The phrase “community supporting community” speaks in more ways than one for a local financial firm marking a decade business.
For Sunshine Coast born and raised Scott Baker, he has always been passionate about combining his love of his finance with his love for supporting the community and those who live in it.
As Baker Advice Group marks 10 years of offering accounting and financial planning services, Mr Baker said he was proud of the impact the business had made on the region so far.
The company’s director went to school and university on the Coast, before securing a role at a local accounting firm where he worked for five years before deciding to expand his horizons.
“I was having lunch one day and speaking to my wife and I said to her: ‘I want to do something a bit different and I want to have a broader impact than just tax,’” Mr Baker said.
“I ended up working a year in with a company in Sydney and Brisbane to expand my financial planning experience.”
Mr Baker noticed the need for accountants and financial advisers to work together to provide tailored support for the many small business owners on the Sunshine Coast.
Coming back to the Coast, he eventually established a joint financial planning firm with a friend that has evolved to become what Baker Advice Group is today.
“In the last 10 years we ended up buying out my former business partners and purchased two small accounting firms and we keep building on that,” he said.
“When I first opened the business, none of the business owners we dealt with had super.
“We have made an impact to tailor services for small local business to help carry them through business and into retirement.
“For us, we know we have an ageing population on the Coast – a population of people who were previously small business owners – meaning that superannuation was not a priority and looking past the next quarter or year was not done.
“If we can work with small businesses 10, 15, 20 years out from retirement, they can build their own personal wealth outside the business so they don’t have to retire with debt or can use superannuation wisely.”
Mr Baker said at the heart of every business should be a connection with community, whether that was through services provided or in a charitable way.
“Small business at its heart, and the way that we talk about it in here, is that we wouldn’t have a business without the community. We’re from the community for the community,” he said.
“The biggest thing we can do is ensure that the businesses that we deal with are operating from a position of strength.
“They can use that strength to support the people around them in terms of their staff and their families and then their clients and their families.”
Over the past decade, Baker Advice Group has also done its part to contributing to several local charities in various capacities in that time, including surf charity The Board Meeting.
“I believe everyone should have a charity partner,” Mr Baker said.
“When we talk about a small business’s role to play, it’s not just sponsoring an event: it’s showing up and buying tables at events and brining other small business owners along.
“Forget the six degrees of separation, the Sunshine Coast has three degrees. The amount of reach that people can have from Caloundra to Noosa is astronomical.
“It’s about the little guys that don’t have a cost base, or you know the people that they are helping and you know that impact is going straight to the cause.”
For more information on Baker Advice Group and its financial services visit bakeradvice.com.au.
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