Financial planner and WOTSO Symonston member Dominic Bentley, Director of Capital2, knows what he likes, and it’s not working from home.
“I very rarely work at home – I don’t like it,” he says. “It might be old school, but I like the process: get up, get dressed and go to work. Then come home and relax.”
Everyone’s different and Dominic, who provides financial and investment advice to around 140 clients, says the blended work from home and office setup that many people enjoy isn’t for him either.
“For me it’s better to go work, have your meetings, do your work and go home. Which is why I use WOTSO – it’s perfect and a nice environment for clients to visit as well.”
Born and bred in Canberra, the bureaucratic heart of Australia, Dominic’s career began as a public servant working for the Australian Taxation Office.
“It was going to be a job during a gap year and I started at 17,” he says.
“But I was there a lot longer than I expected because they started offering scholarships and study packages so you could do your degree while working there.”
He learned a lot. “But I don’t mind saying I was a terrible public servant, I hated it. For me to be a little cog in a very big machine was soul destroying.”
After taking a redundancy courtesy of a cost-cutting drive by former PM John Howard, Dominic built a rewarding career in wealth advisory across blue chip companies including Westpac, Citi, Macquarie Group, NAB and CBA.
A dozen years ago he joined a local accounting practice, later taking over its financial planning business, renaming it Capital2, and moving to WOTSO Symonston in Canberra’s southern suburbs when COVID-19 lockdowns were still a thing.
For Dominic, people and community are the most important aspects of his WOTSO membership.
“I reckon it’s about 90% of the motivation for me. I’d go nuts if I was sitting at home by myself. It would just be me and the cat, and the cat’s never got anything interesting to say,” he jokes.
“I really enjoy the social interaction at WOTSO and love the fact it’s dog friendly. There’s always a dog you can give a scratch to and hang out with.”
- Symonston is one of three coworking spaces WOTSO has in Canberra. The others are at Dickson and Woden. Any queries, please email: symonston@wotso.com
