Totara Wealth Management takes shape

Two well-known Nelson financial advisers are joining forces to create a new financial advice firm.

Friday, June 2nd 2017, 6:00AM

by Susan Edmunds

Meredith Cornelius, of Financial Strategies, and Richard Harden, of Richard Harden Investment Services, have been working together since the start of the year and will formally merge their firms on August 1.

“Richard and I have known each other since we both emigrated here, 15 or 16 years ago,” Cornelius said. “Then in the last six or seven year’s we’ve worked with the PIA.”

She said they had each started to think that it would be nice to be able to take a holiday sometimes without having to look at their phones, and wanted to find options to enable them to do that.

They had similar investment outlooks, she said, although each had specific areas of specialisation.

Harden is an expert in UK pension transfers and Cornelius offers hands-on financial planning services. Both are CFP and strongly believe in the importance of independence.

Cornelius said it seemed that things were only going to become more difficult for independent advisers, so merging was one way to help.

The new business, Totara Wealth Management, will begin operating on August 1. Harden and Cornelius have hired an experienced bank adviser to join them, and administrative staff.

Cornelius said they each would have capacity to take on new clients in the new business and would offer a solid independent option that was not aligned to any provider, for those who wanted help with managing their money.

“With the new adviser coming on it removes a bit of the load for us."

She and Harden would be able to put more focus on business development, she said.

Tags: Totara Wealth Management