Stephen Parr
Author, Financial Adviser, Investor, Speaker, World Traveller
Stephen is an author, investor, talented speaker and trainer and an experienced world traveler. His qualifications have included: Certified Financial PlannerCM, Authorised Financial Adviser, and Registered Professional Trustee.
Always an enterprising young man, Stephen began investing in the New Zealand share market when he was only 16, and purchased his first property at 18.
Stephen’s first career was in forestry where he trained to become a forest ranger and rural fire officer. Although his career path changed over the years – from forest ranger, to nurseryman and kiwifruit orchard developer – his focus on share market and real estate investing remained constant.
Stephen became one of New Zealand’s first financial planners shortly after his personal share broker offered him a job. In late 1987 he started his own financial advisory company, Harmer Parr & Associates Ltd. Before he sold the company over 20 years later, it had achieved national recognition, having been the first New Zealand company to achieve an ISO certification for financial planning and investment advice services. It was also a regional finalist for the inaugural Financial Services Practice of the Year Award
More recently, Stephen has focused on helping people achieve financial success through education. He founded HighPoint Academy and through this, conducts a range of seminars, courses and workshops within businesses and for the general public. Through his 20-year track record of conducting investment-related seminars, and over 100 financial educational articles published in newspapers, Stephen has assisted thousands of individuals to boost their financial knowledge.
Among his many professional affiliations, Stephen has been a member of regional and national committees, including the chairman of a professional standards and ethics committee. He is an experienced speaker and trainer, and has also organised conferences and public money shows.
Stephen has balanced his financial career with his continuing interests in personal development, forest conservation, adventure travel, community service and philanthropy.
He has traveled through over 30 countries including Sri Lanka, South Africa, the United States, India, Scandinavia and Russia. He and his wife Pamela have trekked through many of New Zealand’s classic walks as well as mountain areas in South America, Great Britain, Tibet and Nepal. Stephens’s own favorite adventure experiences have taken him tall ship sailing and to Antarctica and the North Pole.
His interest in mind development led to him becoming qualified in meditation, hypnotherapy and certified in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). With this knowledge he has led courses on self-empowerment and mind development techniques.
His forest conservation work has been instrumental in the preservation, in perpetuity, of hundreds of hectares of privately owned native forest. Stephen serves as a Justice of the Peace in his community, and is a trustee of a number of charitable trusts.
Stephen Parr is the international author of Take Charge Of Your Money Now – The No 1 DIY Financial Freedom Plan. He is currently writing other titles such as Aspiring Millionaire – A Young Persons Guide to Financial Freedom and A Parents Guide to Bringing Up Money Smart Kids – Financial Wisdom You Can Teach Your Kids and is the creator of a series of educational seminars.
He lives in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, with his wife Pamela.