Rising Tide Blog

Rising Tide’s Rising Star: Sam Gawenda named a finalist in The Advisor 2017 Better Business Awards

Posted by Matt Hale

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The Advisor Better Business Awards is an annual event to acknowledge the top performing brokers and lenders in each Australian state, and we at Rising Tide Financial Services couldn’t be more proud of our very own Sam Gawenda and his team of lending experts for earning themselves a place among the 2017 finalists for Victoria under the category of Rising Star.

Sam, our Senior Lending Specialist and Director commenced with Rising Tide 4 years ago, but his career in finance didn’t start out the way you might expect.

“To be honest, I didn’t really choose finance, it chose me,” laughs Sam.

After completing high school, Sam entered into a bricklaying apprenticeship, and worked as a tradie in Melbourne’s east for 5 years.

“From a young age I had always been interested in finance and investing. When I was 21 I purchased my first property, and sought help from a mortgage broker to help me sort out a loan,” says Sam.

This encounter with a mortgage broker had really piqued Sam’s interest, so much so that in less than 6 months time, Sam had hung up the trowel, and started working for him!

One of the things Sam and his team enjoy most about their work is the chance to help younger generations with their financial needs and to get themselves into a financial position where they have the freedom to say yes to the things that are truly important to them.

Rising Tide’s specialty lies in working with people who are starting out on their financial journey and are wondering how best to go about accumulating wealth and creating a financially stable life for themselves. Rising Tide was built on the foundations of being approachable and placing client experience at the centre of all work, and that will continue to remain our top priority.

Sam’s team is made up of Lending Specialist Tom De Fegely, Loans Processing Manager Sarah Neill, Client Service Manager Mel Tibb (Sam’s wife!) and intern-turned-Client Service Manager Talia Malcomson.

The team all agree, the opportunity to deliver education and advice that will help empower their clients use their money wisely and set themselves up for the future is something special, and something we’re all pretty proud of.

“We’re from the same generation as our clients, so more often than not we’re going through the same life events like getting married, having children, buying homes and building careers. This helps us give advice not only from a textbook, but from our own real life, first hand experience,” says Sam.

Congratulations again to Rising Tide’s Rising Star!

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