Opinion

Certainty Blog

What a Principal Adviser is and is not.

What a Principal Adviser is and is not.

He’s 42. A partner in a big accounting and advice group. Good salary, good car, young kids in good schools. Over coffee in Brisbane’s Newstead last month, he told me he is losing enthusiasm for the advice approach his firm is pursuing. The important targets he’s been...

Why Fee-for-Service Advice Models have had their day

Why Fee-for-Service Advice Models have had their day

She’s 35. Technically great. Earlier this year, she held an annual review with a couple she first engaged in 2021. Year one was straightforward. A messy super consolidation, an insurance gap, a cash flow plan smashed by Covid. Years two and three, a few tweaks. During this year’s review, the wife asked. “What will your fees […]

It is not about the FUM

It is not about the FUM

Some of the most valuable advice clients are hiding in plain sight. Jim Stackpool explores why advisers need to look beyond funds under management.

New adviser’s value problem

New adviser’s value problem

New advisers today are probably more technically competent at their stage than their seniors were in their earliest days. Better technical training. Better tools. Better models. Better precedents. Better technology. Clearer...

Who is controlling your priorities?

Who is controlling your priorities?

Advice firm leaders often know what needs to change, but urgent demands and past commitments get in the way. Jim Stackpool explores why genuine prioritisation requires more than better systems or scheduling.

Professionals don’t need to ask for referrals. Wrong.

Professionals don’t need to ask for referrals. Wrong.

Olivia runs a six-adviser firm in Brisbane’s Ashgrove. Business is good, so good she hasn't sent a newsletter in two years and hasn't needed to spend anything on social media. She didn’t reach out to me to discuss new business issues. We caught up to discuss her...

Professional Year Advisers Uplifting Client Fees?

Professional Year Advisers Uplifting Client Fees?

I ran a pricing session recently with an advice team under-pricing nearly half their client base. Nothing unusual there, most comprehensive advice teams are. What was interesting was the discussion with the newest adviser at the end of the table, Lisa. She has been in...

Building great advice teams – pools or pods?

Building great advice teams – pools or pods?

I was talking to Marcus recently. Ten years ago, he founded his firm. Sarah joined six years ago, Len seven. Each of them now runs their own pod, and for years it has worked well. Then, twelve months ago, Maddie left Len's team. Maddie was Len's constant second chair,...

How to build your 2030 advice team today

How to build your 2030 advice team today

Charmeon runs a $1.8m advice firm. She has just hired another junior adviser. Her plan: hit $3m by 2030. She left a big bank in 2018, starting with no clients. She is excited about her firm’s future. She has a great team, good clients, aligned centres of influence,...

Never Confuse AI with Strategy

Never Confuse AI with Strategy

Simon and Ben merged their advice firms eighteen months ago. The first twelve months were much harder than expected. Two reasons. Firstly, they predictably underestimated the HR effort. The new merged group has eight people locally with two international team members...

Legacy Clients: The Promise Problem

Legacy Clients: The Promise Problem

Legacy clients are not just a pricing issue. When old promises are carried into today’s capacity, the whole advice team pays the price.

What Do Advisers Do for a $20,000 Fee?

What Do Advisers Do for a $20,000 Fee?

What do advice teams do for a $20,000 fee? The $20,000 figure is less significant than its relativity. That is, adviser’s whose common new fee is, say, $6,000, are wondering what are other advice teams doing for $20,000. If the fees are determined by amount of...

Hard Advice Topics

Hard Advice Topics

It was a well-meaning and not uncommon introduction. A very good long-standing client, a couple who had successfully built a number of businesses, asked if their daughter, Jess, could come in for “a one-on-one chat.” They said that at 34, Jess was thinking about a...

What advice firms need now: SuperProfits

What advice firms need now: SuperProfits

Australians are anxious. NAB's Consumer Stress Index recently hit its highest level since 2014, driven by what most of us already knew - that the cost of groceries, fuel, utilities, rent, and mortgages is grinding people down. Despite so much to be grateful for here...

