Reviews

Thank you Oliver and David. I always feel reassured after meeting with you.

Thank you for your honesty and for giving me faith and trust in my happy financial future.

I’m so thankful that we are working toward this together.

Rob has successfully managed the transition from our working lives to us becoming comfortably retired. During our over a decade long association as clients, Rob and his team presented a thoroughly professional, optimistic and supportive program on behalf of his efforts to represent us.

Realising retirement was looming, we were initially behind our intended retirement financial goals. We also had minimal prior experience or exposure to any form of investment environment.

Even with this deficit background, Rob never gave a less than positive attitude to our situation and followed this up with a concerted, extensive and economical action plan to engage and manage a positive investment portfolio on our behalves.

Importantly for us, at each annual review and any other occasion we required feedback, Rob provided options with advice to us in a language we could understand, thereby enabling us to control and make informed decisions we felt comfortable and confident with.

We even presented Rob with two additional handicaps to complicate his task. Firstly, that we regularly moved and resided interstate and overseas for employment purposes – and secondly, our income varied both upwards and downwards with each of these relocations.

Rob and his team worked around both these complications with the same degree of outstanding capability that he brought to the entire investment campaign he carefully engaged in with us.

We look forward to our continuing relationship with Rob as he helps us maintain and manage our retirement lifestyle – and we unreservedly recommend Rob McGregor and his team at McGregor Wealth Management to others who want the confidence of having clarity of advice, trust and professionalism on their side – and too with the personal acumen and warmth that Rob provides to the process.

I have found Rob and his team exceptionally insightful and valuable in their down-to-earth and strategic advice over the past 13 years — and they keep getting better and better. I give them my highest recommendation!!!

As an employee at accounting and financial advisory firms where Rob advised, I had a total of 10 years of listening to his investment philosophies and advice to clients and seeing the results.

I am a conservative investor and I probably take longer than others to commit, but I had time to evaluate the process and I knew it was robust and sound enough to deliver the results we needed.

In the past we were over­concerned with market volatility but we learned how to change our thinking that a downturn in markets was not necessarily a bad thing for long term investment, but an opportunity to build our assets.

I knew we needed a clear and straightforward plan that focused on our specific goals. Without going through the goal setting process I think we would have continued with ad hoc investing that reacted to markets instead of having a very specific plan that almost ignored what the markets (both shares and property) were doing.

Now, we consult Rob every time we make an investment decision, including:

• establishing an SMSF with a managed funds portfolio and property
• purchasing and selling investment properties outside super
• purchasing major assets
• establishing investment and business structures

We don’t make a move without consulting Rob first so that we know all the pieces fit the big picture of where we’re heading.

Initially we were concerned over the complexity of what we were doing and were unsure if we could reach our targets, but once everything is set up, the process really is set and forget.

In addition, over the past 5 years, anytime we’ve seen a new solicitor or accountant who reviews our business structures, we get the same feedback: “someone has given you very good advice as your structures give you great asset protection”. It has been great to get this reassurance from third parties.

Looking to the future, we have 2 simple goals: to retire “on time” with our goal retirement funds behind us; and to continue investing to support our income goals.

Both of them are on track!

We always put the “investment strategy” off as we were busy trying to pay off our mortgage and believed no debt is the best debt. That quickly changed when were in a position to sell our small business and we needed smart advice.  McGregor Wealth were able to walk us through the entire process from after the business sale to strategising for our retirement. We went from have negligible savings to having our future secured within 6 months.

We are very conservative investors and typically saw investing in the share market as risky, exposing us to a lot of volatility. Diversity was our key to ensuring our finances were not put on speculating companies or share funds. McGregor Wealth Management offered us numerous investment funds and styles and we chose what the best strategy that would ensure our retirement was achievable and comfortable ­ while still allowing us to sleep well at night.

Overall, we’re extremely happy with our strategy and can see gains as expected. It’s comforting to know that McGregor Wealth has our best outcomes in mind at all times, and with our regular meetings we can discuss any ideas or concerns we may have. Semi retirement is not a dream anymore and we will look to adjusting our financial strategy to accommodate this lifestyle change.  Planning is key and McGregor is all about planning.

