GDip FP, GDip App Fin, BSc.Oe & Vit, CFP Accredited, SSA.

What no suit and tie? I’m an R.M. Williams guy all the way. From humble beginnings, growing up on the family farm in Glencoe (South Australia), seeing first-hand the trials and challenges of agriculture, watching my parents walk off the farm with nothing and having to start all over again … well that gave me a strong passion and respect for the industry. At the age of 7 I wanted to be a fisherman; at 14 I worked at Hungry Jacks; and picked up another part-time job at 15 as a strapper for my cousin’s wife. At 17, despite being good at chemistry and math, I was failing Year 12 and didn’t know what to do with myself. My chemistry teacher pulled me aside and asked what I would like to do with my life. “Being outside in the sun and drinking,” was my pretty cheeky answer. He pointed me in the direction of winemaking which gave me a purpose and a focus. 
Thanks to this, still scrawny and shy, I managed to pass Year 12.

At 17, I hopped into my beat-up old Datsun 1000, bound for the Roseworthy Agriculture College, now known as Adelaide University, to start my bachelor’s degree in Oenology and Viticulture (winemaking). I was known as the ghost for the first year and a half. No one really knew me, but I was getting excellent grades. Then at nearly 19, I met a girl, and she put me on my end. My grades went down, and everyone got to know me at Roseworthy. All ended well. She paid for my last year at Roseworthy because I rediscovered my ambitions, and was broke.

My career as a winemaker ran for 17 years, starting in Renmark in the Riverland. Renmano, later known as BRL Hardy, took me on for my last year, giving me work experience during vintage in the laboratory. Luckily for me, Renmano’s white winemaker left the day before vintage, leaving them in a bad spot. The managing director came into the lab, looked at me, shook his head, sighed, and asked: “So, do you want to show us what you are made of?” 
Having no idea what I was letting myself into, I became acting white winemaker for 12 weeks, working 16 to 19-hour days seven days a week, sleeping on the couch and sometimes hanging over the hopper. I was knackered, but it cemented my work ethic, and I learnt fast. What incredible bragging rights I had when I went back to finish my last year of Uni. The other 13 students had worked as lab rats while I was making wine. Renmano was happy with my efforts, and I worked there a number of times over my holidays during my last year. An opportunity was offered: If I passed with a B-grade average, they said they would hold the white-winemaker position open. The job was mine starting December, 1988. Mmm, B-grade average!

So, you know, the girl I talked about? I told her I had to knuckle down. I got my B-grade average and married Eileen two days after my last exam. Married on the 26/11/1988, started work on the 5/12/1988 with 50 bucks we borrowed from a mate for petrol money. You could safely say, I swept her off her feet.

At the age of 23, I was the youngest president of the Renmark Wine Club. With a few trophies and medals under my belt, I was headhunted by Kingston Estate wines to be their production manager/white winemaker taking the winery from a 2,000-tonne crush to an 8,000-tonne winery in two years. It nearly broke me, but it’s where I learnt to build stuff.
Eventually, winemaking took us all over the world. I spent seven years working with Eileen in our own consulting business, making wine. 
We worked hard in South Africa, the Republic of Georgia, Italy, France, America, England and Singapore. I ended up as the Director of Oenology for Pernod Richard Eastern Block. Wow, what an eye-opener. We camped indoors for four years, so cold in winter that the ice broke when you went to the toilet. With no electricity or running water, it was a tough gig. We did get fed up with buying back our generator, several times over. With this adversity, I found my passion for finance. Living in a former Soviet Union country didn’t lend itself to doing much, other than working and reading. At Heathrow Airport, I bought my first finance book, What works on Wall Street, which we still have in our library. We educated ourselves through books and decided to get into shares. Of course, I had to make it exciting, so we “option traded”, hard! We had fun, learning along the way. We were crazy, and we both were hooked.
In the meantime, Pernod had me meeting with the European Banks to get funding for the 11 wineries I was looking after. With this, they taught me how to write business plans for multi-million-dollar businesses and projects. We loved it. Eileen got into marketing the wines, and she ran her own import-export company, not to mention partying with the Embassies.