When senior advisers agree to perform 2nd Chair.

When senior advisers agree to perform 2nd Chair.

Many senior advisers at advice firms cling to a quiet but often false assumption. They usually don’t say it out loud. It’s a very influential assumption. Particularly in client meetings, discussing workflows, and when making hiring decisions. The assumption is this:...

Forget cost-to-serve models!

Forget cost-to-serve models!

Nathan's spreadsheet looked perfect. His cost-to-serve model showed a team of six costing $520,000, generating $1.4 million in revenue, with a margin on every client segment. On paper, the firm was thriving. Day-to-day, however, Nathan was drowning. His two senior...

Clients for Life? It doesn’t work!

Clients for Life? It doesn’t work!

Grant didn't set out to build a big firm. Twenty-three years ago, his plan was simple. Help people who need it. Be the financial expert his clients could rely on. That’s all he focused on. Success, reputation and returns would follow. He never used words like "scale"...

Stop making advice value a commodity

Stop making advice value a commodity

“We just want flexibility.” “We’d like some options.” “We haven’t really thought about the details yet.” Advice teams have heard versions of these responses from hundreds of clients, probably hundreds of times. And if you’re like most advice teams, you’ve accepted...

What do I get for that?

What do I get for that?

"WHAT DO I GET FOR THAT?" Five words. Every adviser has heard them. A prospect sits across from you. You've had a good conversation. You've built rapport. You've quoted your fee. And then it comes. "Sounds OK. But what do I actually get for that fee?" How you respond...

Are you a Specialist or Principal Adviser?

Are you a Specialist or Principal Adviser?

Here's a question that will tell you a lot about your firm's positioning and pricing approach. When a qualified prospect meets your team for the first time, where do those vital initial conversations focus? If the answer is the prospect's specific technical issue or...

Are you worth your fee?

Are you worth your fee?

Four partners. A well-regarded firm in Perth’s western suburbs. Two majority partners are quietly lifting their fees. Clients staying. Clients paying. Clients value the advice relationship at rates well above inflation. Two minority partners are watching. And refusing...

Advice – It’s Not About Cost of Living

Advice – It’s Not About Cost of Living

With the Middle East conflict pushing fuel prices to $3.50 a litre, cost-of-living decisions are changing daily lives. They have to. The headlines are constant. Their narrative tightens the pressure on short and long-term hopes. They also hide alternative ways to get...

Read this when the trust runs out

Read this when the trust runs out

Paul has been running his financial advice firm in South Sydney for twenty years. He enjoys his clients. A former school teacher himself, many of his pre- and post-retirement clients come from teaching and principal roles. They have been with him for years. He knows...

When is it time to adjust your focus?

When is it time to adjust your focus?

Sophie runs a great advice firm practice in Rockingham, WA. Unfortunately, as her firm grew, so too did her anxiety. It was a condition of growing worry caused not only by ‘big’ issues surrounding her clients, compliance and cash flows, but increasingly by simple...

What working ‘on’ your advice firm actually means.

What working ‘on’ your advice firm actually means.

Five years ago, Mark, a Canberra-based adviser, transformed his proposition and pricing. He doubled his average client fees from $6,500 to $13,500. He didn’t do this by engaging more of a high-net-worth market. His niche is mums and dads running their own small...

Build expert teams not teams of experts

Build expert teams not teams of experts

The principals at one of our comprehensive advice firms based in Redcliffe had a problem. They were charging $15,000 for new clients. Their four associate advisers were signing new clients closer to $6,000-$8,000 for their new clients. Clients would ask: "Will I be...

When ‘clients for life’ doesn’t work

When ‘clients for life’ doesn’t work

Meg runs a boutique advice firm on the NSW South Coast. Late forties. Divorced. Twin teenage daughters, both talented triathletes and keen surf club competitors. She is independent-minded. Self-licensed. Fitness fanatic herself - former junior gymkhana champion,...

