Advice veteran's exit creates $1bn Tassie wealth group

Mancell Financial Group (MFG) founder Peter Mancell has retired as a financial adviser after 46 years, selling the business he built to pave the way for a $1 billion wealth management firm in Tasmania.

Mancell officially stepped away as an adviser and business owner on June 30.

MFG has been acquired by Wealth Financial, also based in North-West Tasmania, in a deal that brings together two longstanding local practices with aligned philosophies and client-first values.

The merged business will oversee about $1 billion in funds under advice, operate from three Tasmanian offices and a satellite office Canberra, and employ 14 advisers and 40 staff.

The combined entity will be led by Michael Rowlands, who has been a partner at Wealth Financial since 2019, and serve close to 2000 families. Mancell will remain involved through a position on the advisory board.

In 1980, Mancell established MFG but became "frustrated with the training focus on selling products", he told Financial Standard in 2023, adding years later he set off to shed institutional influence and charter his own course.

"Today, the firm still has my very first client, and our single biggest client has been with us since 1981," he said. "The community is richer for the advice we've provided over a very long time."

When it came to hanging up his boots, Mancell trusted MFG will go from strength to strength.

"I was always passionate about not selling to an institution or a private equity firm," he says about selling to Wealth Financial, which approached Mancell asking if he was ready to sell.

"We'd made some previous attempts that didn't come to fruition through intergenerational transition plans, so when this opportunity came up, we virtually found satisfactory terms on day one, which was great," he said. The two groups' investment and clients-first beliefs aligned.

"Both firms operate free from conflicts of interest. The new combined firm, with its three offices, will definitely have some synergies that Michael Rowlands can take forward," Mancell said.

Factor-based investing, which has been a central proponent to MFG's investment philosophy, will also continue under the new ownership. Mancell said this was "absolutely central to our discussions."

In 2023, Mancell distilled this investment philosophy in the book, Your investment philosophy: A guide to managing wealth and protecting it from fraudsters, marketers & doom merchants, which he co-wrote with communications specialist Daniel Crowe.

Looking ahead, Mancell plans to devote more time to family, travel, golf and writing projects, including documenting both his family history and his decades-long career in financial advice.

"I think we did well because we did good for others. That's incredibly satisfying," he said.

"I'm looking forward to more adventures. Not so much rest, but plenty of adventures."