After competing head to head with his boss, Matthew Ripley was awarded the AXA WA State Value of Advice award 2010 last Wednesday night. 

Mandurah's Financial Planning firm, Merideon Wealth Strategies, who is celebrating its first anniversary this week, now has much more to celebrate. Both of Merideon's advisers were announced as finalists in the prestigious industry award which recognises the value that their advice has had on the lives and financial situation of one of their clients throughout the year.

Matthew and Principal, Mark Rattigan were two of the three finalists chosen from some of the top Financial Planning firms across WA. The three finalists were asked to present their strategies to a room of their peers last week and the winner was announced at a Gala Dinner at the Burswood Casino.

Matthew was amazed to take out the award, having only been practicing in Australia for the last 5 months since migrating from the UK with his family in January. His previous knowledge and experience gained from working in Financial Planning for global bank HSBC, combined with his Australian training and the team-based approach of Merideon helped him beat finalists with over 30 years experience in the industry.

"It is a great honour but humbling to win this award. It shows that although I am new to the country and Merideon is only a relatively new business, we can provide advice that helps make a huge difference to our clients. It's a credit to Mark and the Merideon team." Matthew said.

Matthew uses his unique knowledge and experience to work closely with UK immigrants and provide them with advice on transferring assets and pensions to Australia, structuring their finances here and helping them to understand the new system to take advantage of its benefits.

On the same day as Matthew won his award, Mark was announced in the national Top 20 for the ING AFA Rising Star Award. He will now be interviewed by the judging panel and the winner will be announced in October at the AFA National Conference.

We wish to thank all our clients, team members and peers for your support not only in these awards but over the last year of business.