When your value proposition becomes your biggest problem…

When your value proposition becomes your biggest problem…

Last week, I told you about a recent client - Carlos, the 50-year-old Melbourne-based writer who agreed to a $12,000 engagement for an advice relationship despite having only $135,000 in super. Advisers Matt and Kath could charge that fee because their fees are not...

How $12,000 access pricing eliminated expert dependency

How $12,000 access pricing eliminated expert dependency

Last month, Joe and Tom from Canberra engaged three new clients. The minimum annual fees for all three were the same - $12,000+gst. For Joe and Tom, it doesn't matter if the prospect meets with a junior or senior adviser, nor does it matter if the original enquiry is...

The Value of Expert Teams

The Value of Expert Teams

Decades ago, when you filled your car with fuel, a bloke would meet you, say G'day, flick a lever on his bowser and start the flow of petrol into your tank. Occasionally, he'd check your oil and radiator levels as your tank filled. When he wasn't filling cars, he was...

Same type of advice clients, double the fees in 18 months – How?

Same type of advice clients, double the fees in 18 months – How?

Steve and Nick Mayne run a father-son advice firm outside Melbourne. Eighteen months ago, their average new client fee was $12,200. Today their average new fee is $22,025. They haven’t changed their clients. They repositioned their approach and engagement process....

Got three minutes for an insight that has taken 30 years?

Got three minutes for an insight that has taken 30 years?

Oli runs a good advice firm. Possibly too good. Revenues of $1.23m. He's built a solid young team of six, including an adviser in her mid-thirties, an associate adviser who completed his professional year last year, an award-winning paraplanner/client service lady,...

2026? Don’t look back to 2025 if you want 2026 to be different.

2026? Don’t look back to 2025 if you want 2026 to be different.

Many advisers will plan 2026 the same way they planned 2025. Look at last year's numbers. Add 15%. Call it growth. That's not planning. That's more of the same. Busier growth, not better growth. Better growth for 2026 starts with answering one question: What are you...

Want to start 2026 with 10% more revenue before any new clients?

Want to start 2026 with 10% more revenue before any new clients?

Rick is a recent client of mine. He does a great job for his clients. But he undercharges. He understands how this has happened, but he is missing a crucial part of the solution. For instance, he has been charging Rachel & Nic E. $6,250/year for services similar...

Who is getting ripped off here?

Who is getting ripped off here?

Many years ago, I conducted a series of pricing workshops around the country for principals from advice firms aligned with Deutsche Bank. The bank was 'franchising' their wealth advisers, helping them take steps from being representatives to becoming successful...

The conversation too many advisers avoid – raising fees

The conversation too many advisers avoid – raising fees

Ever had the feeling you are doing too much, for too many, for too little return? There is a better way. Learn to uplift. Consistently. Specifically. Successfully. Sam and Sarah are a father/daughter advisory team building a solid, comprehensive boutique advice firm...

Is this the perfect advice niche…

Is this the perfect advice niche…

Most founders of advice dream about this. The niche that fills the new business pipeline with quality opportunities, keeps clients coming back, and doesn’t depend on one subject-matter-expert adviser to survive. Is there such a thing as the perfect advice niche? I saw...

Forget About Planning – Focus!

Forget About Planning – Focus!

"Failing to plan is planning to fail," right? Nearly. But not quite. Like you, my clients are financial advisers. They plan for a living. They are usually very good at it. For their clients. Not for themselves. It is a classic "plumber's pipes" situation. So, if...

Don’t Give Clients What They Want

Don’t Give Clients What They Want

Beth and Gav had had enough. They are potential new advice clients of David’s advisory firm in Melbourne’s suburbs. They want to sell everything and make their tree change. Gav will find new work and leave his toxic $270k/annum job. Beth will open her dressmaking...

Asked to justify your advice fees? There is only one way. Don’t!

Asked to justify your advice fees? There is only one way. Don’t!

