Reflecting on 25 Years
In early October this year I racked up 25 years at Goldsborough Financial Services. Not a bad achievement for a lad who thought he was not good enough to work at a place like this when he saw a newspaper advert a couple of months earlier seeking a new adviser. A couple of “coffee meetings” with the late Glenn Todman (always with a macchiato in his hand), an informal dinner with Glenn, John Oliver and Barry Dixon (our General Manager at the time) and “voila” I’m working with them.
I was offered incredible support and encouragement and the freedom to pretty much do what I/we wanted to seek clients. For example, we did seminars galore – remember those things way back where groups sat in a room and listened to speakers whilst watching a power point presentation from a projector onto a fold-up white screen?? I lost count of the number that Lachlan Harvey (who had joined Goldsborough in early 2000) and I did over our first 3 or 4 years at GFS. From those seminars I still have clients whom I have had the pleasure of journeying with – the highs and lows that life presents, good times and tough!
Within a few weeks of joining Goldsborough I was asked to join Glenn and John to do talkback radio with the late, great Bob Francis on 5AA. I’d done more than my share of public speaking but radio was new to me. The old 5AA studio was small, dark (a room lined with black carpet to be specific) and (don’t tell anyone) we’d all enjoy a glass of red whilst talking about financial planning matters. Evidently, I did OK, as I was invited back to do another segment. In fact, I did over 400 talkback shows from that first one until we stopped at the end of 2023. I had the pleasure of learning radio ‘craft’ from not only Bob, but Alan Hickey, Will Goodings, Anthony Tucker, Jade Robran and Leith Forrest among others. If talkback radio teaches you nothing, it teaches you to think very fast on your feet!!
Glenn and John were wonderful people that I learned a lot from, and was privileged to share much of the past 25 years with. Glenn’s untimely death in early 2016 shook Goldsborough to its core. Glenn was one of the founding fathers of Goldsborough, and a friend and mentor to us all. I was asked if I would become a director of Goldsborough at that time, firmly cementing me and my career longevity with this wonderful organisation and its people. When John retired in mid 2023, the last of the founding fathers of Goldsborough exited the building. In complete contrast to the sadness we all felt with Glenn’s death, the celebrations we had, and the excitement John had leading into his retirement, meant this was a time of great joy. Along with fellow directors Lachlan Harvey and Susie Vincent, I did make the comment at one stage “that the kids were in charge of the candy store”. This was greeted with some mirth. I think it’s fair to say that the three of us have strived to continue the legacy that Glenn and John built, constantly looking for improvement as a business and with our team.
When I joined Goldsborough my oldest daughter was almost 2, and she now has four siblings. John had two kids in school, and if memory serves me right that was the sum of the “children” that Goldsborough had. Over the past 25 years the Goldsborough team has grown to the point where we can pretty much fill two AFL teams with the number of kids that ‘we have had’. We’ve seen births, first day of kindy, first day of school, first day of high school and numerous year 12 graduations (and yes, the next generation is WAAAYYYY smarter!). It’s been exciting to share with our staff this part of their journey.
Professionally I’ve seen both booms and crashes in the past 25 years. I hope to be LONG RETIRED before we have another GFC or Covid-like pandemic!! I’ve witnessed significant changes in the advice documents we produce. Financial Advisers have gone from being ‘product sales-people’ to ‘financial advice professionals’ – it did mean I needed to upskill and do some more study to remain an adviser. Sometimes you just do what you have to do! I’ve seen fund managers come ……… and fund managers go (and some that have changed their names to something you could argue is unintelligible)! I’ve had to learn and adopt to technology, which for a luddite like me has been a challenge, let alone the staff who have tried to upskill me.
I’d like to think that all through this journey I’ve remained focused on the reason that I started as a financial adviser way back, and that is driven to improve the financial position of every client that has walked through my door. I hope that I’ve been able to make sense of things that sometimes you just can’t make sense of and done it with care and good humor!
I can’t say “here’s to another 25 years” – but here’s to the future and what it may hold not only for me, but for you too.
Brenton Miegel CFP®
Authorised Representative (No 227297)