Prior to working with Rob McGregor and the team, we were busy expatriates working across Asia, North America and the UK, focusing on those new locations, long hours of work and travel, getting the kids through schools in different countries, figuring out where to send them for university and occasionally enjoying seeing a bit of the world beyond Australian shores.

Our Superannuation was slowly accumulating in a company run fund, but we were not actively driving this aspect or building investment portfolios outside super. We had some exposure to gearing and equity investing and were often approached by “advisors” offering to invest on our behalf or manage our money. However, the emphasis was always on this product or that and not really on the long term or how to systematically set ourselves up for a self-funded future.

In the end we dismissed these approaches and left things as they were. After all, life was busy enough with everything else going on and retirement still seemed far away.

About five years ago, we decided we would eventual return to Australia in the future and so wanted to establish a reliable relationship with a trusted and knowledgeable advisor we could work with to really plan for our eventual retirement…whenever that might be.

While holidaying in Noosa one year we decided to schedule appointments and arrange to meet a number of advisors in the area to discuss our options and assess who we would be a best fit, given we would be continuing to work and reside overseas for the foreseeable future.

Right from the outset Rob and the McGregor Wealth Management team were very responsive to our requests and questions.

We were impressed with their credibility and focus on our goals, even though we really hadn’t defined these to the extent we should have.

Rob and his team brought a proven and systematic methodology to financial planning we had not been exposed to in the past.

We were impressed with the “common sense” approach employed and the simplicity of the plans Rob and his team proposed.

Our view, I guess coloured by previous experience, was that investing was somewhat complicated, with active changes being made all the time to keep pace with changing trends in Australia and overseas and with lots of trades happening to maximize returns.

With the wealth management approach employed by Rob and the team, we didn’t see this same “frenetic” activity.

This took a little getting used to but as Rob explained, there is an experienced Investment team in the background, using a very systematic approach, not trying to time the market but constantly reviewing trends and products with a long-term investment horizon in mind.

Ultimately this approach was very consistent with our overall goals and has certainly worked well for us.

In addition to the McGregor Wealth Management investment strategy, Rob and his team have been there for us consistently to advise, not only on issues relating directly to our portfolio of investments, but also, the structure and setup of our SMSF, Estate Planning and even things to consider once we moved to Noosa after working and living overseas for nearly 20 years.

We really do enjoy a “trusted relationship” with Rob and the team. Finding an advisor we could work with long term was one of our main objectives once we really got serious about our retirement planning and Rob and the team have well and truly delivered.

We have now retired, as per plan, moved to Noosa, as per plan and are now enjoying life, safe in the knowledge we have a financial partner we trust and who will continue to work closely with us into the future.

John and Jenny McCabe are living the retirement dream, able to travel and enjoy their life on the Sunshine Coast, and their three children (triplets!) are now independent adults. But their financial security hasn’t happened by chance. Almost 20 years ago, in 1998, the couple met Rob McGregor, Co-founder and director, GPS Wealth, for financial advice on laying plans for the future. It was the start of a long and very successful relationship that has spanned the good years as well as some challenging times.

John, 64, explains, “When the three children were aged nine, I started to think about their future schooling. I needed a strategy for planning a secure financial future for ourselves and the children and for retirement.”

During their first meeting, Rob explained how much the couple would need to retire comfortably in 2017. “We thought it was pie in the sky and not achievable,” says John. “But by sticking to a long-term strategy and using Rob’s sound advice, we slightly exceeded that figure when I retired – two years earlier than expected – in 2015”.

However, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing. In 2006 Jenny was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Previously, Rob had recommended a trauma insurance policy. John admits that with their (then) good health the couple didn’t see this as a priority. “Fortunately,” he notes, “We did take out that trauma cover and the following year we needed it for Jenny’s breast cancer. Their relationship with Rob meant he sorted out the paperwork and insurance payout. “That gave us that peace of mind to focus on Jenny’s health,” John says.

John says his plan was always a long-term strategy and he believes “The key ingredient for us in making it successful was to trust in Rob.”

These days John has recommended Rob to work colleagues and family members including his sister and his own children. He notes, “Rob’s son and daughter are both (working) inside the business now so there will probably be a McGregor-McCabe connection for years to come. It could be the start of a very long-term relationship.”