Deb runs a boutique advice business in Sydney's outer suburbs. She followed up with prospects Katrina and Stephen, hoping they would be engaging as new clients. Deb's Terms of Engagement quoted $14,500 for the coming twelve months. After some phone tag, she made...

Don’t quote your advice in components – Here’s How to Quote…

Don’t quote your advice in components – Here’s How to Quote…

Still quoting your comprehensive advice in parts? Don’t. Here’s a better way. Sally lost a client, a $15k prospect, last week. She was disappointed. Mainly for them, as their issues are significant and their options are tough. They need so much more than a cheaper...

If you can only take one thing into client meetings, take this…

If you can only take one thing into client meetings, take this…

Helen is 26. If you can only take one thing into client and prospect meetings, take a tip from Helen. Technically, she is a paraplanner. Professionally, she is a principal adviser. What's the difference? Focus. Let me explain. Last week, Helen prepped to perform...

Uplifting Existing Clients Fees Without Additional Services

Uplifting Existing Clients Fees Without Additional Services

Why would an existing client agree to a fee uplift without something additional provided in return? This was in the back of Sarah’s mind as she prepared for an upcoming fee uplift conversation with an existing client. Last week, adviser Sarah lost an opportunity to...

Uplifting Existing Clients Valuably

Uplifting Existing Clients Valuably

Sarah was concerned about her upcoming review meeting with existing clients, Adrian and Jane. Still in her late-20s, being qualified for only eighteen months, working a small client base of ‘lower-end’ clients her firm had inherited from when they purchased a client...

How to Let Go to Grow

How to Let Go to Grow

Owners of financial advice firms face two different types of business risk. The risk of starting & the risk of growth. I reckon the most significant difference between these risks is ignorance. Initially, most brand-new business owners are ignorant of what is...

Decency Caps – Could advice pricing freedom be at risk?

Decency Caps – Could advice pricing freedom be at risk?

Had a conversation with a London-based client last week about a potential challenge to the pricing of independent advice as we know it here in Australia. It’s referred to as the "Decency Cap", and it’s been slowly spreading in the UK advice market since the Retail...

Your median fee is your best capacity measure

Your median fee is your best capacity measure

Owners of advice firms track plenty of numbers: total revenue, new revenue, recurring revenue, profit, new clients, funds under advice, active clients, and cost-to-serve. These traditional KPIs measure progress, returns, and growth effectively. But they don't measure...

Your access price controls your time, your capacity & your success

Your access price controls your time, your capacity & your success

From Fiefdoms to Grower's Markets: An Evolving Team Model   Comprehensive financial advice teams are approaching a crossroad. Although scarred by compliance red tape and adapting to work-from-home models, unthinkable pre-COVID, these are golden times where demand...

Your access price controls your time, your capacity & your success

Your access price controls your time, your capacity & your success

Advice firm access fees work like a golf club membership. Regardless of whether I play once or twenty times a year, I pay the same annual fee for access to the club. This is an access fee. This doesn't cover lessons, fees, gear or drinks on the 19th - but it...

Don’t price advice as if you are running a restaurant

Don’t price advice as if you are running a restaurant

I had a conversation this week with an advice firm that is convinced its fee-for-service pricing is working well for them. I disagreed. Here's why I don't like fee-for-service pricing for comprehensive advice firms: it creates misalignment between what advice teams...

Are you still trying to advise every prospect?

Are you still trying to advise every prospect?

What makes an ideal advice prospect?   Are they the ones with the most money?   Is a client with $2M in assets more ideal than one with $1M? For some advisers, yes. For most, it depends on other factors. Financial advice revolves around money, but is the...

In Charge & Letting Go of Control

In Charge & Letting Go of Control

A 24-year-old adviser in one of our Certainty Advice firms, engaged a $12,000 new advice client last week. The striking aspect of this engagement was that the 24-year-old adviser is still in her professional year. Technically unqualified? Yes. Compliant? Yes....

AI Advice – The Consequences.

