The CEO Series with Chris Andrews

One of the hallmarks of the La Trobe Financial team is our focus on friendly personal service. It’s a real touchstone for us, something we take very, very seriously. We live in a wonderfully exciting digital world new technologies, artificial intelligence, automation, all of those provide wonderful ways for us to connect with investors. But underneath it all, we need to remain completely focused on the human side.

We’re not dealing with ones and zeros. We’re not dealing with spreadsheets. We’re not dealing with forms. We’re dealing with the lives. We’re dealing with the retirement savings of our investors. One thing you can hold us to at La Trobe Financial is that you will always be able to speak to a human being, a human being here in Australia, not in a call centre, who will be there to help you with your needs and objectives.

That personal touch is critical to us. It animates everything that we do. We embrace technology and the wonderful opportunities it brings to make our business better. But it’s never at the cost of human relationships and friendly personal service. For some, relationships are a buzzword. For us, they’re part of our business model and they always start with real conversations.

One of the real challenges for investors who are approaching retirement or indeed who are in retirement is how do they preserve their wealth, how do they preserve what they’ve worked so hard for across decades and produce for themselves a dignified retirement?

Decades ago, we made a very conscious decision to focus on what we think is one of the biggest megatrends driving the world and financial markets here in Australia and overseas, and that’s aging populations.

Over 300,000 Australians turn 60 every single year.

And what do those investors need? They need consistent, reliable performance, certainly when markets are good, but also when times get more difficult, they need an investment manager that they can trust, that they can rely on to perform across the economic cycle.

What we’ve focused on is providing a dignified retirement for our investors. With 115,000 investors across Australia, we deeply, deeply know your needs.

At La Trobe Financial, here, it’s our motto, and we take it with the utmost of seriousness,

We are here to look out for you.

The most important thing for any investment manager really, is to have the trust of your investors. You have to behave in a way where investors will put their trust that you are building portfolios, that you’re looking after their life savings, with the care, with the attention, with the same diligence that you would for your parents. So the biggest challenge for investors, particularly investors approaching retirement, is how can they get the trust that their investment manager has the credentials, has the investment philosophy and the disciplines to build portfolios that perform through the cycle?

Fundamentally, you need an investment manager with longevity, an investment manager who has been in markets, who’s seen recessions, who’s seen geopolitical tensions, and who has built portfolios that have performed for decades. Transparency is fundamental. If an asset manager won’t show you what’s under the hood, how can you as an investor be really sure and confident that what they’re delivering will stand you in good stead through times of market crisis?

For over seven decades, La Trobe Financial has operated on the premise that we need to be building flexible investment solutions for investors, but most importantly, investment solutions that will perform in times of market turmoil and volatility, as well as when markets are strong. Now we’re blessed to have a wonderful cohort of investors here at La Trobe Financial. We have some of the wealthiest folks in Australia and that’s wonderful.

But we also have mums and dads who’ve worked hard, who’ve raised families, who’ve put together a little nest egg, and all they’re looking for really is a dignified retirement. They’re not looking for the latest boat in Monaco. They are looking to have a dignified retirement where they can provide a little present for the grandkids, where they can maybe go up to a trip to visit their son and daughter in another state.

It’s a wonderful group of investors that we serve. We’re blessed to have them in our business, to our existing customers and partners. Thank you for your trust. We are absolutely committed to continuing to live up to the very highest standards and looking after your retirement savings as if they were our own. To those who are new to the business, we look forward to working with you.

Come in and explore. Learn more about La Trobe Financial, speak to our friendly investor team and see what we can do to help you achieve your needs and objectives.