The Lawyer and The Hare

Glen Hare, Adviser – Fox and Hare

Our average client is in their early 30s, so Hayley and Kael are the perfect couple for us. Hayley is fairly reserved but a really clear thinker, while Kael is a bigger personality and more outgoing.

Hayley is actually a client of my partner, Liam, who runs fitness boot camps. He trains another client, and Hayley overheard them talking one day. So I guess that’s how we met – a combination of personal relationships, client reinforcement and burpees!

They came to us because – like a lot of our clients – they were starting to earn good money and weren’t sure what to do with it.

We helped them with everything – cashflow strategy, insurance and budgeting. They are looking at buying a property and talking about private school education and how much they need to start putting away now, even though they haven’t conceived yet.

They’re pretty down to earth, both coming from regional Western Australia. They’re really honest and open, and keen to hear what their options are.

The meetings are pretty relaxed, too. We’re in Darlinghurst and we often meet on a Saturday morning, which suits them well, as Kael doesn’t work in the city.

I think they were a bit unsure about receiving advice at first. They are really good in their own careers – Hayley is a lawyer, Kael’s a business development manager – but really unsure as to the best way to structure their finances. I see it every day, clients get to their mid-30s and they’re like, ‘Shoot, I’m not a kid anymore, I don’t want to just blow all my money like I did in my 20s.’

Their goals and values are fairly aligned. Sometimes couples have different ways of seeing things, which can create a little bit of tension, but they’re both pretty switched on and they know what they want.

Hayley Warren, Legal Counsel – RCR (construction company)

Kael and I are getting married in February, and we thought it was time to look at merging our wealth and setting up for a life together.

Neither of us had ever seen a financial planner before. We want to buy a property together, and we thought that if we pooled our income we could potentially get to our goals quicker than if we did it separately.

I do a boot camp with Glen’s partner, Liam, and when I mentioned that I needed a financial planner he said he knew someone. So, I got in touch and we organised a coffee to see if it was somebody we could work with, personality-wise. Glen’s young himself and they’re obviously targeting that younger demographic, who don’t tend to get financial advice that often.

What they show you in terms of modelling and what you can achieve is kind of exciting, but I think we’re paying for accountability as well.

It’s going really well. You don’t get too far down the road before you have to make an investment in an adviser, but I think you’ve got to take a bit of a chance with these things.

Glen is great, he could essentially be one of our mates. He’s really clear in explaining things to you, and he checks in all the time to see whether you’re understanding the advice he’s giving you.

I think it helps having someone your age who is doing the things you’re doing. It’s easier for them to understand where you spend your money and the things that are important to you in your life. Older advisers are kind of set in their ways, whereas Glen and his business partner, Jess, seem quite open.

We only came on board this year, so we’re relatively new, but we’ll definitely be clients for a while. We’ve got savings plans for kids we don’t even have yet!