Taking stock of what's important
Brad Clarke, 35, lives in Geelong and manages a range of programs for young people including alternative education and employment services. He has two children aged five and three.
A chance encounter
By his own admission, Brad had very little interest in investing and financial matters, until a chance meeting with financial adviser Chris Browne in Nepal.
"I used to be a biologist by trade," Brad explained. "I was doing a project on spiders in Nepal, and Chris had volunteered as a participant in one of these expeditions with a group called OzQuest."
It took some convincing by Chris for Brad to agree to a meeting to discuss his financial plan, as he was very sceptical about the whole process and even considered the prospect of sitting down with an adviser downright scary.
"The fear is that you're going to get swamped with all these acronyms and big numbers and graphs and that sort of stuff, but it really wasn't like that," he said.
First impressions
Instead, what Brad found from the very first meeting was that working with a financial planner he trusted was actually quite a positive experience.
"I really went in with a fairly closed mind. I was only doing it to placate him, actually, to say thanks; I understand what it is you're doing but it's really not for me," admitted Brad. "But the stuff that he presented was really user-friendly. It was done very much in layman's terms. He didn't try to overload me with information. And he reassured me that it was really just a positive way to go."
During their discussions, Chris convinced Brad that, with two young daughters, he needed to ensure his family was cared for should anything happen to him.
A brush with death
About six months later, that recommendation was made all the more real when Brad had a terrifying brush with death.
"We were taking the kids for a bushwalk down in the Otway Ranges. I had my youngest daughter on my back, and this little fella was in front of me swinging a stick against the grass," said Brad. "He's obviously clipped the top of a snake's head, because the next thing I know there's a tiger snake hanging off the back of my leg."
The situation was extremely serious. It took SES volunteers two hours to traverse the remote terrain to reach him, and a further hour for the rescue helicopter to winch him to safety and transport him to the nearest hospital.
"By the time I arrived I'd lost my sight, was having spasms, pretty nasty stuff. I was close to checking out that first night," said Brad. "I had four boxes of anti-venom and eight litres of blood transfused."
Taking stock
Fortunately, Brad made a full recovery and was only required to spend a week and half in hospital. But in the back of his mind, he was glad that because he'd worked out an insurance solution which included life and income protection cover, he knew he could take as long as he needed to get well.
"It's not something you think about consciously. You just know it's something you don't have to worry about," he said. "It's like having ambulance cover. They said I'd be looking at a $20,000 bill if I hadn't had the cover. So rather than thinking, 'I'm going to get this big bill' or 'I'm not going to have an income for the next three months', I could just concentrate on getting better."
And it's not just in the short term that having a financial planner has given Brad peace of mind. Working with Chris has allowed him to feel good about the life waiting for him in retirement too, even though it may be a long way off.
"I know that when I do finish up my career, my living standards aren't going to reduce. In fact they're going to be better," he said. "Which is something that historically, my family haven't been in a position to do. They've always been blue-collar workers who've worked hard all their lives and then in retirement, it's been tight."
Making an informed decision
Working with young people is perhaps what gives Brad a laidback approach when asked to give his own advice to younger people, who may be grappling with their financial situation.
"I'd just say, you have to go in and make up your own mind whether it's for you," he said. "But at least give yourself the opportunity to hear what it can do. And go in with an open mind, even considering it is, I think, the first step. From there you can make your own informed decision."
In Brad's case anyway, he needs no further convincing.
"I think once you do get all the information, and if you do have the cashflow to do it, well, the choice is simple."