AI Advice – The Consequences.

$88 Advice? Welcome to the future. Financial providers are releasing new advice offerings in response to the first tranche of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes legislation. An annual $88 will give Colonial First State (sorry, firewalled) superannuation members...

Bigger is not always better

Bigger is not always better

As a kid, I always wanted to be bigger. Grownups could stay up late, didn't have to go to school, could do what they wanted and had money to buy whatever they wanted. Little did I know my life as a kid was privileged, safe, happy and secure. I also didn't appreciate...

The future of advice?

The future of advice?

Seen the latest predictions for the Australian financial advice industry? Check it out - Deloitte’s – “Advice 2030 – The Big Shift” The main objective of ‘trend’ reports is to position the authors as experts. I’ve done it myself several times, starting twenty-two...

Black and White Advice Syndrome?

Black and White Advice Syndrome?

I have a weird memory. Particularly for far too many old TV ads. Joe the Gadget man. You need Palmolive Gold. Mrs Marsh’s Chalk. Louie the Fly. It gets weirder. Sometimes, my brain replays, re-visualising an old commercial during random conversations. This happened...

Start with Why, Pay for What?

Start with Why, Pay for What?

Simon Senek's book "Start With Why" is a phenomenon. Published in 2011, the book extolled that people don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it. Sinek's theory suggested that of the two methods of influencing behaviour, manipulation and inspiration, most influence...

TOUGH CHOICES

TOUGH CHOICES

I'm a COBOL programmer. We moved out of our family home of 32 years last weekend, and I found an old coding template with a few punch cards that I have kept since the late 1970s. I didn't think I was a hoarder (maybe?). It took me back to when the talent supply could...

ADVICE FOR THE MAJORITY

ADVICE FOR THE MAJORITY

What do advisers do? Maximise returns, protect risks, anticipate complexities, minimise costs, reduce stress, remove distractions, test assumptions, and change client’s long-term habits. Advisers are in the confidence business. They convert a client’s doubts into...

Don’t Fly Solo

Don’t Fly Solo

4:52 pm March 23rd, 1995, will be special until my last breath. I had never been so elated before this moment. It was the birth of our first baby – Bec. At least half an hour later, as emotions settled, I wondered what had happened to our obstetrician. Nice guy,...

Advice MoneyBall

Advice MoneyBall

We listen to a lot of adviser-client Discovery conversations. That’s our job. We can’t transform advice skills without working deep into the details of what’s said in client meetings, which only recordings of Discovery and Engagement conversations can provide....

Discovery Gates

Discovery Gates

DISCOVERERS & EXPLORERS A great influencer of mine died last week. He was 95 – a close cousin of my father. He fought, laughed and played hard until his last tough weeks. A showman. A preacher. A rebel. A community-builder. Gawd, he could talk and boom his way...

YOUR UNWRITTEN STANDARDS

YOUR UNWRITTEN STANDARDS

Molly recently cared for a client facing an unexpected life-changing decision to move directly from a hospital stay into a nursing home. Going home was not an option. It was a challenging situation at the best of times, but in this case, it became heart-rending when...

What advice for Laurie?

What advice for Laurie?

Laurie wants to stop and retire. Originally from New Zealand, he built a landscaping business from nothing in 1986 to the best on the north coast. He reckons he is working harder than ever. Finding and keeping staff is getting harder. Dealing with their attitudes is...

Bella’s Transition

Bella’s Transition

Bella has run her small architecture firm for over 20 years. As the demand for her work grows, so do her costs. At 52 years old, she had hoped for more options. Since a messy divorce seven years ago, she has spent all reserves from the settlement and parent's...

Lower prices are just the beginning…

Lower prices are just the beginning…

I spent many Saturday mornings at Harry's Hardware on Whistler Street in downtown Manly after Anna and I bought our "renovator's delight" on Manly flat. Harry had an old-style cluttered store when hardware stores used to be as common as butchers, grocers, and milk...

