Everyone has a different wealth background. But we all appreciate how wealth impacts our future. Stability, legacy, certainty, freedom, strength – wealth drives some powerful possibilities. These go far beyond the worth of a prestige car or blue-chip property.
At WLM Financial in Sydney, we have a near three-decade track record of helping people manage and grow their money. By combining accounting and financial planning under one roof, we create simpler and more robust portfolios for each client, boosting clarity around their unique financial situation. That in turn varies depending on whether they’re 30 or 50, employees or entrepreneurs, spenders or savers, cashflow-conscious or returns-ready.
We call it wealth oneness.
Over nearly three decades of delivering outstanding client results, we’ve been fuelled by a consistent set of shared values.
We take care to understand our clients’ needs, and do everything we can to help.
We collaborate to achieve our clients’ goals, right across the business.
We’re transparent, reliable and communicative, because integrity matters to us and our clients.
We work hard to create sound approaches that bring clients the best results.
We push ourselves to innovate, be proactive and continuously improve.
Long before the current firm launched in 2005, several of our founding directors met and started to collaborate.
We referred one another clients, pooled resources, shared ideas and ultimately transformed our clients’
wealth-bases in that time.
Senior WLM director Geoff Walker and his business partner open the doors of Walker Laanemaar Chartered Accounting. Their clients gain direct access to a highly experienced team, having experience at major accounting firms in Australia and abroad.
Two of our other founding directors open their separate consultancies: financial planners Laura Menschik with her Millennium Financial Planning, and Matthew Walker with Danebury Financial Group. Close to a decade of collaboration follow between the three firms, thanks largely to a shared philosophy on wealth-building and client care.
The multidisciplinary WLM Financial of today is established, delivering its clients the combined power of accounting services and financial planning under the one roof.
With a growing team, new technology uptake and solid commitment to our original values, WLM is a name to watch in the accounting and financial services sector.
We believe in handshakes. We like meeting people. We’re big on deep listening, and we’re set on meeting real needs.
Meet the leadership team that works together to guide the shape of every client account.
Your business data has the power to guide massive decisions. But that’s only possible when everything is well organised, linked to real goals and supported by capable decision-making.
Our Wealth Oneness Reporting Packs ensure that’s the case from both a business and personal perspective. We start by helping you set and commit to specific and measurable goals, so you know exactly what business and lifestyle changes you might need to make and over what timeframe. We then make these tangible by setting your targets in our reporting systems.
Our quarterly packs present you with all of these metrics at a glance, sourced from a range of digital wealth-trackers – from your business budgets and KPIs to personal and family cashflows and asset positions. Know immediately where you spent the most, whether you can start that new project, or which levers you need to change so you can stay on track with your objectives.
Throughout, you’ll have the support of our expert, caring and collaborative accounting and finance advisers.
You’re probably an ambitious person looking for the answers to financial questions with life-changing implications. If so, you’ll fit right in with our client base.
All actively interested in understanding how their money works, our clients represent a broad demography: from first home-buyers to entrepreneurs, executives, downsizers and lifestylers of all ages.
You can browse some of their testimonials below.
Chartered Accountant / Registered Auditor / Self-Managed Superannuation Fund Auditor
One of our founding directors, Geoff Walker initially entered accounting in the footsteps of his accountant father. But he’s stayed in the sector for 50-plus years because of the great satisfaction he gains from helping people.
Early in Geoff’s career, every part of the accounting and audit process was manual – from filling out ledgers to writing up primary books of account. He embraced technology after the 1970s, first learning punch-card based auditing programs at London University and a range of transformative systems since. “Technology is just magic. We can do things so much more efficiently than even five years ago,” he enthuses. Geoff worked at several firms later incorporated into EY, before founding one of the respected firms that has since become WLM.
Matching his quietly competent personal style is a deep commitment to order and systems, from ensuring that lodgements are met well ahead of deadline, to instilling a culture of mentorship that ensures all team members feel valued and productive. Geoff is an active 4WD enthusiast, outback camper and devoted grandparent.
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Connect with Geoff on LinkedIn
Certified Practicing Accountant (Fellow) / Chartered Accountant, MBA (Financial Planning) / Registered Tax Agent / GAICD (Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors)
There’s never a dull moment in the world of accounting and finance, whether it’s market shocks or changing governments – and that volatility will always be exciting to this director. Amanda Rogers has earned an impressive number of qualifications over the years, training first as an accountant and CPA before completing a high-scoring MBA, which won her a prestigious Zonta award.
