Tom Barlow has faced some tough decisions in his life, but none so challenging as the one he had to make two years ago.
The 30-year-old had just quit his job with IOOF because he wanted to do something that made him jump out of bed every morning.
“I looked back at my 10 years so far in the industry and I wasn’t especially proud of anything I had done,” he says.
“I knew I had to make a decision about my career, and I also knew that time slips away.
“People think if they refuse to make a tough decision they are not doing anything, but they are actually choosing to stay in the same place.”
Barlow had worked in some great organisations — both in Australia and during a two-year stint in Edinburgh — but, crucially, he felt jaded.
“Friends of mine would ask me to recommend a financial planner and sometimes I would want to say ‘no-one’,” Barlow says.
“It wasn’t that the industry didn’t have great people, it was more just the environment they were working in didn’t allow for the focus on the client.”
Barlow didn’t have a job lined up, but threw caution to the wind and gave his notice anyway.
“I knew that would force me to make a decision about what I wanted to do,” he says.
“And everything was on the table at that point, including opening a bakery, which had long been a dream of mine.”
Different and dynamic
Barlow didn’t end up changing careers entirely, however. He still loved financial planning, but hankered for a different approach than the one he was used to.
He picked up the phone and called Matthew Ross at Roskow Independent Advisory, who was well known for his staunchly independent business model and vocal opposition to commission-based planning.
“I had heard about independent financial planners, and I don’t know why I didn’t reach out sooner,” he says, sounding somewhat miffed.
He met Ross for a coffee and told him confidently and in no uncertain terms that he was going to be turning up for work on Monday.
“I said I would like to get some work experience and that I would be able to work for three months without pay,” Barlow says.
“Matt said that he didn’t even have a desk for me, and I told him it didn’t matter. He ended up giving me his own desk.”
Barlow turned up for work and was immediately taken with the dynamic atmosphere and transparent practices of the small office.
“The conversations that Matt was having with clients were unlike any I had heard before,” he notes.
“They were conversations about kids, swimming pools, commercial properties, the clients’ family.
“It wasn’t just about super and insurance.”
Felt ‘lost’ at the bank
Barlow contrasts this approach to his experience of working with one of the big banks in the early days of his planning career.
“I ended up feeling a bit lost there,” he says.
“It was very much about meeting weekly targets and I only lasted 18 months before I found something else.
“I had five appointments a day.”
Not that he is averse to big corporations.
“They are a great way to learn and are able to offer a large number of resources,” he says.
“But it wasn’t the right fit for me. I grew up on a farm in the Riverina area of New South Wales so I have always enjoyed that personal, one-on-one connection with clients.”
The decision to join Roskow affected every area of his life, including his relationship with his wife, Penny.
“In the past, Penny would ask me about work and I was unhappy so I would deflect the question,” he says.
“Now she can’t shut me up about it.”
And it has also renewed his love for planning, which he remembers enjoying immensely during his commerce degree at Melbourne’s Deakin University.
“We did a couple of financial planning subjects and I loved it because it was information that was related to real life,” he says.
“Kids are not taught about financial literacy in schools but these are things that are so important to know.”
