Rising Tide Blog

There is no greater reward than helping our clients achieve their financial goals.

Posted by Matt Hale

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For the Rising Tide team, helping our clients achieve their financial goals is the biggest reward. But we don’t want you to just take our word for it – so here is Kate, one of our satisfied clients, discussing some of the unique differences that make our team truly special.

Matt – Before being introduced to Sam and Rising Tide, how did you feel about your finances?
Kate – My husband and I do not have financial backgrounds, but I would say we were relatively discerning of our finances. We knew we could save well and were very goal-orientated with our money, having successfully saved for a house deposit and our wedding. We had also invested in the share market and were considering an investment property.

What we didn’t know was how to map our future and how to achieve those goals we had in our head.

It is like we knew what point A and point B were, but we didn’t know how to get there.

Having a poor experience previously with a different financial firm, I was relatively skeptical about engaging another one. However, Rising Tide was recommended to us with rave reviews, so we thought we would try again – I’m so glad we did!

You’ve had financial advice before; how has the process you’ve gone through with Sam been different?
My husband and I sought financial advice from a different firm around four years prior. After we paid a large fee, the firm listened to our goals (upgrade to larger family home, retirement at 60, travel overseas every few years) and promptly told us that we were unlikely to be able to achieve a lot of these things, and our strategy was purely to pay down our small mortgage before investing anything. This was both surprising and deflating as we thought we were doing alright!

We were 26, had lots of equity in our house and well paying, stable full-time careers.

Our experience with Sam at Rising Tide couldn’t have been more different. He also listened to our goals, but also what we’d love to achieve in a ‘dream scenario’. To our shock, Sam made it clear that not only were our goals achievable, but we could also incorporate a dream goal. What was even better was that all of them could be achieved quicker than we anticipated, and without restricting our lifestyle.

He explained exactly how and why this was possible, which gave us confidence. There was never any pressure to continue with ongoing advice, but rather Sam allowed us to see the possibilities of a sound and consistent financial plan.

What have you most enjoyed about your interaction with Sam?
I think two things – 1) He is more than happy to be called out of the blue for a chat, or a question. He is genuinely happy to talk things through, whether it be financial or how the footy went on the weekend. 2) He is happy to be questioned and challenged about the advice he provided. My husband is happy to leave it up to the experts, however I question and nit-pick all of the advice and decisions so that I can understand where they came from.

Poor Sam – he heard lots of “How come you chose to structure it like that?” “Why didn’t we decide to do x?” “If we do that, is that going to affect y?” Sam never complained once, instead I think he was happy to explain his reasoning which ultimately gave me the confidence that the plan we eventually agreed upon was completely considered by both Sam and us.

How do you and Matt feel about your finances now?
Super confident! What a feeling it is that we can set up an ongoing, flexible financial plan that is going to allow us to achieve all of our goals and more. We completely trust the process now, and although I’m sure circumstances and goals will inevitably change, the foundations are in place for financial freedom for our family.

What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learnt since engaging with Rising Tide?
Simply to keep a flexible, open mind when it comes to finances. Things that may have been recommended a long time ago may not be recommended now, and I am sure that pattern will continue into the future.

For example, no wonder our parents were told to pay off their mortgage as soon as possible with a 17% interest rate! However, that may not be the most beneficial advice today. The nature of ongoing financial advice is that Matt and I don’t have to worry about whether we are doing the best thing ‘right now’ – that is taken care of.

What can you achieve that you didn’t think was likely?
Many things actually! The biggest one is probably that we love our family holidays to regional Victoria. Our dream would be to own an apartment or small house up there, so we can continue to have family holidays into the future. This was always blue sky thinking for us, but now we are actively planning to purchase this property in the midterm future.

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