Cameron Howlett
cto: bestfinancialplanners

MELBOURNE — Few advisers build their public identity as squarely around independence as Cameron Howlett, founding partner of Independent Wealth Partners. Over more than two decades in the industry, Howlett has positioned his practice around rejecting commissions and product ties — a model that has made him one of a small number of formally certified independent financial planners operating in Victoria. Here is a closer look at his career, his approach to advice and where the practice stands today.

1. Howlett has practiced as a financial planner since 2001.

According to his profile with Adviser Ratings, an industry review platform, Howlett's career in financial planning spans more than two decades. He went on to found Independent Wealth Partners, building the firm around fee-for-service advice rather than commission-based revenue from the outset. That structure means clients are charged directly for advice — both as an upfront engagement and on an ongoing basis — rather than the firm earning revenue through product commissions, a distinction Howlett has said is central to ensuring recommendations reflect a client's actual needs rather than the incentives attached to any given financial product.

2. He holds formal independence certification — one of a small number of advisers in Victoria to do so.

Howlett is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), an accredited SMSF Specialist Advisor and a Registered Tax Agent with the Tax Practitioners Board of Australia. His practice has been recognized as one of a limited number of formally independent financial planning firms in the state, a status under Australian financial services rules that requires rejecting commissions, product-provider ownership ties and other forms of conflicted remuneration. Meeting that bar typically requires a firm to demonstrate it has no financial incentive tied to specific products, a standard far fewer advisory practices choose to meet than commonly assumed. Howlett has also served on the Financial Planning Association of Australia's CFP Board Committee, the body overseeing the profession's leading certification standard, giving him a hand in shaping the requirements other planners are held to.

3. His clients often arrive after being let down by previous advisers.

Client reviews collected on Adviser Ratings describe Howlett contrasting sharply with prior advisers who failed to disclose commissions or provide clear reporting on long-term financial position. One client wrote that Howlett had "clearly demonstrated what an exceptional financial adviser he is," pointing specifically to his disclosure of all commissions received, his detailed reporting on where the client would stand financially in the future, and his review of how their superannuation was being managed — each described as a marked contrast from their previous adviser. Another client, describing being steered back on track after what they called "extremely poor financial advice" from a prior adviser they had seen for years, said they were "forever grateful" for Howlett's honesty, competence and professionalism, adding that the experience had given them confidence they were finally on the right path toward goals they had set years earlier.

4. Howlett frames his role as guiding life goals, not just managing a portfolio.

Describing his approach in his own words, Howlett has said his role is "to give advice and direction, but also to establish what it is clients want from their life" — whether that means a stable income stream in retirement, enough money to spend six months travelling every four years, or funding a child's education. From there, he has said he works with clients to coach and direct them toward those goals, rather than treating portfolio management as separate from a client's broader life plans. That philosophy shapes who Howlett works with: he specializes in clients both approaching and already in retirement, as well as those still in the wealth-accumulation phase of their careers, with a particular focus on self-managed superannuation strategy — an area of retirement savings that carries strict compliance obligations and has drawn increasing regulatory attention across the industry in recent years.

5. His work has been recognized with national industry awards and regular media commentary.

Howlett was named National Investment Adviser of the Year by Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) Magazine and has been named a finalist in the publication's SMSF Adviser of the Year and Investment Adviser of the Year categories in multiple subsequent years. He has also been profiled twice in BRW Magazine, a formerly influential Australian business publication, and writes and is quoted regularly on financial planning issues in The Age, the Australian Financial Review, The Australian and the Herald Sun. That combination of industry recognition and public commentary has helped establish Howlett as one of the more visible independent voices in Australian financial planning, at a time when scrutiny of adviser conflicts of interest — intensified in the years following the banking royal commission — has made formally certified independence an increasingly sought-after distinction among clients choosing an adviser.