My husband Darren and I have been WB Financial clients since 2008 and Patricia Garcia became our financial planner in 2013.

When we first started getting financial advice, Darren was running his own drilling business and I took care of the administration side of things. We wanted to retire before age 60 and needed some guidance around how to achieve this. The WB Financial team helped us establish ongoing investments to build an investment portfolio that would allow us to retire early.

A year or so after we started with WB we decided we wanted to manage our own super so we could have more control over our retirement savings. The WB team helped us set up a self-managed super fund and we have since been a lot more engaged with our finances.

Last year Darren decided he wanted to wind up the business and retire. This was a big decision for us as it meant retiring around 5-10 years earlier than we’d originally planned. It was a fairly stressful few months for us, particularly for Darren, as he debated the pros and cons of stopping working altogether.

Patricia helped us create a retirement plan based on the income from the assets we’ve accumulated and also managing the fact that we won’t have access to our super funds for another 10 years. Thanks to Patricia’s assistance, we were able to make an informed decision to retire in 2016 at the ages of 50 and 48. She guided us through all our financial decisions as we made this transition.

Patricia has always helped us keep track of our expenses and cashflow so we’re sure that we stick to our budget. She has also worked with our accountant to set up strategies that have allowed us to save on tax.

Patricia checks in with us regularly and always keeps us going in the right direction. When we set a lifestyle goal with her, she keeps us focused and reminds us to enjoy our lives. She even recently told us to go on a holiday we had planned but had not yet taken. Being such a straightforward person, she lets us know directly if we’re ever going off track – and we really value her open and honest communication.

Since meeting Patricia, we’ve always felt very comfortable with her and are fully satisfied with the advice she provides. She explains everything clearly in a way that makes sense to us, and she tells us exactly what we need to know. Anytime I have a question, I can send an email to the WB Financial team and they respond straight away.

We regularly recommend Patricia to our family and friends. We appreciate her advice and care, which have helped us achieve the high level of financial security we have today.