Client Profile: Rob & Georgie Till
Rob and Georgie have kindly written the article below on their working life, retirement and the relationship they have had with our company since 1994. We greatly appreciate their contribution to Trade Secrets.
We have been clients of GFM since August 1994, initially in the days GFM was also an Insurance Broker.
Georgie and I have been married for 43 years, we met in Winchester (UK) whilst I was a serving officer in the British Army having spent 10 years in the Parachute Regiment jumping out of RAF aircraft then programming computers (that’s military career planning!). Georgie was a qualified nurse having grown up in country NSW before moving to the UK. I retired from the Army and we moved to Melbourne where I continued in the IT Project Management world for another 25 years. Georgie gave up nursing and used her experience in several medical practices where she continues to work part-time.
Retirement from the British Army provided a pension, not a lump sum for investment, and this was before the days of compulsory superannuation. We saved as much as we were able after raising two children on one income and paying off our mortgage at 17.5%! We ran our own small SMSF for a few years then realised that we needed more professional advice, especially to understand and manage our investment risk profile. We looked around the advisory industry and were not impressed! Most advisors were offering a range of “in-house” investments with no real attempt to understand our own needs. It was very much investment by rote.
When we spoke to GFM it was quite different as they worked to understand our needs and plans for the future. The investments we already owned were evaluated and an investment strategy formulated. We finally had a solution which met our needs and which was amended as our situation changed.
Since then the conversation has continued, now with Patrick Malcolm. The reviews are always detailed with much discussion about general portfolio performance or close evaluation of a particular investment. Questions are encouraged and challenges are welcomed as Patrick and I agree on the next course of action. We are seen as partners in our relationship with GFM and not just clients to be told what to do.
Now some 37 years after arriving in Australia we live quietly on a couple of acres in Harkaway where Georgie runs a large garden. I am involved with St Paul’s Cathedral, act as Treasurer for a couple of not-for-profits and build and fly large scale aeroplanes. We have two grandchildren in Melbourne.
As GFM has grown over the years, both in staff and services, the personal professional relationship has remained. We have been well advised throughout and appreciate the seminars during the year to provide a wider perspective on the financial world in which we all operate.
We are always pleased to refer family and friends to GFM as we know that they will receive the same care and service that is extended to all clients. We emphasise that they will not be made to feel inadequate if starting out as a small or novice investor, after all our education has taken 22 years with GFM!