Having spent 22 years with Morgans and 18 years as an Ulton Partner, it’s hard to imagine Bundaberg without Karl Brosnan. How strange it is to think that if not for a chance conversation in the right place at the right time, Karl could have ended up living a very different life on the other side of the Pacific.
We caught up with Karl to talk about that trajectory-changing moment, his journey from the family farm into finance, and the values that have shaped his journey the whole way through.
Along with being one of Ulton’s Partners, you’re the Branch Manager for Morgans Bundaberg. To get started, could you tell us a bit about the Morgans team?
I’m very fortunate to have a small, albeit young and innovative team. There’s five of us total and we like to keep a pretty flat structure. Every team member knows each of our clients quite well and they all have a big input into the service we provide. In the same vein, if there’s coffee to be made, we’re all equally capable of going ahead and making it.
And can you share a bit about your role?
I try to lead by example, providing our clients with the treatment and service that we, as a firm, believe they should experience. As much as possible, I like to bring the team in to get their feedback on how we can do things better, especially on the technology side. I really do like to take a team approach: we’re all very invested and we’re all here to work together. Even the clients I’ve been dealing with for 20-odd years, we’ve made it so they are just as comfortable working with anyone else on the team too.
Tell us a bit about your clients
We have a very broad range of clients: country people with property, small business owners, large business owners, retirees, near-retirees etc. What’s interesting is that while our clients are different from each other in a lot of ways—different industries, backgrounds, life stages—they have a lot of traits in common. It’s really evident when we get all our clients together in the same room for a meal. Everyone gets on really well. They are all hard working, down to earth, decent people.
Where did you grow up?
Mum and Dad raised us five kids on a property between Inglewood and Goondiwindi. I remember a lot of my childhood very clearly. It was the ‘70s and ‘80s back then and we just had a really lovely, simple life. We milked our own cows, killed our own meat. We worked pretty hard on the farm but spent a lot of really nice family time together, and us kids were always up to mischief. We had lots and lots of fun.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a shearer. As a kid, we’d have shearers come each year to do the sheep. I remember that the rate used to start at about $1.37 per sheep, and these guys could do about 180 sheep a day. I used to do the math and just be blown away by how much money these guys were making. I remember being in boarding school for those final years of school, and telling my parents that being there was just a waste, because school wasn’t going to make me a better shearer. Anyway, it all changed in the ‘90s. Interest rates were through the roof and the floor price for wool and sheep was falling drastically. All of a sudden, the industry didn’t look so good anymore.
What did you do after finishing school?
When I was still at school, I put ag economics down as my uni preference. I was accepted but deferred—even when I put it down, I had no real intention of going to uni at that time in my life. Instead, I worked. This was a time when getting a job was hard. Youth unemployment was at 20%+, and while I was lucky to never be out of work, I certainly did some pretty wild jobs.
How did you get interested in the stock market?
Because I did okay at school and had a farming background, I ended up getting a job at Elders as a trainee. In those days, Elders used to have a rural bank system going on and I remember learning that one of the guys that used to use them, had what was, in those days, a huge amount of money in a term deposit. I was just so curious. I couldn’t believe how much money this gentleman had.
When he’d pull up in his old Falcon to pick up bags of biscuits for his dogs, I’d rush out there to help him load them. I just wanted to get to know this guy. One day, I just said to him, “Hey Mr Klein, what do you think I should do to try and make some money?”. He said “Have a look at the share market Karl”. I didn’t need to be told twice I was working for Elders through the week and working at Pubs and Mulesing sheep on the weekends for extra money. I started learning about shares and got myself a Stockbroker. Whenever I’d save a couple thousand, I’d phone him up and buy some shares. And that’s how it started.
And how did this evolve from being a personal interest, into something you saw yourself doing professionally?
After a bit of overseas travel to Europe and South America and Africa, I came back home and started university, where I got more interested in shares. I ended up going to study in Holland for a year where I focused even more on the market. Upon finishing my studies, I started working in the UK at a stockbroking firm.
How did you end up in Bundaberg?
Funnily enough, the plan was to end up in New York for a couple of years, not Bundaberg. A colleague from London had moved over there to head up a division and asked if I was keen to go over, my plan was to come to Bundaberg for a month (where my parents had moved to) before heading over to start working for him.
So I arrived in Bundaberg with no intention of staying. I didn’t know the place or the people. But ‘ABN AMRO Morgans’ did catch my eye. That was the name of the Bundaberg Morgans branch at the time, and ABN AMRO was a very respected European investment bank, so I was pretty curious about what the story was there.
To cut a long story short, I ended up going to have a chat with them, and it turned out the guy there, Ray, was looking for someone and mentioned that he was thinking of retiring in a couple years, so there was potentially an opportunity for me longer term to buy into the business. I saw the opportunity and my plans changed very quickly.
Relationships are a huge part of what you do. What do you think the key is to maintaining decades-long relationships?
I’ve always said that the only kind of relationship that works is one that’s win-win. If you want to win every time and never let the other person have a win, it’s not going to last. Everyone needs to bring something to the table.
I’ve always found that honesty and transparency are key too. We all have our ups and downs, good days and bad. In those times when things are going bad, I like to get on the phone quickly and let people know where they’re at.
After all this time, what’s the thing you love most about your work?
It’s always great to see clients and the team I work with going well, and I certainly get a really good feeling out of that. But just as important, I think, is being there with them when things aren’t going so well. I really appreciate how much we have to do with our clients over the years. I care about them and they really care about me too, and we’ve built great honest friendships over the years.
What’s a thought you keep in your mind that helps you keep perspective?
When you start thinking you’re going well and you’re a great operator, that’s when you’re going to take your eye off the ball and trip over. I think being humble, listening to other people, and always knowing that there’s more to learn is one of the best things you can do for yourself.
Beyond work, what lights you up in life?
I love being on the farm - cattle, horses, working dogs. A great day to me is being up before the sun, working all day mustering, fencing, whatever needs to be done, coming home covered in dust, jumping in the creek to freshen up, and being absolutely exhausted at the end of the day. Cooking a steak over the coals and having a cold beer, and maybe an Ellimatta Red. It sounds a bit crazy, but I just love it. I love the country and being outdoors.