Brad Symes: From footy to philanthropy

By Em Worthington

From footy to philanthropy

Brad’s success over a decade in finance — including five years at Morgan Stanley — has been guided by the same resilience, discipline, and teamwork he learned from nine years in the AFL with Port Adelaide and the Crows. In 2024, he founded Bratton Wealth, a full-service wealth management business with a strong focus on building diversified investment portfolios individually tailored to their high-net-worth client base.

Through Bratton Wealth, he also encourages clients to think beyond financial success — to consider how they can create meaningful, lasting impact in their own lives and communities.

What led you from the footy field to finance?

I’ve always loved numbers — maths and PE were my favourite subjects at school! I started a finance degree at Adelaide Uni after Year 12, before getting drafted. My initial plan was to play professional football, earn heaps of money and then learn to invest it. I feel I have nailed the investing part but was never quite good enough to earn the big money on the footy field.

Now I get to use that knowledge to help others invest, which is a pretty good spot to land. I often tell current players not to get too anxious about life after footy. I certainly enjoy my life as much, if not more, now than I did in my twenties, so there’s plenty to look forward to once the glory days are over.

Has anything in this role surprised you?

One thing that stood out to me very early on was that there appears to be very little correlation between wealth and happiness. To some degree, clients do become more comfortable — and perhaps a bit happier — once they reach a level of financial security. But if you go in thinking that growing your asset base to a certain level will make you significantly happier, I’d definitely advise you to reflect on that, because that’s not what I observe.

What do you enjoy most about helping clients reach their goals?

I love meeting new people and building networks and relationships — whether those people become clients or not isn’t the main point. That said, most of our clients are not only successful in their own right but also genuinely great people, which is probably a reflection of Adelaide in general. It’s rewarding to watch over time how relaxed and appreciative clients become as they understand our investment philosophy and see it work. Financial anxiety weighs heavily on a lot of people, so it’s really satisfying to help lift that load by working together.

How does philanthropy feature in your work?

What excites me most is that, even in just our second year, our business is in a position to consider philanthropy immediately.

Originally, I thought I'd have to wait until I had built and sold a business to start giving back, but in reality, you can start helping out in small ways along the way. We donate a percentage of our profits to charities we choose. My business partner, Matt, and I each pick at least one organisation every year, and we’ve set up a system for our staff to choose a charity too. They present to us why they chose it, what it means to them, and what the charity does — holding them accountable and creating a really positive culture. We didn’t make this up ourselves; we borrowed the idea from Geoff Robertson, Founding Partner at MRS Property, who’s done it brilliantly in his own business. When we heard about the way he goes about it, I thought that's a no brainer for us.

How do you help clients to see wealth not just as numbers, but as a way to create impact?

I like to talk with clients about what they’re passionate about outside of work, business, and investing. Many clients want to travel, renovate, or help their kids — whether it’s paying for school fees or contributing to a house deposit in today’s market. Once you understand those priorities, it’s easy to connect them back to investment performance and what we do, so the two conversations naturally come together.

How do you open this conversation?

Often, we kick it off by sharing some of the things we’re looking to do ourselves in the years ahead. From there, it’s usually an effective and non-threatening way to open the discussion with clients. Those who have an underlying interest will happily engage, and those who don’t simply won’t — and that’s fine. By telling our story and sharing our ambitions, we hope it resonates with what clients are already feeling but haven’t yet voiced. It’s a soft, warm, and easy way to broach the subject.

What’s the biggest challenge in getting more people to consider giving?

The culture here in Australia — and particularly in Adelaide — is that wealth tends to be understated. People are wary of tall poppy syndrome, so nobody really wants to talk openly about money or wealth. That makes building momentum in philanthropy trickier — if we’re not talking about money, it’s hard to discuss what to do with it. Even proactive philanthropists often prefer to give quietly, off the record.

I always find it interesting when generations within families don’t discuss their wealth, especially when succession planning is involved. We try to open those conversations so families can plan better. And it would also be nice to open up those conversations more generally, so people can start to talk about, “Oh, you’ve got a private ancillary fund, and you support this? I never would have known that. That’s something that really interests me, too!” It’s a cultural challenge here, but one that’s fascinating to navigate.

Is there crossover between your personal and business philanthropy?

At the moment, it’s separate, but our values at home on the personal front are extremely aligned with my team at work. It’s foreseeable we’ll end up supporting the same charities or types of causes. Everyone has a different approach — some stick with two or three charities over the long term, others take a percentage of proceeds each year and spread it across many organisations. We tend to diversify, giving smaller amounts to a range of causes. There's certainly no right or wrong answer — it’s just a matter of what feels right.

What sparked your interest in philanthropy?

I’ve always enjoyed helping others, even back in football and leadership roles, and Danielle is the same. It wasn’t until we spoke with Geoff about how to actually weave philanthropy into a business that it clicked — he showed us a way to make it happen. It ticks a lot of boxes: we get to support charities that matter, feel good doing it, and at the same time, strengthen the culture within our business. Seeing it work so successfully for Geoff gave us a model we hope to continue to emulate.

How do you choose which causes to support?

Philanthropy is very much each to their own. Danielle and I tend to look at things on a case-by-case basis, rather than focusing on a specific category or organisation exclusively. Some of the more recent charities we’ve supported — and I’d encourage readers to check them out — include the Cambodian Children’s Fund, Treasure Boxes, Minus 18, and OzHarvest. The last few are local South Australian organisations doing amazing work in their areas, and we’ll continue to support them moving forward.

Is your support for charities ever hands-on?

At this stage of life — being a 40-year-old parent of two, running a business, and trying to be a good partner — time is harder to give than money, so financial support makes the most sense for me. That said, we’re already finding ways to fold other contributions into the business. For example, after we told staff about our philanthropic plans, one of them immediately organised a group blood donation. So there are ways to give beyond money, and we’ll look to donate time as well down the track.

How do you personally define philanthropy?

I feel happiest when I’m helping other people. There’s actually a Bluey episode called Duck Cake that illustrates this perfectly — I’d encourage everyone to free up five minutes and watch it. We always talk to our kids about what makes the tail wag, and it’s such a beautiful reference. If we all understood that our own happiness spikes when we help others, I think the world would make a lot more progress, a lot faster. That’s why Danielle and I try to teach our kids that the thing that will make you feel best about yourself is helping others along the way. And it’s important to us that we practice what we preach.

How has your journey shaped the way you think about success?

In reality, my life’s been an accumulation of doing things I’m passionate about and really enjoy — cricket, footy, and then finance — but always with the help of many great people along the way. Whether that’s my parents from day one, to my footy coaches, my wife, and mentors I’ve had over my journey, I’ve had a lot of support in pursuing what I love. At this stage of life, I see it as only fair to now focus on helping others.

And we have to ask … who do you go for, Crows or Port?

I am lucky enough to be a bit of a chameleon here and support either of the two sides, depending on who I am in conversation with. I don’t have a great input into football anymore, but I did join the Crows’ Past Players Board two years ago. I really enjoy connecting the current players with past players and helping them think about their transitions. Everyone eventually becomes a past player, and it’s not always easy, so sharing ideas, introducing people, and showing what life outside footy looks like is, for me, the most rewarding part. My biggest interest now is in the people rather than the game itself.

Our heartfelt thanks to Brad for so generously sharing his story. Stay tuned for more incredible South Australians in our ongoing series.