Placing clients at the centre has built Centaur

Warren Buffett got Hugh Robertson started on an advice career, but as the Gold Coast native admits, he started from a position of ignorance concerning the great investor.

“I had a lecturer in corporate finance, at university, who kept talking about this guy, Warren Buffett. I wondered why I was hearing so much about him, so I went looking for any information about him I could find. And I came across this other person called Benjamin Graham.”

Robertson ordered the 1934 edition of Graham’s seminal tome, Security Analysis. “It’s 500 pages long, I remember reading it about four times, and understanding about a quarter of the content. I just wanted to read and understand what Warren Buffet had read at my age, and been so influenced by,” says Robertson.

The combination of “finally finishing” Security Analysis, and reading “anything I could get hold of on Buffett,” sealed Robertson’s interest in investing and the stock market. “I was studying a Bachelor of International Finance, with an accounting major, but I hadn’t really settled on where it could take me. I was keen on going into funds management, so I decided I wanted to be a great investor, like Buffett.”

Robertson would go the Griffith University library every day, to read the Australian Financial Review. At the time, he did not know that financial advice existed as a profession, but coming out of university in 2004, he landed a graduate position as a financial adviser, with Commonwealth Bank.

“That was a great leg-up into a training program, and it was my first exposure to advice as a profession. I still thought I wanted to work in funds management. But about a year into the role, I started to see how advisers could really add value, in putting the pieces together for clients that really didn’t speak the language,” he says. “That sparked an interest in me. It wasn’t long before I realised that advice was actually the perfect career path for my interests and abilities, and my personality,” he says.

Robertson soon moved across to Queensland-based advisory firm Whittaker Macnaught, at which time he also commenced a master’s degree in financial planning from the University of the Sunshine Coast, followed by three years completing the Financial Planning Association’s (FPA’s) certified financial planner program. But even before his CFP course was concluded, Robertson had decided to go all-in on advice, starting his own practice, Centaur Financial Services, in 2009.

“We started the business in the middle of the GFC. We didn’t have much; we built the business the way most self-employed people do – we worked crazy hours and tried to help as many people as we could. Over the years we have become more streamlined in our operations, but the key is we have built the business around our client proposition,” he says.

That has been central to his own evolution, says Robertson.

“I’m a nerd, so, when I started my career, I just wanted to show my investment knowledge and my technical knowledge. But as I went through client experiences, I started to realise it was really all about how we just help them best, because it’s a minefield out there trying to understand the financial landscape,” he says.

His biggest epiphany has been that it’s not about being the smartest or most up-to-date on investments. “I learned from some of the best advisers in the country, that the secret to being an effective adviser is to simplify any situation down to what the client needs. It’s really about that focus on the client and their goals. Investments come and go, waxing in and out of favour, and legislation changes, but what I’ve learned from all the gatherings of top advisers that I’ve been in has really been the absolute importance of that client care, focusing on the individuals, and focusing on the outcomes that we can achieve for them,” says Robertson.

Along the way, implementing these principles, and following the over-arching philosophy of advice on which his firm was established, something has clicked; and the accolades have followed. Centaur has piled-up the finalist nominations in the award categories of Self-Licensed Advice Firm of the Year, Best Client Outcomes of the Year and Boutique Advice Firm of the Year; and personally, Robertson has been named in the Power 50 Most Influential Advisers in Australia, the prestigious Barron’s list of the Top 150 Advisers in Australia in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and in 2024, he was awarded the Investment Adviser of the Year.

The latter was “one that I really did want,” he says. “I told my kids that was the award I really wanted. What it means to me is that it’s a validation of our approach and our process. We’re always very honest and transparent with our clients about investment markets and outcomes, good and bad. We put our hearts and souls into helping clients navigate through whatever uncertainty the markets give us, and to have what we do assessed and judged highly, at a nationwide standard, was something that we’re very proud of.”

Along the way, Robertson has added to his resume a Master’s in Financial Planning, an MBA, the Self-Managed Superannuation Specialist designation and the Certified Investment Management Analyst title. “We focus a lot on ongoing education. Qualifications and certifications keep you up to date with what is happening in both the academic and real world, so that we can deliver the best strategies and investments to continually improve our clients’ lives,” he says.

With four young children all immersed in the classic Gold Coast life, Robertson doesn’t get much time for relaxation, but he wouldn’t want it any other way. “Life is coaching two of my kids in basketball, the weekend is nippers, then a collection of kids’ birthday parties for the others. I wouldn’t trade it, because I know this time when your kids are young, and still want to be your best friend, is limited,” he says.

Relaxation has to wait for Monday mornings, when it all comes full circle. “I get into work early, and I sit down and read the Financial Review,” he says. “That’s my ‘me’ time.”

James Dunn

James is an experienced senior journalist and editor of The Inside Network's publications.