From the desk of Craig Smith

Clients have been concerned about the continuity of our advice relationship pending my retirement, illness or accident, if I could no longer be there to provide advice. While I have no retirement date, for the last few years I have been looking for a suitable partner to align with my business and ethical values. There have been several suitors that I was uncomfortable proceeding with.

I formed a great connection with Ben Moses, the owner of ANIG Wealth Management, instantly, and every meeting since has reinforced my original certainty that here was a kindred adviser who shared my values and who had also experienced similar industry disappointments (highlighted at the recent Royal Commission).

Considering that my relationship with many of you now spans several decades, we understand this longevity is due to the mutual respect, trust, and care we bring to our relationship. I want you to be confident that my judgement of BMAM is sound and we are excited at new investment opportunities and products we will now be able to offer.

I do stress that I am not retiring in the immediate future and when I do make that decision you will have plenty of advance notice. I don’t believe that time will come in the next 3 years but maybe 5?

In the meantime, the team here in Islington remains. Brendan, who many of you know and admire, has been with me now for 3½ years, and is on his path to becoming a fully accredited financial planner. Sharron, my life partner, is solely responsible for SMSF accounts and is continuing in this role 2-3 days/week and our new staff addition, Jacob, under Brendan’s tuition, is stepping up as Brendan’s role expands further. Ben & Blake’s team are already demonstrating the value to our clients of the strength and capacity of their team working in partnership with us.

Whether our relationship has only spanned a few years or many all of you have experienced an evolution of services and capacity of Craig Smith & Associates. Indeed many of you rightfully have anticipated that this will continue and so it is with our new direction with BMAM, taking with us the best of what we do and adding further capabilities.

The purpose of our updating your new Fact Find is to be able to present you with an updated Statement of Advice that is timely and more relevant to where you are now, with your objectives, as so much has changed in the past 2 years and we are cognizant of that.

Please call me at any time if you wish to have further detail on everything that we are undertaking to improve our relevance to you and your financial lives.