Safe passage in a stormy financial sea
Barry O’Mahony is the founder of Veritas Wealth Management. He tells Margaret Harris that he stumbled into the financial services industry, but now, as a financial planner, he loves being able to make a difference in the lives of his clients
What do you do?
My job is to give people a sense of understanding and control over their financial affairs.
What drew you to this career?
I came to South Africa from Ireland on an Oxbridge rugby tour in 1993. I worked as a portfolio manager for five years, heading the client service department in the asset management area. I then became a marketing director of a unit trust company and this evolved into a multimanagement business. My title changed to practice management and I worked with the best financial planners in the country, and helped them to do financial planning better and run their businesses more efficiently. After five years, I decided that being directly involved with people and helping them to do better financial planning was really what I wanted to do.
What did you want to be when you were a child?
I wanted to play rugby for Munster and Ireland. I also wanted to be a rock star . . . but I was a bit tall and couldn’t sing.
I never really had an idea of what I wanted to be; I stumbled into the financial services industry. I learnt from my father that you needed to be in position by the time you were 35 years old. It was a great piece of advice, so at 35, I set up Veritas from scratch.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I love people and seem to get on with most of them. In rainy Ireland, where we have big families, we often spent many hours in conversations with older people. I am and have always been very comfortable in their company. More importantly, I love to make a difference — a small difference works for me. Financial planning is a very good fit for me.
What do you find most challenging about your job?
A lack of control. I appear very relaxed, but as I get older I realise that I do like to control things. Financial planning can then be very humbling because there are so many variables that you cannot control — markets, legislation, clients’ behaviour, service providers’ service levels, central bankers, politicians, currencies.
Like a sailor of a yacht, you cannot predict wind if you are going to do the Cape to Rio, but you can predict the currents, the prevailing winds and prepare for those. In other words, storms will come and can do damage to the boat, but the vast majority of times we will make the crossing safely.
What would you do if you could not do this job?
My wife, Lisa, is a great busi- nesswoman. I probably would have to ask her for a job. Seriously, maybe I would work for the financial-planning industry and drive the profession forward. It should be taken more seriously.
What qualifications do you have and how do they help you to do your job?
I have a BA honours in economics from University College Cork, a diploma in business administration from the University of Limerick, a diploma in social studies from Oxford and a postgraduate diploma in financial planning from the University of the Orange Free State, all of which give me the certified financial planner professional title.
Tell me more about the JDI Foundation and how it works?
JDI stands for “just do it” — in other words, make a difference — and it is an organisation we started in 1997. We have about 20 groups in Cape Town, Joburg and the UK. We raise about R1-million a year and spend R950 000. In simple terms, we act as a catalyst. We get our peers to use their time, contacts, experience and money to help nongovernmental organisations. It is a very dynamic and fluid organisation that acts rapidly to help whatever cause the groups wish to help. We are always looking for more members to set up new groups and make a difference in our community.
We describe JDI as an attitude of caring and giving and making a difference in the city and country we live in. It’s a great country and it deserves people to give back to it.
And the Vuka Rugby League?
Vuka means “awakening”. By using the attitude I learned in JDI, we have teamed up with the SA Rugby Legends, the University of Cape Town’s rugby club, the Western Province Rugby Union and the South African Rugby Union to create one of the most powerful development projects potentially in the world. Saru and the International Rugby Board are very excited about it. We have also linked up with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and The Learning Trust to develop a method of coaching coaches called CoolPlay. It uses rugby as an analogy for life and school and has become another way to teach kids some life skills in terms of self-esteem, awareness of others and developing character.
It was developed by Cool to Be Me author Lindy Bruce, and Steph Nel from the Western Province Rugby Institute. It is a world-class programme and we intend to take it into other sports.
Vuka is a rugby league of 82 schools around Cape Town that gets under-15 and under-16 sides playing every week. We have also created a pathway for the talented kids all the way up to representing their zones in what is called the Legends Cup and in Iquawe Week (at provincial level).
How do you find the time for your paid-for and volunteer work?
I take from my work time and have in the past also done volunteer work at weekends or after hours. I am trying this year to protect my family time because they deserve it and it is an important time for us as a family. They have been the ones to suffer in the past, but not any more.
Do you find any crossovers between your work and volunteering ?
I have learnt so much from the CoolPlay programme. It has been incredibly enlightening. I think it makes me a better colleague, boss, financial planner and, hopefully, husband and father. It’s humbling and has reminded me to always really listen and ask better questions before I dive in and offer any advice.