Client Story: Dr Richard Stuckey

Not only has the practice of medicine itself evolved substantially but the business side of GP clinics has changed significantly too.

In 1987, when he made the decision to sell out of his Adelaide practice and move to the sunny Gold Coast, it was a relatively simple process. He immediately took ownership of a new clinic in Queensland where he worked until 2016, before making the decision to sell up as part of a winding down of his medical career.

Though this journey has had many twists and turns, Perks has been providing valuable guidance to Dr Stuckey throughout his career. In fact, he is one of Perks’ longest tenured clients, having been with the firm since the late 1970s.

Originally utilising Perks primarily for tax and accounting services, as Dr Stuckey’s career advanced, so did the breadth of services he required. Today, the relationship encompasses a full suite of tax, accounting and wealth management advice.

“Perks were one of the early pioneers of the self-managed fund and that has been a key part of the wealth management services they provided over the journey,” he said.

“More recently, they’ve provided a substantial level of advice and guidance around managing our investment property portfolio and through the process of selling three properties so that we could buy our dream home.

There has also been a significant retirement planning aspect in place so that we have full visibility over our finances moving forward and are fully prepared for the next stage of our lives.

When he made the decision to sell his practice in 2016, Dr Stuckey worked closely with Perks to manage the process, which involved closing two companies and required advice around taxation and contracts; from the negotiation, to the settlement and right through to the post-settlement phase.

“I had a lot of trust in Perks throughout this entire process, and they managed everything professionally and promptly as there were obviously a lot of legalities and tax compliance issues to work through,” he said.

“Importantly, their advice helped all parties reach a satisfactory conclusion and ensuring my long-time staff were taken care of as part of that whole process.”

Trust has been a major foundation of Dr Stuckey relationship with Perks, so much so that he made Director Brian Nimmo, with whom Dr Stuckey has worked for nearly 20 years, signatory to his superannuation fund when the Queensland government introduced additional legislation around self-managed funds.

“My wife has been in state politics for many years and the changes that were brought into effect had a major impact on us to the point that it required me to sell all of my personal share holdings,” he said.

“Without the level of trust that we have built with Perks, there is no way we could have negotiated this process and come out on the other side with our finances still stable and intact.”

“I am incredibly grateful for the advice I have received from Perks over the years and despite living interstate for more than three decades, I have never once considered swapping to a new advisor.

“The level of communication has always remained highly professional and in addition to being able to reach out to Brian at any time, we’ve always had quarterly catch-ups over the phone to ensure that everything is tracking as it should be.”