Those who know Paul well know he is extremely humble and modest, so it was with great difficulty that we got him to write this!

We may seem slightly biased, but Paul is held in extremely high esteem within the industry. We are fortunate to see the level of respect people in the industry afford Paul. His opinion is sought and valued by other advisers, often by peers much older than him. He is innovative but practical, with a no-nonsense approach to the issues at hand.

It is no surprise that Paul has made the list of Australia’s top 100 advisers for six years in a row.

Paul has also actively mentored many staff in his time with the firm, including all of our advisers and associate advisers. Many of us in the firm unashamedly see him as a role model, and it is an absolute pleasure to work with him daily (most of the time)!

Read about his journey at GFM:

In 1998, I was incredibly fortunate to be introduced to Tony Gilham via his daughter Danielle. Being in the second last year of my university degree at age 22, I was still unsure what I wanted to do as a career. However, I was drawn to a career that involved providing investment advice and flirting with the concept of getting involved in property or stockbroking.

Through a hard work ethic instilled by my parents, Garry and Josie, I was employed part-time from year nine and through my university studies. I had saved a reasonable sum of money and was keen to invest rather than leave my savings in the bank.

At this point, via the introduction from Danielle, I met with Tony to seek advice on how to invest my savings. Tony provided a recommendation to invest in 4 managed funds, which I followed, and from there, I started to take a keen interest in investment markets and how my investments were performing. Then the light bulb moment came – through my dealings with Tony and based on my natural curiosity about investing – I wanted to be a Financial Adviser.

In 1999, roughly a year after investing my growing savings, I plucked up the courage to contact Tony to see if he had any work available. I was reasonably sure that I was the youngest client of GFM, and Tony was impressed that I had been disciplined with my money. After a nervous phone call (no email then!) and a couple of interviews, I was offered a job at GFM as a Financial Adviser.

Back in 1999, the Financial Planning industry was only in its infancy. When Tony offered me the role of immediately becoming a Financial Adviser, I was somewhat shocked as I anticipated being offered an administration role and that I would (hopefully) progress to becoming a Financial Adviser. However, I was given a robust apprenticeship, initially sitting in almost all of Tony’s meetings. However, coming from a life agency background, GFM had a very long list of clients, and it wasn’t long until Tony set me loose to see clients who hadn’t been serviced for many years.

Looking back, I was too naive to question why clients would trust a “wet behind the ears” 23–year–old Adviser. Reflecting, I guess clients could see I was eager, enthusiastic, and hard-working. I fondly recall the first couple of clients that were willing to proceed with coming on board at GFM – Barry and Barbara Duncan & John and Monty Gill. They gave me great confidence that I could make it as a Financial Adviser, and after nearly 25 years, both couples are still clients.

I must say I fell on my feet with the opportunity at GFM. When I started in 1999, we had six staff, including Mai and Witi, and in many ways, we were a much smaller and simpler business than today. We even had a general insurance arm. But, right from the start, I could see an incredible work ethic within the organisation, but most importantly, a client–first approach. Back in 1999, it is fair to say that most Financial Advisers were driven by large upfront sales commissions and had no desire to service their clients on an ongoing basis. It was clear that GFM was a relationship–based business keen to engage clients driven to ensure their long–term financial goals were achieved rather than the allure of a big upfront commission.

After approximately ten years at GFM, I was lucky enough in 2009 to be offered an equity stake in the business. I had graduated as a Senior Financial Adviser, and it seemed apparent that I was the obvious succession plan in the business. Over the following five years, I continued to purchase more equity in GFM. At that point, as the majority shareholder in GFM, I took over the responsibility of running the business, which I have done now for around ten years.

The evolution of GFM over the last 25 years has been nothing short of amazing. Over this journey, GFM became self–licenced, transitioned to a business model in Self Managed Super Funds (SMSF) specialisation, added Accounting via the acquisition of GFM Gruchy and Goldman’s Accounting, and is now a multi-partner business with Patrick, a considerable shareholder.

A lot has happened in my personal life while I have been at GFM. My wife, Lisa, has been with me for all that time. She is an incredible wife, an amazing mother to our two children, Olive and Flynn. She has supported me fully along the journey. Over my time at GFM, Lisa & I have purchased our first home together, got engaged and married, travelled and started a family.

Without a doubt, my favourite part of the job is dealing with clients. While I try to maintain a very level emotional state while dealing with clients, internally, I ride the highs and lows of the client journey almost more than the clients! However, as a team, we get unbelievable satisfaction when seeing clients achieve their financial goals and knowing the comfort this brings to their lifestyle and family planning.

The typical feedback for industry participants attending GFM events is, “You have amazing clients!” This couldn’t be truer. We are incredibly grateful for the trust our clients place in us, and the gratification we feel for the positive feedback we get from clients or a referral is genuinely appreciated.

I also feel incredibly fortunate to work with such a talented team at GFM. Beyond the obvious talent, our team comprises the highest quality people with incredibly strong principles and genuine care in what they do. I am sure our clients can see and feel our team’s natural respect and care for each other and our clients.

I couldn’t be more excited by the future of GFM after reaching the very significant milestone of 50 years. We continue to grow and evolve without compromising our service standards. We are committed to adding high–quality talent to the team and ensuring we work closely with clients to achieve their financial goals.

I’m also excited about my future at GFM. I am the youngest 25–year “veteran” in the industry. I hope clients still see the eager, enthusiastic and hard-working person from 25 years ago when I was lucky to be given a break working for such a fabulous company. A time will come when I need to pass on the baton, but by now, most would be able to guess my age and know I am far too young to retire!