As usual, everyone knew her, and I was the Ghost of Georgia. Every time we travelled, we bought more books to feed our thirst. Seven years later, getting homesick, and with the continual threats of kidnappings, we came back to Australia. I was ready to leave the wine industry and started studying finance. However, Eileen had other ideas. She snared us a contract working for Chain of Ponds Winery in the Adelaide Hills. I became the General Manager, and Eileen worked by my side as my PA, as well as PA to the owner. OMG, we worked hard and gave our souls. After 20 months, enough was enough. We boarded a plane to Canada to take on another vintage. But what greeted us? A series of bushfires wiped out the Okanagan Valley, and our contract. Now indeed, that’s a sign, Eileen? So, we took seven months off, bought ourselves a beat-up campervan and travelled across Canada. Thousands of km on the clock, some well-fuelled arguments about leaving the wine industry, and I won. I started studying finance. By the way, it was a fantastic trip.

Studying full-time, I approached my degree like my working career, flat out. After about 60-70 hours a week, I finished my two Grad Dips in 14 months, and well above a B-grade average this time. I already had the girl. It was straight distinctions. Starting at NAB at the very bottom as a wealth advisor and having to wear a suit and tie every day, it was a case of OMG, what had I done? With not a scrap of sunshine or a whiff of dirt in sight, I was sitting in a concrete jungle. After five months, relief came when they advertised for an experienced senior AGRI Financial Planner, which I was not. Everyone I worked with at NAB told me not to bother to apply, but Eileen said, “don’t be crazy, put your hat in the ring”. I approached my interview with a business plan in hand.

I asked for no pay rise, no clients, and six months, and, if they weren’t happy with me, they could fire me no questions asked. So, the day after our son, Regan, was born, we received the call. They took a punt and gave me the job as an AGRI planner. My epic journey into finance and business advising truly began.

With hard work and determination to be the best in the business came great success within the bank. Soon I became the number one Agri guy, nationally, having peers flying in from different states and New Zealand to drive around with me. Receiving nine Leading Light awards, I was at the top of my game. In 2015, I was asked by NAB to be in the first wave to become self-employed franchise owners within the NAB group, known as the awesome seven. After spending 10 years under NAB, I was excited to be back in my own business. Eileen studied up and got her Diploma in Financial Planning to join me in the company.

I enjoyed sitting on the advisory board for NAB FP for four years. I was part of the newly formed national Innovation Advisory Board.
After five years in the franchise with NAB, we decided to leave the Red Star behind, and became THE MONEY MATRIX Advice, now licenced under Synchron –  https://synchron.net.au/
We believe the highest success we can achieve is to inspire and empower people like you about your finances and your future and aspirations. Don’t be scared. Look for opportunities and embrace them.
Eileen’s favourite quote is: “Every cloud has a silver lining; you may just have to look harder sometimes.” Whether you are a white-collar, blue-collar worker, self-employed, teacher, doctor, or farmer … every person who walks through our door can trust us. Using all our experiences and personal insights, my team and I will assist you in your personal and business developments.

I am known as the strategist by my peers, and this is what you will get. You will get my holistic approach, making sure everything comes together for you. The greatest personal satisfaction for me is helping you, your family, and your friends better understand your finances and taxes. Whether for retirement, business, personal investment, or agriculture, we take significant steps to ensure you are adequately equipped to understand the highest level of advice strategies. It doesn’t matter if you are 18 or 80, we can help, not just you, but your generational transition, retirement and exit strategies.

I especially understand the land for farmers, having lived and breathed it myself for more than 17 years in the wine industry. I know how to find a path for farms and wineries to transition from one generation to the next. This is my specialty. As a fully accredited specialist for Self-Managed Super Funds with the SMSF Association of Australia, I often find myself the go-to person for my previous work colleagues. I continue to mentor those looking for a better understanding of this area and strategy management.

I’m no longer a scrawny shy kid, but I am a self-confessed workaholic, and I love it that way. With 36 countries travelled under our belts and one child later, if you call, the phone will still be answered by Eileen, my 33-year rock.

So, if you think I am the person you would like to have on your team of professionals let me know. We can set up a time for a chat. Find me on Adviserratings.