A 15‑year wait, two kids, a global triathlon campaign, and a stint jumping out of planes with the Airforce isn’t the usual pathway into mortgage broking. But for Aussie Platinum Broker and multi‑franchise owner Clay Bremer (pictured), that long detour is exactly what shaped the way he now builds his business and backs his clients.
Most career‑change stories start with a decision and a clean break. For Bremer, it took 15 years – and three major chapters of family life – before he was even “allowed” to step into broking.
“Getting into the finance industry has been a 15-year journey until I was even allowed to start,” he says.
In between, there was a military career, a global triathlon campaign, two young sons, and years of late‑night study – all of which now shape how he runs his growing business with Aussie.
Bremer’s story starts in small-town New Zealand, in a place he jokes was “voted the most boring in NZ in 1999”. That label didn’t stick – it just pushed him to look outwards.
“I have always had an interest in property and finance but growing up in a small town (voted the most boring in NZ in 1999) made exploring the world a priority so I joined the Airforce,” he says.
His Airforce years were anything but dull.
“My time in the airforce was amazing, jumping out of planes, playing sports and building lifelong friendships while experiencing around 20 countries,” Bremer says.
But even as an engineer, he was quietly building toward something else.
“I continued to study finance, marketing, economics and computing all while I was an engineer because I knew I wanted to change at some stage,” Bremer says.
The hurdle wasn’t motivation – it was timing.
After a six‑month deployment to Asia, Bremer came home ready to change careers and raised it with his wife Michelle.
“After a 6-month deployment to Asia I asked my wife if I could change my career path but Michelle said she wanted to become a professional triathlete,” he says.
So, the couple put his plan on hold and spent the next five years chasing her dream instead.
“So, after five years chasing triathlons around the world, I asked again but Michelle said no, I would like some kids first,” Bremer says.
The second “no” was for the best possible reason – but it meant pushing his own ambitions out even further.
Family came next. The couple welcomed two sons, and once again, Bremer waited. Only after their boys arrived did he get the answer he’d been hoping for.
“So, two little boys later I asked again and got given the ‘green light’,” he says.
That moment marked the end of a long on‑ramp and the start of an entirely new career.
“After the green light, I started as a broker in Mar 2021 with Aussie," Bremer says. "It has been an enjoyable and eventful few years building up to a point where I purchased my second Aussie Franchise.”
In just a few years, he has gone from brand‑new broker to multi‑franchise owner – but that rapid rise rests on the 15 years of discipline and compromise that came before.
Because Bremer came into broking later, he’s seen the industry change fast even in his short time on the tools.
“In my five years as a broker, there has been a significant uplift in technology in both the industry and especially within Aussie and the Lendi Group, the Aussie app with all its features and access,” he says.
“The tech has made big changes even in my short amount of time as a broker. It was only a few years ago almost all docs were wet signature and printed copies, digital signatures including mortgage docs has been a significant time saver.”
The bigger challenge, Bremer admits, was simply learning a completely new game from scratch.
“The biggest challenge has been learning this industry with no prior knowledge, I had the impression that all lenders had the same policy so learning the differences has been the biggest challenge initially,” he says.
What’s kept Bremer going has been the impact on real people.
“Memories I have most appreciated have been the first-home-buyer families we helped into the property market but there are a few special ones that standout with people who really needed some help to get out of tricky situations with family situations,” he says.
As he looks ahead, Bremer is under no illusion that the industry will stay still. Like many brokers, he’s watching AI closely – but his instinct is to work with it, not fear it.
“We are all seeing a lot of discussion around AI and how it is changing the world, none of us can see into the future or accurately predict how our industry is going change,” he says. “My plan to prevent this becoming a challenge is trying to build knowledge around how I can work with AI and not against it.”
That mindset echoes the rest of Bremer's story: stay curious, adapt early, and use new tools to support, not replace, the human side of advice.
For anyone inspired by his path into broking, Bremer is blunt about what comes next.
“It seems to me that a lot of people join this industry thinking it is going to be easy, my advice would be to not underestimate the struggle in becoming a broker,” he says.
“There will be a period of time where the leads are slow, no one calls you on your first day so you have to knuckle down, meet people and get the hours in.”
And when the tide finally turns?
“But there is also a time where the leads will become too much and this is where you must know when and how to scale,” Bremer says.
It’s a fitting lesson from someone who spent 15 years waiting, then moved fast once he got his chance: success in broking isn’t about a single big break – it’s about timing, resilience, and knowing when to push, when to pause and when to scale.
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