Born and raised as a true Cantabrian I grew up in Halswell and played rugby league for the local club before going to high school and switching to rugby union. Sport played a big part of my life growing up and I competed in athletics as well as softball with winter being taken up playing rugby and rugby league.

In 1993 I left New Zealand and toured Asia and Europe with a Maori cultural group performing to audiences in France, Finland, Germany before stopping off in the USA and Hawaii. It was during my time in Finland that I met a girl who was later to be my wife and in 1994 I married Anna. She followed me back to New Zealand where we had 2 sons Markus and Mikael before returning to Finland in 1996 where our third son Tuomas was born. We lived in Finland for 6 years before immigrating to the UK in 2002 where I completed my degree at Coventry University.

We had always intended to return to New Zealand and after being away for 13 years knew that it had to be now or never so in September 2009 we returned home and now live in North Canterbury.

I love meeting people and helping them achieve their financial goals. Being truly independent allows me to research the market place and obtain the most relevant product to suit their financial needs.

I have gone through the personal loss of losing both my parents and know the stresses and financial hardships that can placed on loved ones who are left behind. I am committed and passionate about ensuring my clients don’t face that same dilemma and that every New Zealander has the right to retire with dignity and without financial hardship.