An independent firm, built around continuity.

Origins

United Kingdom to Victoria.

Tim was born and raised in the United Kingdom. He moved to Australia for university, drawn by extended family already settled in Victoria. What was meant to last the duration of a degree has held for more than three decades.

Foundations

Property valuations, then advice.

Tim graduated from RMIT in 1994 with a Bachelor of Business in property valuations. The training was in disciplined assessment of value: looking at an asset, understanding what shaped it, and being prepared to defend the number you put on it. That habit of mind has carried through every part of the work since.

In November 1997 Tim began providing financial advice professionally. Markets were different then. So were the rules, the products, and the way clients were spoken to. What hasn't changed is what advice ought to be: an honest assessment of someone's situation, a recommendation made in their interest, and a relationship that lasts long enough to see whether the recommendation worked.

Sixteen years at Ord Minnett

Senior investment advice and financial planning.

From 1997 to 2013, Tim was a Senior Investment Advisor and Financial Planner at Ord Minnett, one of Australia's longest-established stockbroking and investment firms. Sixteen years in one place is rare in this industry. It allowed clients to be advised through full market cycles, through changes in their circumstances, and through the generational transitions that test whether advice is genuinely working.

The work covered direct share portfolios alongside managed funds, fixed income, and structured advice on superannuation, family trusts, and company structures. Personal insurance was incorporated where it protected the family lifestyle. Estate planning, tax, and legal questions were coordinated through a network of specialist professionals.

During this period Tim added the qualifications that would shape the rest of his work: CPA Accountant in 2001, Diploma of Financial Planning in 2001, Certified Financial Planner in 2002, and Self-Managed Superannuation Fund Specialist Adviser in 2013. None of these were collected for show. Each addressed a question Tim was being asked by clients and wanted to answer with proper grounding.

Eight years at Lonsdale

A boutique alliance, the same client work.

In January 2014 Tim moved to Lonsdale Financial Group, where he advised clients for the next eight and a half years. Lonsdale was a different shape of firm: smaller, more relationship-driven, with the freedom to structure client arrangements that suited the work rather than the institution. The clients who came across with Tim brought their families with them. New clients arrived through the same channel that has always brought them: existing clients introducing the next generation.

By 2022, the question of independence had become the central one. The reasons clients had stayed for fifteen, twenty, twenty-five years had nothing to do with which licence sat above the advice. The reasons were the advice itself, the continuity of the relationship, and the absence of any incentive that pulled in a different direction. The next move was to remove the last layer between Tim and the work.

Founding Secure Port Wealth

Independent licence. Direct accountability.

Tim founded Secure Port Pty Ltd in June 2022 and was issued AFSL 539360. Secure Port Wealth is an independent licence, held by Tim, with no parent dealer group, no in-house product range, and no external commercial pressure on the recommendations made to clients.

As principal and sole financial adviser, Tim sets the firm's standards directly. He is supported from the Braeside office by a small operational and research team: two investment analysts, a financial modeller, and a strategy associate. Their role is to support the research, modelling, and implementation work behind the advice. They do not provide financial product advice. Most clients have worked with Tim for over a decade, and many have followed him through three different licensee structures to reach this one. That continuity is the most honest measure of the work.