Cameron McLean

Whisky, Motorbikes, Judo and Sunshine – the makings of a mortgage broker.

Cameron Duncan McLean, of the Clan MacLean from the Isle of Duart.  He can trace his ancestry to the Jacobite wars.  His great grandfather compiled the family tree going back six generations.  The eldest son of the eldest son always had two sons, until it reached Cameron.  Who had a son, Harris, then a daughter, Freya.  Thus breaking a family “tradition” that had endured for at least six generations.

That grandiose opening sets the tone for Cameron.   He’s not one to follow the pack.  A career in financial services wasn’t the intention from the outset.  Cameron had an interest in engineering and he was a member of the RAF Cadets.   The more complex a problem, the more time Cameron will spend on it till a resolution is found.  

Cameron’s hobbies are very much whisky, motorbikes, judo and sunshine.

At present over 300 bottles of whisky and “whiskey” make up his collection.  As you can imagine the storage and insurance of this has proved challenging.  Not to mention the cataloguing to ensure there’s always an up-to-date inventory.  This task is set aside for his wife, Mabel, who loves a good spreadsheet.   The next house move will need to incorporate a climate-controlled room and space to accommodate the ever-growing collection.  Cameron’s aim is to form a whisky pension where upon retirement he will have the collection appraised.  If it’s of a decent value he will sell and receive a nice lump sum for retirement.  If the value isn’t to his liking, he’ll spend retirement enjoying the hundreds (possibly thousands) of bottles in his collection.  Either way, it’s a win for Cameron.  

The love of whisky spans decades and as Cameron entered his fourth decade in lockdown, the passion for it is not waning.  His preference is for a Speyside malt with the Glenmorangie distillery a firm favourite.  He’s also partial to a Glengoyne (a Highland malt that is almost in the lowlands).  He doesn’t rate himself a connoisseur but rather an enthusiastic amateur.  His favourite distillery tour to date is all of them and his top bucket list distillery is the Macallan distillery which has won a few awards for the best building.

Motorbikes have been a love of his since the late teens for Cameron.  His first bike, a Honda Superdream 250, is one he remembers fondly; “Candy Tanzanite blue, big enough to feel like a proper bike and able to hit the speed limit with a bit of assistance from the wind”.  His children have grown up knowing that Daddy is a biker and are keen to follow in his shoes.  They regularly climb onto his bikes and pretend to drive like him.  Very much a speed demon, Cameron enjoys all fast modes of transports having piloted small aircraft, Bulldogs and Chipmunks.

Cameron has his black belt, first dan, in Judo.  His love of martial arts is definitely passed on to his children.  Both are learning Thai kickboxing and Brazilian Jujitsu.  Cameron’s passion for this came about accidentally.  As a teenager, he tagged along to some Judo sessions with friends and found that he enjoyed learning Judo very much.  His teenage years revolved around judo training, RAF cadets and earning money towards summer camps in the USA.  

With 5 summer sessions completed at William Lawrence Camp in New Hampshire, this is perhaps Cameron’s fondest memories.  He worked with children of all ages and met people from all over the world.  Some of whom have become his closest friends.  It was a time where he got to enjoy the sunshine, of which there was plenty.  He was also able to indulge another passion by teaching riflery to the boys attending the camp.   In escaping Scotland from May till August, Cameron was able to bask (when he wasn’t working) in the glorious New Hampshire heat and sunshine.  Along with this, he learned vital skills in communication, teamwork and leadership.   He was invited back to camp for its centennial anniversary in 2014.  The celebration had been in the planning for months and to cap it off, Cameron coached the riflery team to their first win over their rivals since the mid 90’s almost 2 decades.  

With all this, the passion for doing something well and doing it right is the driving force for setting up his own firm of mortgage and protection advisors and admin.  As Managing Director, Cameron is more than just a numbers person.  Behind the mortgage and protection process is a person who knows how to juggle work, life and play.