Hobart · Tasmania · Est. 1999

Advice that serves
one outcome: yours.

For 25 years, NJBFS has helped Hobart families and business owners build financial futures grounded in their own circumstances — not in product menus or institutional quotas.

25 Years in practice
35+ Years combined experience
0 Product commissions
AFSL Licensed & regulated

Why independence matters

Independence is not a marketing claim. It is a structural fact.

Bank-aligned advice has brought financial planning to millions of Australians. That scale requires standardisation — and standardisation means product menus, volume incentives, and advice shaped by what an institution needs to distribute.

We have never operated with a product quota. Every recommendation we make is ours to own. Our income comes from the value we provide to clients, not from the products we facilitate.

That distinction is not subtle. Over a planning horizon of 20 or 30 years, it compounds.

Talk to us about your situation
"Bank-aligned advisers are excellent at product distribution — that is precisely what they are built for. We are built for one thing: your financial outcome."

NJBFS is an Authorised Representative of Akumin Financial Planning (AFSL 232706 · ABN 89 051 208 327). We operate as an independently run practice: our recommendations are not influenced by ownership structures, revenue-sharing arrangements, or product provider relationships.

When you ask us for advice, you receive our best professional judgement — not the output of a compliance-approved product list.

Our philosophy

Three principles that guide every client relationship.

Every practice claims to put clients first. These are the specific commitments that make that claim structural rather than aspirational.

Experience

Decades of practice in personal financial planning and institutional investment management. Experience does not eliminate uncertainty — but it teaches you which uncertainties matter, which can be managed, and which require patience rather than action.

Personal

Your circumstances have never fit a template. Age, income, family structure, risk appetite, goals, and tax position all interact in ways that make standardised advice actively harmful. We start with your situation and build from there — every time, for every client.

Alignment

No product commissions. No volume bonuses. No referral arrangements with providers. When your interests and ours point in different directions, something is structurally wrong with the relationship — not just the advice. We are built so they never point in different directions.

What we do

Comprehensive financial planning across every stage of life.

From accumulation to distribution, from business ownership to succession, we advise across the full range of personal and business financial planning needs.

Retirement Planning

Structuring assets, income streams, and drawdown strategies to fund the retirement you intend — without outliving your capital or paying unnecessary tax along the way.

Superannuation Advice

Contribution strategies, fund selection, SMSF governance, and transition-to-retirement planning aligned with your broader financial position and timeline.

Investment Portfolio Management

Multi-asset class portfolio construction with institutional-grade rigour applied to individual circumstances. Strategic allocation reviewed against your goals, not a market index.

Risk & Life Insurance

Evaluating the right level of personal protection — life, disability, income protection, trauma — without the product bias that distorts so much insurance advice in Australia.

Estate & Succession Planning

Ensuring your assets reach who you intend, in the form you intend, with the tax and structural efficiency that uncoordinated planning typically leaves on the table.

Business Financial Planning

Personal financial planning for business owners: separating business and personal assets, structuring remuneration, and planning for a future sale or succession event.

Investment philosophy

Institutional-grade thinking applied to individual circumstances.

The same rigour applied to university endowment portfolios and institutional mandates — adapted for the planning horizons and tax positions of individual investors in Hobart.

35+
Years combined experience in public & private markets
Multi-
asset
Portfolio construction across all major asset classes
  • Dampen volatility — portfolio construction that reduces the impact of short-term market dislocations on your long-term plan.
  • Reduce sequencing risk — particularly important for clients approaching or in retirement, where early negative returns cause disproportionate damage to a portfolio's longevity.
  • Build inflation protection — real assets and diversified return drivers that hold purchasing power over 20 and 30-year planning horizons.
  • Rigorous manager selection — fund manager evaluation that goes beyond headline performance to cost, consistency, and structural alignment with your risk profile.
  • Intergenerational coordination — portfolio structure and estate planning coordinated so wealth moves to the next generation as intended.

The team

The people behind the advice.

A small, senior team — no layer of junior advisers between you and the decision-makers.

Nigel Barling
Managing Director & Financial Adviser

Founder and principal adviser with 25 years of independent practice. Built NJBFS entirely through client referrals and professional recommendations — a practice record built on results rather than marketing.

Dermot Crean
Chief Investment Officer

Institutional investment management background, including portfolio leadership for an Australian university endowment. Brings disciplined, evidence-based portfolio construction to individual client circumstances.

Chelsea Barling
Chief Operating Officer

Ensures client service delivery runs with the precision and consistency that long-term advisory relationships require. Manages client onboarding, compliance, and the operational integrity of the practice.

Andrew Capili
Senior Administrator

Client administration and portfolio reporting. Andrew ensures that the operational detail — statements, transactions, documentation — is accurate and available when clients need it.

The first conversation costs nothing.

Every client relationship begins with a straightforward conversation about where you are and where you want to be. We will tell you honestly whether we can help — and if we can, what that would look like.

Call (03) 6223 2444
Office
9 St John's Avenue
New Town TAS 7008
Post
GPO Box 233
Hobart TAS 7001