Whether it’s new commercial premises, a prized painting or a hobby farm, the flexible, tax-effective finance solutions offered by Prolending are only limited by your imagination.
It makes sense that once you are earning enough money to enjoy the good life, you can start to indulge your passions – whether it be for collecting unusual objects, having a garage full of cars or buying a hobby farm.
You’re not alone: Tom Hanks owns a collection of over 300 vintage typewriters; Demi Moore’s porcelain doll collection is worth over a million dollars; Angelina Jolie has a collection of Renaissance and Mediaeval knives and daggers; and Rod Stewart has transformed an entire floor of his Beverly Hills home into a massive model recreation of 1940s Chicago — complete with train terminals, parks, warehouses and much more.
Paying cash for these indulgences may not be your preference, but banks don’t like to take a risk on financing items that are ‘outside the square’.
Enter ProLENDING. Ross Andrews, one of ProLENDING’s directors, explains that there are always alternatives to paying cash when the bank says “No”, and these options may have tax benefits.
ProLENDING places more emphasis on the quality of the borrower, rather than the purpose of the loan. This is in stark contrast to most other lenders.
“We respect the letters after their name and understand the sacrifices they have made to become medical professionals. If they can afford to repay the loan, we’ll help them pursue their passions, whatever they may be,” says Andrews.
This takes the frustration out of finance. Indeed, ProLENDING creates flexible and fast finance options that suit your needs as well as potentially being tax effective.
While most of ProLENDING’s finance is for commercial purposes, who says that the Brett Whiteley painting you have your heart set on can’t be a legitimate tax deduction? Obviously, you would also need to get financial advice from your accountant or financial adviser, but it is definitely worth exploring every option and opportunity.
ProLENDING finances motor vehicles, goodwill, equipment, artwork, residential and commercial property, as well as the things you are passionate about.
Ross and Mark Andrews and their team will assist you with sourcing holistic finance solutions to suit your individual cash flow and business needs.
A passionate collector
Dr Tony Tonks is a plastic surgeon from Canberra and is passionate about collecting just about everything that takes his fancy. Here is his first-hand report of his current collections, and how ProLENDING has helped him add to them.
On Prolending
I have known Ross Andrews from ProLENDING for almost three years. I have found ProLENDING to be an incredibly responsive organisation, with competitive and flexible finance.
The business model is very agile and tailored solutions to my requests for finance for equipment, motor vehicles and even my maps are very promptly created.
Ross has also provided me with excellent finance options and unique investment opportunities. As an organisation ProLENDING has a very inclusive culture and supports young people looking to emerge into this work space. I can only recommend ProLENDING most highly.
On his collections
Books/Maps
I collect First Edition Hardback Biggles stories by Captain W.E. Johns and have approximately half of the Biggles stories written. I started collecting them to have something to read to our son at night.
Growing up I used to read them, but when our son was born he would not go to sleep when my wife read to him, demanding more and more stories every night. I got a bit tired of this, so one night I sat down with one of my old Biggles stories and read it in a complete monotone and he was asleep by the second page. After a few months of this I had run out of Biggles stories, so tried to buy some more, but they were so completely sanitised and politically correct that I couldn’t bring myself to buy them. I was already collecting old Atlases so I used my contacts in the antique book trade to source First Edition Biggles books. These books are often not too expensive, but it is a great hobby as it encourages me to stop at little off-the-beaten-track towns and browse their bookshops. Also, our children get great pleasure out of discovering a horde of Biggles books in out-of-the-way shops and procuring them for me.
As I mentioned, I also collect old Atlases, having First Edition examples of the earliest Atlases of Australia and also Australia and New Zealand. I often restore these books, as they have been neglected, to preserve them for future generations. I am fortunate to be living in Canberra in that I have access to artisans who restore works for the NGA and the NLA. Recently I commissioned the restoration of a three-volume Atlas. The leather had deteriorated on one volume particularly, but with new restorative techniques, and some technologies I brought in from the USA, I have been able to preserve the integrity of the earliest Pictorial Atlas of Australia and NZ.
