Our 40th year in business is coming to a close and last week we celebrated with a Sundowner with clients and other business associates.

We’ve come a long way in 40 years since commencing in 1979 as business brokers. Over the years, we have evolved to keep pace with changing client requirements and demands, and adapted to a myriad of economic, political and legal changes.

During our time in business the landscape has changed dramatically.

• Economically, we have seen:
  • The boom of the mid 1980s;
  • The share market crash of October 1987;
  • The recession we had to have in the 1990s, which included a property crash like no other seen in Australia before;
  • The introduction of compulsory superannuation and the Superannuation Guarantee in 1992;
  • The increase in property and share markets in the mid to late 1990s;
  • The tech boom and bust of 1999 and 2000;
  • The introduction of the GST in 2000;
  • The global turmoil that happened after 11 September 2001;
  • The effects of the Gulf War mark 2 in mid 2002 and the hunt for Osama Bin Laden;
  • The property boom of 2006/2007;
  • The GFC in 2009;
  • The mining boom that followed the GFC from 2010 to 2014;
  • The mining crash of 2014;
  • The change in tax laws for single touch payroll and withholding of tax from the sale of property, both in 2018 & 2019;
  • Current day flat property markets, with a subdued share market.
• Politically, we have seen numerous Prime Ministers come and go in Australia, all with their own stamp of what they wanted to write into the country’s history, a lot of which resulted from the above economic issues.
• Legally, we have seen rafts and rafts of new legislation which affect tax, finance, superannuation, employee and employer rights, tenants’ rights, landlords’ rights and then more regulation around operating licences and how business is now done.

Upon reflection, we have looked at all of the things that make AAG different, from our ethos on how we deal with matters and problems to some of our ‘sayings’, which have been inspired by our very own founder and Chairman, Syd Chesson – they are called ‘Syd’s Sayings’, and many of our clients have heard us quote him over the years. At the end of this article you’ll see some of Syd’s favourites.

AAG has evolved during this time to now have more than 850 clients, employing over 50 staff, and looking after a large volume of investments, tax returns, business clients, solving personal tax and financial issues, rental properties under management, the purchase and sale of many residential and commercial properties, and a very wide range of legal and other issues.

Our clients are the centre of our world. We provide good service and good value, and help our clients to achieve their life and financial goals – We thank you for the opportunity to have helped you and to work with you.

We are proud of where we have come from, and what we have evolved into, over the past 40 years and we look forward to assisting you as we continue to grow into the future.

We take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe New Year. We look forward to a bigger and better 2020, as we continue to help our clients to achieve their goals.

Syd’s Sayings

We can work the improbable and the impossible. But miracles take a bit longer, so have patience and we will help to sort the miracles.

We Chessons have stickability – we can stick to something until it is finished, and make sure that we get back-up no matter what life or the situation throws at us.

Look after the client, and the rest will look after itself.

Apply the ‘Sleep Test’ – if a decision keeps you awake at 3am in the morning, then that decision is not right for you. The ‘Sleep Test’ trumps all other risk profile and decision making tools.

It doesn’t matter how you got here – it is what you do about the situation next that matters.

There are investment decisions and lifestyle decisions – lifestyle decisions cost you money so you can’t apply investment thinking to a lifestyle decision.

Cashflow is King, that is the most important thing in any business or investment decision.