Financial adviser, imposter or both?

Financial adviser, imposter or both?

Both my parents smoked. Like chimneys. As kids, we'd munch down our morning cornflakes surrounded by last night's dirty ashtrays. The perfect Christmas present for Dad was a sparkling new ashtray. Little did we know the dangers of smoking. Kind of like imposter...

GET ACCOUNTABLE

GET ACCOUNTABLE

I’ve run three marathons and a dozen half-marathons. I take my running gear whenever I’m travelling overnight. I love what running does for me. That’s thanks to Pete Talty. Regardless of the conditions, Pete was always there. 6am every Saturday, waiting at the bottom...

Get Agile

Get Agile

My wife Anna loves book club. She comes home from their dinners with a new thought-provoking discussion sparked by the book, regardless of whether she liked it, read it or hated it. Their latest was Lessons in Chemistry, which also recently began as a series on Apple...

Get Prioritised

Get Prioritised

I'm a rugby union tragic. I loved playing the game until one too many concussions meant I shouldn't run on ever again. I love watching local games. A highlight of my sporting year used to be watching our Wallabies in national games. Unfortunately, our team seem locked...

Building Deep Client Trust

Building Deep Client Trust

How do advisory firms methodically create and manage deep client trust? While protecting profitability and reducing dependency, building advice platforms and skills for advice teams to build deep trust in their client relationships is the third of six principles...

Reducing Dependency – Building Great Advice Firms

Reducing Dependency – Building Great Advice Firms

I know the problem with my golf game. The guy holding the club. My instincts want to hit the ball too hard because my ridiculous golf brain believes 'bigger is better'. On the odd occasion when my instincts produce a great shot, it's usually a fluke. Tim Carrigg and...

How to Grow Profits

How to Grow Profits

I can still see the surprised looks on their faces. It was November 1989, during a three-day "Agent As A BusinessPerson" workshop MLC asked me to design and facilitate. One of the last sessions for the twenty-five accountants and financial planners had each attending...

Advice is Not About Goals

Advice is Not About Goals

  Every August, I spend an evening at my old school answering questions from Year 11 students as they share their post-school career options. My sessions are generally Q&A events for kids interested in small businesses. Last week’s questions ranged from what...

How to Avoid Becoming Part of the Problem

How to Avoid Becoming Part of the Problem

These are interesting times. Interesting is probably an understatement, thanks to regulatory reform, ridiculous compliance guidelines, depleted advice talent, and increasing demands from teams and clients. Advisers don't need more hassles - particularly self-inflicted...

The problem with super is super

The problem with super is super

The problem with super is super. Since the 2002 Financial Services Review, there have been at least a dozen enquiries, commissions and reviews into Australia’s superannuation, insurance, investment, and financial services industries. Last week APRA and ASIC jointly...

Building Teams – Outsourcing & Thriving

Building Teams – Outsourcing & Thriving

My Dad was a radiologist. Many Saturdays, after watching me from the sideline of a sport-field, I would accompany him to his rooms as he worked his Saturday morning of patient appointments. I enjoyed these mornings working with his dark-room technician in the dim red...

Amazon Advice – The consequences of ‘good advice’

Amazon Advice – The consequences of ‘good advice’

Amazon Advice is coming to a screen near you. It is already happening. Wesfarmers recently bought a large telehealth business - Instantscripts - for $135m. This purchase was in addition to the company's $1B acquisition of the Priceline Pharmacy chain last year. Not to...

Better is better with proactive referrals

Better is better with proactive referrals

With two good friends, Anna and I just completed a 17-day walk across Northern England – the Coast to Coast – a through-trek charted fifty years ago by Alfred Wainwright. It was challenging. It couldn’t have been better. Britain’s Right to Roam offers walkers...

Fighting Helplessness

Fighting Helplessness

Heard of Learned Helplessness? It is a condition first researched in the 1960s by a team of psychologists that included Professor Martin Seligman. A group of dogs were given mild electric shocks. Some dogs could press a button to stop the shocks, while a second group...

