There has been a concerted effort by the Conference committee to have all Speakers, Business sessions, Keynotes and Sponsors in place very early in 2005 and upon looking at our next meetings agenda this has well and truly been achieved.

The industry debate – “Should Harry Markowitz have followed in his fathers footsteps and been a Greengrocer; Is Modern Portfolio Theory dead?” scheduled for day two of conference is creating much interest amongst attendees with a topic that is sure to challenge many of us.

Leading from the affirmative view point is Team Leader Tim Farrelly, Principal of Farrellys and chairperson of the Inquisitor Program at the Portfolio Construction Forum in Sydney, Australia.

His team is made up of Gordon Noble-Campbell, General Manager, Wealth Management for AXA NZ and well known public speaker and Norman Stacey, Director of Research with Diversified Investment Strategies Ltd where his primary role is formulating leading investment strategies for use by investment advisers.

Challenging from the negative team is Donal Curtin, Managing Director of Economics New Zealand Ltd and one of New Zealand’s best known business economists. He is ably joined by Richard Holden, Financial Planner of some 26 years experience in the financial services industry and a top three finalist in the 2004 NZ Certified Financial Planner of Year. And Simon Hassan, a financial planner with 15 years experience and also a member of the FPIA Board.

When you read in Norman Stacey’s bio that his hobbies are “Financial markets, economics, geology, being sometimes slow to learn and an absolute refusal to grow up”, you might just gain an insight just how entertaining this debate will be. We encourage you all to attend.

John Anderson one of our keynote speakers has featured in a number of publications and Television programmes over the past few days, celebrating the anniversary of just one of his success stories and past businesses Contiki Holidays. By all accounts he has created a worldwide fan club, and has a story to tell how the development of a simple idea became an international success story.

At time of writing only 10 weeks to go until Christchurch lights up and welcomes you to Success Forum 2005.

And again thanks to our sponsors. Their generous support is as always much appreciated.

Major Sponsors
Tower
Telecom

Sponsors
AIA, AMP Financial Services, Asteron, AXA New Zealand, BT Funds Management, Discovery Portfolio Services, The Equitable Group, Fidelity Life, Guardian Trust, ING (NZ) Ltd, Lombard, Macquarie New Zealand, Morningstar, Perpetual Investments, Provincial Finance Ltd, Rapid Ratings, Russell Investment Group, Strategic Finance, University of Waikato