Client Profile: Roger & Renuka

Roger has kindly written an article about his and Renuka’s working life, retirement, and relationship with GFM Wealth Advisory. We greatly appreciate their contribution to Trade Secrets.

Our client relationship with GFM commenced over 35 years ago, in May 1990.

We are both retired and over 85, but we keep busy. Renuka is a ceramic artist who has worked with her ‘guru’ for the past 16 years. I continue to work in my professional area, which concerns supply chains, and I write a weekly blog post, self-publish eBooks, and still have real books published.

Renuka’s career was teaching Home Economics and Textiles at various high schools in India and Victoria. I was born in the UK, and after completing school, I went to sea as a cadet and later became a navigating officer. When the glamour had worn off, I came ashore and worked in manufacturing; then I used the knowledge I had gained to implement manufacturing IT systems. From there, it was management consulting, and finally, at RMIT University, designing and building an international postgraduate program in supply chains and logistics.

In the mid-1980s, we bought land in the Dandenong Ranges and became owner-builders of a passive solar energy house, but it wasn’t easy to obtain insurance for acreage properties. By chance, I was visiting a colleague in St Kilda Road and met Tony Gilham, who came to the property to confirm that the house was real. We were comfortable working with Tony, so we became clients of his insurance brokerage firm.

At the time, we were each contributing to our own superannuation accounts and were not in a rush to change courses, but we did our homework. When I retired, an SMSF proposal was presented, and with trust on both sides, we felt comfortable proceeding.

Paul Nicol was our first financial advisor. In the early years of the SMSF, I continued consulting and travelled extensively, with little time for other matters. There was confidence that Paul had the knowledge and time to develop an investment plan and argue about its merits. We agreed to the plan, and it was implemented, so less worry and hassle.

GFM is a professional firm that is not beholden to the sales culture of large financial institutions. GFM appears to gain most of its clients through referrals; therefore, it does not require a large advertising budget or sales force to build the business.

The firm is a relaxed but professional business, with low staff turnover, so many of the staff have been familiar with us over the years. A culture has been built in the business that says clients provide the income, look after the clients, and profit will follow. This style of client relationship has remained the same over the years, with all staff being friendly, helpful, and obliging.

Because we are comfortable with our client relationship, we have referred GFM to friends and colleagues, always stating “we like GFM as an advisory firm and here are the contact details”, but there have been no follow-up enquiries, as the outcome, of course, is their business.