairlift in Thredbo).

With the fresh, crisp air in their lungs they meandered along the rocky trail enjoying the scenery and passing wild flowers in bloom above the snowline.  At Rawson Pass (just below the summit) they enjoyed a well earned BBQ lunch followed by hiking the remaining 1.6km to reach the summit of Mt Kosciuszko and absorbing the 360 views of the wild Kosciuszko National Park before making the journey back to Thredbo village.

Well done Richard and Kira!

Ready. Aim. Fire.

Australia Day also saw Suzie and her partner Simon enjoy the great opportunity of firing the guns at Fort Scratchley.

Fort Scratchley was built in 1882 to defend Newcastle against a possible Russian attack. However, its guns were not fired in anger until 8th June 1942, during the shelling of Newcastle by a Japanese submarine.  The Australian Army vacated the Fort in 1972.

This thrilling opportunity to fire the guns was offered to Simon in gratitude for his recent assistance to the Historical Society.  Simon was invited to fire the 6 inch Mk VII No 1 gun at the 11am firing, followed by the opportunity to fire the 25lb Field Gun.  Suzie was then also invited to fire the 25lb Field Gun.

The Fort has two British made 6 inch Mk VII guns installed as the main armament.  These guns were installed in 1911.

The two Mk VII guns were the only coastal artillery to engage an enemy during any period of Australia’s WW2 history.  Nowadays, the guns are only fired at ceremonial events and as a salute to departing cruise ships from Newcastle Harbour.

The British Ordnance 25lb Filed Gun came into service in 1940 and remained the British army’s primary artillery field piece well into the 1960’s.

Both Simon and Suzie were delighted with the experience that only a select few can boast about.

AMP Advice summit 2018

Recently a number of Crest Financial Services’ staff members attended AMP’s Advice Summit for 2018 at the Sydney International Convention Centre, to listen to a variety of speakers and their inspiration for personal development, leadership enhancements and practical skills.

  Over the course of three days, advisers Paul Howden, Rhys Higgins, Patrick Hancock, and Andrew Thomas; advice consultant Kerry Howden; and paraplanners Jessica Deamer, Tegan Delmoro, Jake Muras, Mitchell Brown, and Richard Ryan all attended growth and focus sessions and a number of plenaries aimed at providing stimulus for business growth. Some of the world-class plenary speakers at the event included CEO and Managing Director of the Qantas group, Alan Joyce; ex-AFL player, Adam Goodes; and CEO and founding partner of United Capital, Joe Duran. Other speakers at the event included founder and Creative Director at Glasshouse Candles, Nicole Eckels; and founder of Boost Juice Bars, Janine Allis. TFC Financial in Toowoomba was also named Charter Financial Planning’s National Practice of the Year award winner at the event.  While Crest Financial Services missed out on the award, we are pleased to see Chris Manthey and his team recognized for their work. Crest Financial Services was a finalist for the national award after receiving the NSW/ACT Practice of the Year award for 2017. Conferences such as the Advice Summit are great for our team at Crest Financial Services as it provides inspiration for even more ways we can provide excellent financial planning advice to our clients.

Crest Sponsorship of the Special Children’s Christmas Party 2017

Here at Crest, we believe everyone should have an enjoyable time with their loved ones at Christmas. This year, we are proudly sponsoring the Special Children’s Christmas Party for 2017 at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in Broadmeadow. This event supports the Make-a-Wish Foundation, a non-profit organisation who grants ‘wishes’ to ill children.

We recently received a Certificate of Merit from the organisers of the party, to thank us for our support.

Held this year on the 6th of December, the event is held for children with a disability or a chronic illness and their families with the aim of providing a valuable social and networking experience in a fun and safe environment.

Food, drinks, rides, face painting and displays are provided, as well as a stage show with a full program of entertainers. This includes cast members from Neighbours, The Wiggles, as well as magicians, jugglers, fire breathers, dancers and singers.

Santa Claus will also make an appearance at the event – having a photo taken with each child and giving them a small treat. In the Toy Room, each child is given gifts appropriate to their abilities, age and gender.

Almost 30,000 children with special needs and their families attend these parties every year across Australia and New Zealand, and at Crest we are grateful to be able to support and help bring a smile to every child’s face.

Melbourne Advice Summit

Crest has a strong commitment to the ongoing training and development of our financial planners and staff. Recently 6 of our team attended the annual AMP Advice Summit held at the Melbourne Convention Centre. The summit offered a great forum to mix with other experts and peers from around the country.

This year, the 3 day conference was attended by over 2,200 delegates from around Australia. The Summit was again expertly hosted by comedian and mathematician Adam Spencer with guest speakers including Carl Richards (New York Times Columnist), Daniel Pink (author), Naomi Simson (founder of RedBalloon), Mike Walsh (Futurist) and Anh Do (comedian). The program was a great combination of peer to peer learning, workshops and industry specialist speakers which covered various aspects crucial to the financial planning profession. As always, the Summit culminated with a Gala Dinner and awards ceremony. It was great to see Andrew Thomas, awarded the Australian ‘New Adviser of the Year’ (after previously winning the NSW state award). The team was pleased to see Crest Financial Services again recognised for their ongoing commitment to clients, the profession, and the Charter network by being named a ‘Leader Practice’ for 2017. It was an enjoyable night that recognised the positive impact that advisers make in the lives of their clients and celebrated the high professional standards required to deliver this advice. The team look forward to attending the 2018 Summit to be held in Sydney.

Variety Special Children’s Christmas Party

Once again, Crest was proud to sponsor the 2016 Variety Special Children’s Christmas Party, recently held at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre. Patrick, Andrew & Ruby were fortunate enough to represent Crest at the event and join in the festivities.

Since its inception, the Party has offered children a gift like no other: the opportunity to experience unconditional acceptance in a safe, friendly and understanding environment whilst enjoying the magic of Christmas with their families.

Santa made a special appearance, as did some local Newcastle icons such as Super Hubert, which definitely put a smile on some little faces.

The children enjoyed cakes, ice creams, lollies, balloons and face painting, along with a every child receiving a gift to take home at the end of the day.

Crest are proud to sponsor local charities, such as the Variety Special Children’s Christmas party, and we look forward to continuing our support in the future.

Crest’s Commitment to Continuing Education

A number of representatives from the Crest team recently attended the AMP Professional Development day, held at McDonald Jones Stadium.

The AMP PD team designs such sessions to provide financial advisers and para-planners with the most up to date information, as well as insight into legislation changes, compliance requirements and general information relating to financial advice.

The PD day also provides an opportunity for members of the Crest team to come together with their local peers and share insight from industry leaders.