The term privileged is often thrown around. However, with James’s impact on our business and the lives of the clients he diligently looks after, we are truly privileged to have him as a member of the GFM team.

James is an outstanding Financial Adviser, one of the very best in the industry, due to his all-around skills and ability to convey to his clients what they need to do.

Anyone who knows James would know you will not meet a more selfless person. James always puts the organisational needs of our business and his clients before himself and does it without hesitation. These qualities are easily identified when dealing with James, making him a very popular member of the GFM team and incredibly well-liked by the clients he advises.

Clients dealing with James will attest that he is reliable, a voice of reason, assured and always very well thought out with his advice. Clients trust what he is saying because of his steady hand and authenticity.

James overlays his wonderful personality traits with an exceptional level of technical skill. You will not find a Financial Adviser with a more rounded technical knowledge. James complements this knowledge with a deep understanding of investment markets and economic trends.

GFM is blessed to have a staff member of the quality and calibre of James.

Sometimes in life, you get a lucky break, a really lucky break. My fortune started almost 22 years ago when I landed a job at GFM Wealth, and my journey in the finance industry began. I’ll always be grateful for the opportunity that the founder of the business, Tony Gilham, gave me at the time.

My interest in finance goes back many years. I’ve always been a keen investor and diligently invested my savings since my early high school days. After deciding to study economics and finance at Monash University, working in finance was something I wanted to make a career in, and I was very keen to get into immediately. However, the start of that career was unfortunately delayed. I graduated from university right in the middle of the last major recession in the early to mid-1990s when graduate employment positions in the finance industry were almost nonexistent.

After several rejections, I decided to put my finance career on hold. I continued working in the hospitality industry, which supported me while studying at university. I worked casually and then full-time for several years at venues such as Leonda by the Yarra, Caulfield Racecourse and the Victorian Arts Centre (where I met my wife, Claudia). I eventually decided to leave the industry and went travelling overseas.

On my arrival back home, I updated my technology skills, expanded my finance knowledge, and then, to my great fortune, managed to secure a job at GFM Wealth as the Financial Controller. After a couple of years of performing this role, I was moved into a more front-line position within the organisation by taking a paraplanning role in the newly established Para-Planning/Technical Services division. After being a paraplanner for a few years, I became a financial planner, a role I have been performing since mid-2005 and found extremely rewarding and professionally fulfilling.

It’s been a wonderful journey over the years. I’ve been lucky to work with a great team of extremely talented, professional colleagues who genuinely care about our clients. We work hard but enjoy each other’s company, and their support has allowed me to develop into a better financial planner. As the business has grown, I’ve seen many new staff members arrive, with over half having been with GFM for ten years or more. It says so much about the company that many staff have been here for so long.

Much has changed in our business over the last 22 years I’ve been here. As a self-licensed financial planning business, GFM has continued to evolve the services it provides its clients and has now developed a real speciality in managing Self-Managed Superannuation Funds and Private Investment Portfolios. The company added GFM Gruchy Accounting some years ago and is now a full end-to-end financial services business.

The financial planning industry is also very different from when I first started. A constantly changing regulatory environment, particularly over the past decade, has forced much-needed change. From the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) legislation in 2013 to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services in 2018, the industry has been forced to adapt and evolve in a very limited timeframe. There have been many challenges, but I feel that the industry is now on the right path to being recognised as a real profession, with the introduction of mandatory education standards, ongoing professional development and legislated ethical and duty of care requirements. The bad old days of the sales culture and the banks’ dominance in the wealth management sector are well and truly over and replaced by mid-sized independently owned firms like GFM Wealth, which continue to grow and diversify their business models.

Without a doubt, the person who has been the biggest support through my busy professional career has been my wife, Claudia. When I started with GFM, we married only a few years earlier. We had just welcomed the arrival of a baby girl, Isabella. A few years later, we were blessed with another daughter, Anastasia, and it has been a very busy time as a family over the last 20-plus years. Claudia has been an incredible wife, selfless partner, and a wonderful mother to our daughters.

We are extremely proud of our girls, who are now young adults. Isabella is doing a wonderful job in her career as a vet nurse. Anastasia is currently studying at Melbourne University to become a psychologist. Neither follows in their father’s footsteps, although Isabella is more savvy with her money than her younger sister.

As Paul mentioned in his profile in the last edition of Trade Secrets, the best part of our job as financial planners is dealing with our clients. I am very fortunate to have such a wonderful and interesting group of clients, many with whom I know I will have long-term friendships.

It is a satisfying job, particularly when your clients tell you how you’ve made a difference in their lives and removed all their financial stresses and frustrations. Positive client feedback is rewarding and makes a difference in your day, particularly in the challenging and stressful times we are currently going through. Being there to provide ongoing support to our clients is a privilege that I and the team at GFM take very seriously.

Finally, I feel incredibly privileged that I’ve contributed in some small way to the success that GFM Wealth has enjoyed over the last 50 years. I’m excited to be part of this very significant milestone. I know that the company is in good hands and that the future is bright. I very much look forward to contributing to the business’s ongoing success.