WHEN it came to making a decision about his working future, financial planner David Fuller could tell all the signs around him were pointing to only one option: retirement.
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David began his career in 1987 and has operated as a financial planner in Bathurst ever since, forming a lot of great relationships.
During that time he has also developed strong ties in the squash community.
In June this year, David stepped down from his role as owner at Spencer and Fuller Associates, a business he established with Marian Spencer in the mid 1990s.
Marian retired in 2005, but David stayed on with the business for another 13 years.
He said there were three reasons why he decided to retire, the first being the changing nature of the industry.
“The regulators now require all financial planners to hold a degree by 2024 and I turn 60 this year and didn’t have the energy, desire or time to all of a sudden go and get a university degree,” he said.
“The second reason is that the business [Spencer and Fuller Associates] has been taken over by other people and they were wanting to take it in directions I probably wasn’t comfortable with, so I decided it was time for me to go.”
However, those two reasons were underpinned by a factor even more significant, David’s health.
In 2016, he was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer, with doctors not expecting him to live to Christmas of the next year.
He underwent chemotherapy, which he has now completed, and bone scans done just a few weeks ago showed that the level of cancer had reduced.
While he is in a better place health-wise, David said that he didn’t want to get himself “into a hole” by continuing in what can be a stressful career.
“I didn’t want to get into a hole with my health, then decide to leave [my job] and have to get out of that hole,” he said.
“So I feel as thought I’ve got out on top health-wise.”
In the months since he retired, David has been enjoying his life and was recently recognised by Charter Financial Planners at its gala award night on December 7.
“It’s always nice to be there and support your other peers in the industry,” he said. “A lot of those people have supported me over the 31 years I’ve been there.”
The people he worked with for a long time at Spencer and Fuller have also moved on from the business and David had the chance to catch up with them at the special Christmas party on December 14 at Rydges.
He said his former staff were a fantastic group of people to work with and he was very thankful for them.
“Without their support [the business] wouldn’t have been what it was,” David said of his colleagues. “They worked hard and it was a fun office.”
A lesson that David has taken away from his career and cancer battle, and one he wants to share, is the importance of trauma insurance, something he helped many families access over the years.
Without that lump-sum payment he got after his cancer diagnosis, he knows the situation would have been even more difficult.
He encouraged people to look into trauma insurance if they don’t already have it.
“It helps people recover. They can pay off their home loan or they can help provide medical treatment. It provides security for the family,” David said.
As for the future, David will continue with his treatment and plans to stay active through squash.
He aims to be at the World Masters Squash Championships in Poland in two years time.
Of retirement, he said, “I know that I have made the right decision because I don’t have a regret.”