However, it’s the warm team dynamic and rewarding client work that Amanda values most at WLM. “We all help each other out, and have a culturally diverse workforce and an open-door management policy. It’s a place where people can thrive,” she says. Her work at WLM has included guiding numerous startups to growth, growth structures for medical professionals and medical practices, international branch accounting, business valuations and much more.
When not at work, Amanda supports the University of Technology Sydney’s MBA Women’s Network and is on the board of directors for Coast Community Connections, a registered charity delivering high quality services to young people, families, people with a disability and older people on the NSW Central Coast. She is active with her teenage children and their far-ranging mountain-biking or cheerleading ventures. She’s also a keen property investor, always on the lookout for her next purchase.
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Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn
Certified Financial Planner® Justice of the Peace
Matt has been a financial planner since 1992, prompted to do so after observing some poor financial decisions made by people within his wider circles. He was determined to learn and not make such mistakes. “They would be much better off if not for those decisions,” he observes. “It doesn’t have to be that hard.”
An innate problem-solver and ‘financial architect’, Matt has been instrumental in developing the goals-based financial planning and investment approach we use here at WLM.
He is known for his refreshing frankness, whether it’s demystifying finance to clients, or pushing the team to find better ways of doing things. Through his exploration of individual motivations and decisions, he’s improved the financial outcomes for hundreds of clients in his two-plus decades as a founding director of WLM.
Outside of the office, Matt loves spending time with his family, who all have a thirst for adventure – climbing the Himalayas, skiing the back bowls or walking the Serengeti. He has also set up a not-for-profit initiative that educates other financial advisors on giving the best advice. “The industry is changing, and there are some incredible opportunities allowing us to achieve great things for our clients,” he says.
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Connect with Matt on LinkedIn
Certified Financial Planner® / AEPS Accredited Estate Planning Strategist® / LRS Life Risk Specialist®
Sean’s training as a Certified Financial Planner may have begun before he was out of school shorts. From a young age, he was observing how finances affected people’s lives and lifestyles, and after completing years and years of studies, including a Bachelor of Economics and Finance, found he could make a real difference for people.
Sean hasn’t stopped helping people since, working in various financial advisory roles and becoming a director at WLM Financial in 2008. He has long upheld the signature WLM Financial approach, of combining analytical diligence with a genuine effort to understand client problems. “I hate seeing people having to make rushed financial decisions – the results usually aren’t great. So I spend a lot of time with people, getting them to think ahead, so that we can plan, prepare and pounce when the time’s right,” he explains.
He’s also known for his steady stream of dad-jokes and intense fitness regime, which includes group-training, golf and kid-wrangling.
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Connect with Sean on LinkedIn
Certified Financial Planner® / Bachelor of Economics
Stephen ran a successful financial planning practice for almost 15 years before joining WLM Financial, drawn by its warm team culture, operational efficiencies and innovative investment solutions. “I love my job because I get to meet new people every day. There is no greater satisfaction than working with a client and seeing their dreams come true. No two days are the same,” he says.
WLM’s goals-based approach resonates with Stephen’s own beliefs around client care, which involve customised strategies and clear communication, ultimately coaching clients to financial freedom. He is keenly aware of how often most people’s situations change, driving the need to review each client’s financial position regularly to ensure they’re getting the most out of their resources.
Like his fellow directors, Stephen is a great driver of innovation at WLM and the efficiencies that new technology bring about – for planners and clients alike.
A self-confessed AFL tragic (West Coast Eagles, for the record), Stephen also loves a good political thriller and is devoted to his family.
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Connect with Stephen on LinkedIn
Chartered Accountant / Chartered Tax Adviser / Registered Tax Agent
Growing up as one of six competitive boys in country Victoria and Canberra, Dan McGrath always knew that financial soundness and personal freedom went hand-in-hand. He was quick to get on the career ladder after studying commerce and accounting, with stints in London and Edinburgh working for KPMG, then at Walter Turnbull (now part of PwC) in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney for 10 years before setting up his own practice.
In 2012, the team-minded Dan – a former first-grade rugby and AFL player – joined WLM Financial, where he is a director and instrumental lead in the accounting practice. Dan echoes the WLM philosophy of embracing new financial technology, and encouraging a long-term holistic mindset in clients. “For business owners, an accountant is often their only support in financial decision-making. That’s why we believe that accounting and finances should be planned as a whole,” Dan explains.
Outside of work, Dan is a keen AFL and rugby fan, weekend golfer and enjoys listening to podcasts when he can get a quiet moment from his two children. He’s known for his easygoing manner and quick, dry humour.
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Connect with Dan on LinkedIn
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Australian Financial Complaints Authority*
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