Rising Tide Blog

Unfortunately, it’s been a crazy and sombre start to 2022. Firstly, both COVID and the recent typhoon in the Philippines caused a number of issues for the wider team – but, touch wood, things thankfully look like they may be settling down.

Much closer to home, in some devastating news, we sadly lost Kristan, one of our valuable team to bowel cancer last December. 

Many of you will be familiar with Kristan (more widely known as ‘X’) and his ongoing insurance work with our clients, where he helped get policies in place and made sure they stayed there. 

Only in his 20’s, Kristan was a fit guy – active and strong in body and mind. In fact, less than 12 months before he passed away, he amazingly ran a half marathon in sub-five-minute km’s.

‘X’ was feeling a bit off his game in July, and after subsequent tests, doctors discovered that his body was battling this horrible disease. It goes without saying that it has been a hard six months for his family and loved ones, and once again, we all send our deepest condolences. 

That said, it’s been a tough reality check for many of our team to process, and the only thing I can take away from this is that  we all need to be a lot more proactive with our health checks.

What am I most looking forward to this year?

Well, some continuity and consistency would be nice. Having farewelled the accounting team at the back end of 2021, I feel like we are now in position to focus on our bread and butter – providing holistic financial planning and lending advice for individuals, couples, and families – rather than SME’s.

I’m also very excited to note that our Advice team is growing in size, diversity and experience. Both Bobby and Leena in the Lending team have settled in and smashed it out of the park through the back end of 2021. Similarly, Christine and the Wealth Enhancer team have now had six months with the business and are ready to get the new year off to a winning start.

Katherine is now on board in a Financial Planning role and while it will take a couple of months to get her license sorted, we can already see the benefits of her strong technical background. 

Then there’s Rebecca, who, in 2021 was again named one of the fifty most influential financial planners in Australia (for the fourth time!). Back on deck, Rebecca will be moving to four days per week which means that we not only get an extra day of her expertise, but there are also some vacancies in her client base.

I would also like to give a massive pat on the back to our Delivery team in Cebu. The team have had to overcome incredible adversity in 2021, spending a number of days without power, running water and internet over the holiday break. Led by Mags, Resty and Kate, the team continue to do a fantastic job, settling loans, implementing financial plans and delivering the seemingly never-ending amount of admin work. 

Last, but not least is the Rising Tide Leadership team – Sam G, Tommy and Sam J. Keeping it short and sweet, these guys work tirelessly for our clients and our team so from all of us, thanks again for your great work!

How can you help Rising Tide?

The main thing is to keep letting us know what we are doing well and what we can do better. Any feedback is good feedback, and everything helps us guide the business and continually improve.

Oh, and if you’ve had a great experience with one of our team – please don’t keep it a secret.