Stemming from this is my interest in antique maps, particularly the Voyages of Discovery in the Pacific and particularly for the maps of Captain James Cook. I have first editions of almost every map from Cook’s voyage on the Endeavour, and the significant maps from each of his two remaining voyages to the Pacific. These maps are quite utilitarian, but heroic. I find it difficult to comprehend the courage these early explorers possessed to venture so far into the unknown world. I have been putting this collection together to display in my rooms, to inform and educate my patients.
I have a number of complementary maps, from the 17th and 18th century and into the 19th century, which chart the growth of knowledge in this region, including Antarctica.
Some of these maps are works of art in themselves. I enjoy them as they remind me of how recently in real terms our history is, and of the courage of the individuals who created them. I think that is an important message to share, in that courage and endeavour can create something that is quite beautiful.
Art
My family has had a long association with art. My great-great-grandmother was the first woman awarded a Scholarship in NZ to study art in Paris.
Regrettably, at the turn of the last century she perished from TB and so all the contents of her studio in Wellington were burnt. I have a single water colour of a scene painted in Paris.
My grandfather and father were also very accomplished artists, but Henry Tonks, a distant relative closes the circle somewhat. Henry Tonks was a surgeon who later became the Slade Professor of Fine Art at University College London, and famously was the war artist who recorded the work of Sir Harold Gillies, the first plastic surgeon, who developed the discipline of plastic surgery whilst treating those wounded in the trench warfare of WWI.
I have an eclectic collection of art, but have only original works. I designed my rooms to include a gallery space as my antechamber.
Fishing reels/rods
I have a substantial collection of vintage fishing reels, mainly by Hardy of England. Hardy was the rod and reel maker to most of the European Royal Courts, and their catalogue was one of the most anticipated publications across the British Empire.
Hardy designed the first fishing reel with ball bearings, calling it the ‘Perfect’. My earliest reel is a brass- faced Perfect, made in 1899. As a fisherman, my sport is flyfishing for trout and game fishing for marlin and tuna. I use vintage fishing gear, especially for trout. I have sourced split cane rods to compliment my fishing reels, and use silk fly lines, sourced from France, to recreate the original feel of flyfishing from the early 1900s. My collection focuses on Hardy Reels from the late 1800s through to the 1950s. I think most would agree that Hardys lost their edge after 1960.
I also collect American Penn Senator game fishing reels, and have a number of reels manufactured in complimentary periods, to show the different approach designers and engineers took to solve the same problem: How to catch a fish. A problem that still exists today. I have also freely spread around my rooms a number of reels, especially from America, for patients to handle. Again these showcase the different approaches to how to design the perfect reel.
I started collecting reels as I wanted to mount a reel on my father’s old rod to display. The first reel I purchased had a flaw, so I sought out another one. Having got that, I thought I should get a reel for my old rod, for when my children wanted to hang my rod on the wall. One thing led to another and soon I had amassed a substantial collection of fly, salmon, estuarine and big game reels. I am reminded of that old prayer of fishermen, which goes along the lines of “Lord when I die, please don’t let my wife sell my fishing gear for what I told her I paid for it”.
These reels are displayed in my rooms, and often serve as a great conversation piece. Patients often have very fond memories, as do I, of fishing with their family growing up.
I have also been privileged enough to have had a few patients give me reels that had particular meaning to them. One female patient gave me a reel her father had made, and used to fish for barracuda off Kangaroo Island in the early 1900s. He was an engineer and made the reel himself. Another patient gave me his father’s very battered but very cherished Seamaster Reel.
I think, as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, the fishing reel represents the pursuit of the perfect balance of form and function, something I strive for in my surgical endeavours.
Most-prized possessions
People and family are the most important thing for me.
I think, in truth, none of us have the right work/life balance. I work diligently at creating opportunity for me to spend time with my family, especially our children, and in creating opportunity for them to experience as many aspects of life as possible.
I work in solo private practice in Canberra. I am fortunate in that I have around me a dedicated and supportive team.
For my own private recreation I enjoy driving in old cars, exploring out-of-the-road places searching for books and the perfect meat pie.
My interest in old Atlases assists me in this, as I will often travel the old routes around NSW, many of which are just gravel tracks, to visit locations which once were a named location, but now are often nothing more that an intersection or a curve in the road.
Start pursuing your passion. Call Ross Andrews on 0488 767 722 or Mark Andrews on 0448 030 424 or visit www.prolending.com.au
