Michael in his own words

I come from a small country town in Western Queensland where the adage of it “takes a village to raise a child” rang true. Everyone knew each other, acted with integrity and treated people with respect. I learned to live by the motto of “do what you say and say what you do”, and that describes how I work and live today.

My passion for financial advice was also shaped by my upbringing. I saw families work hard every day to pay the bills, with rarely a thought of the future, let alone a holiday or something special for themselves.  I distinctly remember thinking “there must be a better way?” and from there I decided that helping families create better financial futures what was what I wanted to do.

When the dream of playing top level cricket lured me to the city, studying commerce and then working in financial advice was a natural progression. I started working for Shadforth in 2013, and since that time have had the privilege of supporting, guiding and enabling hundreds of families to achieve financial success and most importantly contentment.

Over my time in financial services, there has been no greater satisfaction than helping my clients and witnessing their journeys from a place of sacrifice and compromise to one of choice for both themselves and their families. This is what motivates me each day.

Education and experience

• BComm University of Southern QLD
• Advanced Diploma Financial Planning
• Certified Financial Planner
• Barron’s Top 50 Financial Adviser in Australia (2018)

Client success stories

In addition to working with rural clients, Michael has deep experience advising business owners and professionals.  Below are some recent examples of success he’s had of partnering with such clients:

Helping clients achieve their goals:

My client Greg was one of two partners in a mining business, providing services to BHP, Rio and Fortescue. I met him 14 years ago when he was in his late forties and his super balance was under where it should have been for his age. At the time mining services were coming into decline, there was less than 15 staff and the business could have gone either way. The company employed a business adviser to build systems and processes and remove key person risk. In addition to the cyclical nature of mining services, there were tensions in the business relationship and if either party pulled the pin at the wrong time of the market, the capital value of the business could not be relied on to fund either partners retirement.

As Greg’s financial adviser, my role was to look after his personal finances. Rather than relying on a business sale to ensure his retirement, we started work getting as much into super as we could. I wanted to ensure Greg’s personal financial situation was risk free, and that he and his wife were able to fund the retirement they desired.

Fortunately, the business was sold to a listed mining services company 4 years ago and Greg got the payday he was hoping for. Regardless of this sale, Greg was already on track to achieve his personal financial goals due to our planning process - the business sale was a bonus!

Understanding cashflow and the role it plays in wealth creation:

Alex was an Anesthesiologist in his late 40’s, earning close to $1 million and with very little super when he came to us following a negative experience with another advice firm. He had lost money from poor investments, had a large mortgage, 4 children in private schools and had made no provisions for tax or his BAS payments. To put it simply, his finances were in bad shape.

We started by modelling his cashflow to help him manage current expenses whilst provisioning for the future. My priority was to understand initially where his money was going so we could manage his debt and plan for life after work.

After implementing a coordinated cashflow restructuring, Alex could easily identify the immediate impact to his day-to-day decision making. His tax was provisioned for, his lifestyle funds were quarantined and importantly, funds were there to grow his superannuation and build his wealth – getting him back on track.