The Three Myths of Fee Increases

The Three Myths of Fee Increases

I've got the best job in the world. Clients pay me to observe and recommend paths they've already considered. Such as a pricing session I ran for a fast-growing advisory firm. I knew it would be interesting when I read in the pre-work that one director had suggested...

Quality or Quantity of Advice Reviews?

Quality or Quantity of Advice Reviews?

If plumbers need new pipes, and if the cobbler's kids need new shoes, does it follow that a lawyer needs new laws? Maybe. Michelle Levy's three-page plea to the government to adopt her Quality of Advice Review recommendations in this week's AFR is a curious political...

The problem with systems…

The problem with systems…

Michael Gerber was right. Systems can improve every aspect of our work lives by providing the necessary frameworks to help busy technicians create solid businesses. Gerber's book - "The E-Myth Revisited"- created a new language for small business development. His...

Lacking talent or vision?

Lacking talent or vision?

Have you heard Nigel Marsh speak? He is good. An ex-marketing executive, he started EarthHour in 2007, the Sydney Skinny Swim in 2013 and has managed to accrue over 5.3m views of his work/life balance TED talk. His message was about navigating the constant white water...

To thrive, it helps to be extraordinary

To thrive, it helps to be extraordinary

I enjoy the New Philosopher. It is easy to read, provocative, and past editions are a reliable source when I need something to clear my head, which is getting more often. For instance, a recent article – The Courage to be Different - in Edition 38: Courage quoted...

Advice – The Best Debt Ever?

Advice – The Best Debt Ever?

“You have got to be joking?” "Ten thousand dollars?" “What on earth will you tell me for $10,000 that I can’t discover myself?” Nicole’s advice fee was a bit of a shock. While understandable considering the circumstances, the reaction took her by surprise. Why? ISSUES...

The (Challenging & Prosperous) Road Ahead

The (Challenging & Prosperous) Road Ahead

Twenty-one years ago, I conducted a qualitative survey of Australian financial advisers with John J. Bowen Jr and Russ Alan Prince. The objective was to identify the client proposition advisers regarded as crucial to the future of financial advice. Russ’ team had...

The Quality of Advice Review

The Quality of Advice Review

There’s good and bad in the Quality of Advice Review (QAR) released by Treasury last week. The good is the proposed framework for the delivery of affordable financial products. For Australians less interested in advice and more focused on making simple purchases, the...

How much for that Statement of Advice?

How much for that Statement of Advice?

How much do you charge for a Statement of Advice (SOA)? Do you price based on complexity? Do you have a minimum fee regardless of complexity? Do you reimburse the SOA fee when the prospect becomes a client? CRUCIAL There is no question that SOAs are crucial when...

Why Buy a Client Base or an Advisory Firm?

Why Buy a Client Base or an Advisory Firm?

I'm currently working with several firms considering a client base or business purchase. Each has different reasons. One wants to achieve more significant 'economies of scale'. One wants to fill a gap in the range of expertise. One is on an aggressive start-up path...

Advice for 2033…

Advice for 2033…

All the best for 2023! Ready? Neither am I. A reflection on the 2013 advice marketplace and three thoughts on what advice might look like in ten years - 2033 - might be helpful for your steps in 2023. Despite the exceptional upheavals over the past decade, financial...

The Four Advice Hurdles of 2023…

The Four Advice Hurdles of 2023…

Advisers thrive because they anticipate, worry, prepare and manage complex client issues. Good advisers are masters at it. Great advisers are masters at doing the same for themselves. There are several hurdles facing advisory firms in 2023 - for advisory teams...

JOE, THE GREAT ADVISER

JOE, THE GREAT ADVISER

Listened to any of Pushkin’s podcasts? They pump out some great ones. A favourite is “The Happiness Lab”, which lives up to a promise showing how our brains are not always our best guides for our well-being or progress. Another one – “Against the Rules” – is just as...