Former golf pro now putting his energy into investment

By Otago Daily Times | Posted: Friday June 18, 2021

For Duncan Croudis, there really is no place like home.

Mr Croudis (29) might have travelled the world with golf but being in Dunedin was where he now wanted to be.

"You don’t realise how good Dunedin is, maybe until you’ve gone somewhere else," he said yesterday.

In January, Mr Croudis joined Forsyth Barr as an associate adviser, and will soon become an investment adviser.

Sitting next to John Gallaher, with his decades of experience in the financial services industry, it was a role he was relishing.

"It’s different every day. I love it," he said.

Brought up in Dunedin, Mr Croudis studied economics and accounting at Otago Boys’ High School. After his first year of study at the University of Otago, he headed to the United States on a golf scholarship.

He completed a business degree, majoring in finance, from Iowa State University. American college life, he said, was just like it was depicted in the movies.

After his studies, he "tried to do the golf thing" and turn professional. It was tough and competitive and he found he did not enjoy the sport as much when it was a job.

Still, he acknowledged, he was "super lucky" with the opportunities that golf had provided him over the years.

He loved meeting people and travelling and he was also quite competitive. He was playing college golf with some of the big names now on the PGA tour.

He then worked as finance manager for a tech company and did his MBA before joining Forsyth Barr.

"Forsyth Barr is a cool company, so I’m stoked. I love our team and what we do," he said.

Every day was different and every client’s situation was unique. It depended on what they needed, whether it was income or growth, and it was rewarding helping people grow their wealth, he said.

He was pleased to see the increasing interest in financial literacy, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic.

And, as for golf, he had got his love for the sport back again, and he also had his amateur status back.

He was enjoying a position as financial director at Golf Otago which was an opportunity to give back to a sport that had given him so much, he said.

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