Retiree still has lots to do

ROBYN EDIE 624208039

STRONG PLAYER: Recently retired financial adviser and sportsman Robin Goodall looks through an old photo album on the deck of his Riverton home.

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Robin Goodall got his first campervan when he was travelling around Europe in 1970.

The Volkswagen combi van was shipped back to New Zealand. Since then he and his wife Pip have never been without one.

The former financial adviser and sportsman expects to get more use out of his latest camper van, parked outside his Riverton home, since retiring from MMG Advisory (formerly Money Managers), where he was based for 16 years. Before that he was an accountant and auditor at Broad Christies and Partners (now McCulloch and Partners).

Mr Goodall, whose father Reg set up the Goodall's shoe store, says while the finance industry had been through hard times the processes MMG used were good. "It's more about liquidity and preservation of capital – money has got tied up and they [clients] haven't been able to access it."

The industry was tightening up to ensure that changed.

Mr Goodall has fond memories of good friends made through clients and other MMG franchise holders.

Now multiple sclerosis has forced him to slow down. But sport is still a part of this former Southland tennis and squash champion's life. He plays bowls and has a golf cart to help him get around a course. Mr Goodall has had a long involvement in Southland tennis and squash.

"I grew up playing tennis and my family had strong sporting ties," he said. A highlight of his sporting career was beating Robin Welsh for the Southland tennis singles title in 1964; Welsh having been his rival and "the stumbling block" of his tennis. "He had more talent than any of us," he said.

Mr Goodall played against John Sutter, a New Zealand Davis Cup player in the 1960s, but didn't manage to beat him. "I was a good player at provincial levels. I don't want to give the impression that at any time I was a gun. ... I had a very good backhand and good volleying."

Taking up squash in his teens Mr Goodall went on to take the 1964 national university title and was a strong player in the 1960s when the sport was in its infancy.

He did a stint as president of Southland Tennis in the 1990s when his two children were starting to play, and helped get veterans' tennis going on Thursday nights.

He said it was frustrating for him going from being so active to having to walk with the aid of a stick, but he still had plenty of other things to do and think about.

That includes more travel and helping his wife at her Riverton store, The Cosy Bookshop.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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