Kevin & Vivienne Campagnolo

Vivienne has kindly written the article below on their working life, family, retirement and relationship with GFM Wealth Advisory. We greatly appreciate their contribution to Trade Secrets.

Kevin grew up in Wonthaggi, born there in 1951 to Italian migrants. He joined the State Bank of Victoria on December 11 1967, and continued for the next 35 years (even when it became part of the Commonwealth Bank), his last position being a manager at the Kilsyth branch. Following this, Kevin has continued to work various jobs in banking, security and retail. He still likes to work a couple of days a week helping his friend with the ‘Mandel’ Aboriginal Art Gallery in Fairfield.

I was born in 1954 and grew up in Ivanhoe with my three sisters. We moved to live on a farm in Wallan in 1969, which was my father’s dream, but unfortunately, he passed away three years later when I was 17. My mother, my younger sister Kaye and I then moved to Bundoora. I attended Coburg Teachers College and became a teacher from 1975 until 2016. I worked across several schools in the Northern region, finishing as a leading teacher at Lalor North Primary.

Kevin and I met in 1974 and married in 1977. Our first home was in Yallambie for seven years, then Eltham for the past 38 years. Our children, Lori and Simon, grew up in Eltham, and we love how it has a real community feel. I also taught at Eltham Primary for 11 years during my career.

Retirement has brought so many pleasures. I love looking after our grandchildren, attending Banyule Boomers exercise classes with my friends and the general feeling of being able to slow down in life. I’m also a member of the Eltham Evening View Club, which is a great way to socialise with other women but also provides meaning by raising funds for The Smith Family and supporting the educational needs of disadvantaged children.

Kevin and I have enjoyed travelling over the years and have been on wonderful trips and cruises across Europe, the USA, Canada and Asia. We have especially enjoyed visiting his family’s hometown of Marostica in Northern Italy. It is a beautiful, old-walled town that sits at the base of the Dolomites. Of course, the pandemic prevented travel for the past couple of years, but we hope to travel overseas again in 2023.

Kevin and I have been clients of GFM Wealth Advisory since August 2007, after my sister and brother-in-law, Kaye and Robert Adams, introduced us to the company. We felt we needed professional help with our financial situation at that stage of our life, before retirement. Our initial meeting was with Tony Gilham and James Malliaros. We had no hesitation from the outset as we were impressed with their interest and knowledge from the beginning, and thus our self-managed super fund was created. James remains our advisor, and we look forward to regular meetings with him. He is always knowledgeable and proactive about our portfolio, with recommendations to change or improve our investments, and we always take his advice. We appreciate his guidance and have been very happy with the returns. James feels more than just a financial advisor; he has always shown such support and friendship to us, especially during difficult personal times.

In all our dealings with various staff members, we have always found them friendly, professional and efficient. We now like that we can solve all our financial needs by using GFM Gruchy Accounting to complete our tax returns, and Ivan Yeung has been most helpful to us in this area. Overall, we would recommend GFM for their very professional and knowledgeable care of our financial needs, and we look forward to our continuing relationship with James and the whole team.