UNSW alumnus Anthony Jury used his postgraduate degree to move from teaching to financial planning for high net worth individuals.
Anthony Jury graduated from UNSW with a Bachelor of Arts and followed it up with a UNSW Diploma in Education the next year. He landed a job working at TAFE but always knew he wanted a higher degree.
“I had such a positive experience during my undergraduate days at UNSW that the decision to go back for postgraduate study was quite easy,” he says.
Anthony chose the Master of Commerce (MCom) for its range of management and legal subjects, and the calibre of students.
“One subject I chose was company law as it was interesting and competitive. The subject has a high standard. I wanted to see how I compared against everyone,” he says.
Anthony says although he had support from his family, working and studying was hard.
“I was systematic in my study, and I picked interesting subjects. The program coordinators were really, really helpful, they made sure I was doing the right subjects within that degree.”
As one of the first of his family to gain a tertiary qualification, he found the challenge was ultimately worth the effort – the degree spoke for itself.
When I went into an interview with NAB, for a financial planning position, they looked at my degree and the institution, they looked at my transcript, and I really didn’t have to say too much more.
Anthony Jury
UNSW Masters Of Commerce (2019)
“Once you’ve got that piece of paper it says a lot about you, in the business world anyway.”
At NAB Anthony was able to work with judges, and actors that one may recognise from movies such as Lord of the Rings. He says meeting interesting people and helping them is something he likes best about his work and the legal and intellectual nature of the process is always challenging.
Anthony also managed AMP’s second largest financial planning business, advising billionaire clientele and senior executives from global media and tech corporations. He was able to rise to the challenge of high-stakes advice for high-profile clients by falling back on his Master’s degree.
“What did I learn, what did the books tell me, what did other leaders do to progress through these stages? Being able to look back on that, and rely on it, was a significant resource for me,” he says.
Anthony now runs his own financial planning business and draws upon the critical thinking skills gained from his studies to maintain an innovative approach to the process and design of his services. In keeping with the innovation concept intrinsic to the UNSW culture, Anthony is FASEA exam-compliant, completing this in 2020.