Client Profile: Tim & Sharon Taylor

Tim has kindly written the article below on their family, working life and the relationship they have with our company since 2008. We appreciate his contribution to Trade Secrets.
Sharon and I are both in our mid 40’s and have been clients of GFM Wealth Advisory for ten years after being introduced to Paul by a work colleague. In that time Paul, Bree, Patrick and the team at GFM have provided us with the expertise and advice to help determine our personal financial goals and guide us through the process of establishing and managing the investments of our SMSF and Family Trust and the purchase and sale of investment property.
After graduating from Monash University in 1994, I began work as a graduate recruit for Pacific Dunlop in their Pacific Brands division. I have remained in the apparel and footwear industry ever since and have had the opportunity to work for several great companies and brands like Bonds, Holeproof, Colorado, Quiksilver and most recently Jockey International. During this time we have been fortunate to live and work in Hong Kong for 13 years and now in Lake Bluff, a village on the North Shore of Chicago, Illinois, USA. We relocated to the US in July 2017 with my current employer Jockey International. Jockey is a 140-year-old family-owned company, and I work in the global head office in the neighbouring state of Wisconsin as Senior Vice President – Chief Supply Chain Officer.
When we moved to Hong Kong in 2002, Sharon transitioned from a career as a Chartered Accountant working for Ferrier Hodgson in insolvency and corporate reconstruction to full-time mother of our children Jack (now 13 years old), Jessica (11) and Charlotte (8).
We loved our time in Hong Kong and made the most of the opportunity to travel throughout Asia and made many great friends from all over the globe. We will always be grateful for the opportunity to provide our children with such an international experience including the opportunity to study Mandarin at school. We now have the chance to explore the US and experience everything that this part of the world has to offer.
To keep fit (mentally and physically) I run and regularly compete in marathons – the most recent being the 2017 Chicago Marathon. In 2018 I plan to compete in my second 50km Ultra Marathon and 2019 I will climb Mt Kilimanjaro with friends. I have just joined a local golf club in Illinois and look forward to working on my handicap over the warmer months (maybe one day I will get another chance to play in the annual GFM golf day at Riversdale).
It is easy to do nothing and procrastinate on big decisions, especially financial ones. Sharon and I believe that it was a significant move to seek out financial planning advice which allowed us to become actively involved in the management of our finances as early as possible. We have always enjoyed working with Paul (and more recently Bree), and we have appreciated the honest and open relationship and the trust that we have developed and shared with the GFM Wealth Advisory team. Paul and Bree have adapted to us as our circumstances, and residency has changed. When we left Melbourne, our face-to-face meetings became phone calls. Now that we are based in the US the time zones are even more challenging, but we continue to meet regularly which we believe is key to ensuring that we remain on track with our financial plans, can stay up to date with the Australian market and capitalise on new investment opportunities.
As we look forward to the next ten years and hopefully the option of retirement, we feel well prepared – even with the prospect of having to pay US college fees! We are pleased that we started our relationship with GFM Wealth Advisory when we were in our 30’s and would recommend others to seek advice and start planning early no matter the size of your portfolio.