Fergus Hardingham

Fergus Hardingham was highly recommended to us by the chairman of an industry superannuation fund. He knew Fergus well and commended him for his enthusiasm and passion for financial planning. We have found Fergus to be extremely thorough and very efficient and prompt in answering questions whether by phone or e-mail. There has not been one occasion when Fergus has failed to answer a question. We value this level of responsiveness very highly. The other issue that attracted me to Fergus was his 'fee for service' approach to his business. We were well aware of the exorbitant commissions that some advisers receive in the form of trailing commissions and % based fees. Fergus' detailed planning has considerably reduced our capital gains tax obligations when we sold two investment properties. On the first occasion, we were able to minimise capital gains tax by living off the profits of the sale and salary sacrificing to zero for a 12 month period. This strategy saved us approximately $8000. This advice cost us $340. A few years later we sold another property, from which the proceeds were invested in superannuation and a deductible amount also contributed to our superannuation that reduced our capital gains tax liability to zero – the advice provided to us as part of a comprehensive Financial Plan, reduced our tax liabilities by around $9,000, which helped to increase our retirement capital base. When it came time to structure our retirement income stream Fergus' advice was invaluable. The Global Financial Crisis was deepening as we were starting to invest our funds (March 08), which were at that stage in cash, by a dollar cost averaging process. Fergus was very patient with us and was extremely thorough in answering our questions. In addition to this, he provided us with not only his own insightful analysis of the situation, but also the insights of other experts. During the Global Financial Crisis our portfolio’s return was positive (this at a time most portfolios were going backwards) and dividends/distributions from the various funds have continued to generate our required annual income without reducing our capital. We value information highly. Fergus, through his quarterly “Insights” publication presents three views of current market conditions, namely, bearish, neutral and bullish. Following this analysis Fergus adds his own commentary concerning various aspects of the individual funds held in our portfolio. With this information it is much easier to make decisions and de-stresses the whole process. From time to time important additional issues are addressed in “Insights”, such as, diversification, sequencing risk, asset allocation, the nature of RISK and so on. Recently, our portfolio was restructured so as to deliver a return that is expected to be between 6% and 8% per annum with very low volatility. Having our portfolio diversified over a number of asset classes, with appropriate weightings for current market conditions, has achieved results at the upper end of this range. Our portfolio structure has never been “set up and forget”. Constant monitoring is in place through regular reviews. If Fergus and Margaret are not happy with a particular change to the management of the fund they are quite prepared to exit that fund and recommend another that they have completed due diligence on. Our annual face-to-face portfolio review is something we always look forward to. The service that both Fergus and Margaret have delivered to us has been excellent in every respect. The reporting that we receive has been detailed and insightful. We look forward to our continuing relationship with them into the future. John and Susan Bock