Tim’s Thoughts….

I was an insurance guy.

I distanced myself from financial advice and I didn’t call myself a financial adviser – I was an insurance guy. I held all the authorisations and qualifications to be a financial adviser but wanted to be an insurance guy. More to the point, I didn’t want to be a financial adviser because I didn’t like what the industry stood for, I didn’t like that product-based solution were used to solve non-product based problems. I didn’t like that this was the way the industry charged. I didn’t like that things which could make a real difference were ignored, because they were hard to talk about, articulate and charge a fee for. So, I stayed an insurance guy.

I was finally introduced to what financial advice could be some years later – it wasn’t about finance, or even advice. It was about people agreeing on what matters to them and helping them bridge the gap from here to there. I felt that it wasn’t just my parents and my sister who would benefit from this in a profound way, but I could too. Yes, I could benefit from having someone help me in an area which I’m qualified. But there was a disconnect between what I was taught and what I felt really mattered.

For example: If you were commencing a five-year goal, you would want to commit to taking the right steps in line with achieving that goal, and to be held accountable throughout the journey. The reasons behind this are that change and resulting benefits occur almost immediately, not when you hit the 5-year anniversary.

We have found that this has given new context to either ‘starting something new’ or ‘continuing with the same’. You start to see that you are on track, and there’s something almost magical about it. This is apparently something that is available to everyone, yet it’s for sale by no one because it’s ‘too hard’ to make a product out of this. You can’t make a product called ‘potential’ or ‘accountability’, but that is what Stream Financial is all about.

Whilst the financial industry is built on selling products, to me these are nothing but tools. We are not about selling you better tools, but rather assisting you to build in the most effective way, holding you accountable, and ensuring that we make a big difference in your life.