by Jim Stackpool | Jun 9, 2026 | Business Performance, Client Offerings, Competitive pressures, Cost-To-Serve, Fee For Service, Financial Complexity, Future of Financial Advice, Pricing Advice, Profitability
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...
by Jim Stackpool | Apr 20, 2026 | adviser fees, Business Performance, Career Management, Certainty Advice, Consultative Approach, Cultivating Advice workshops, Delivering Value, Fee For Service, Leadership, Pricing Advice, Pricing Committees, uplifts, valuable advice, Value of Advice, Value Proposition
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...
by Jim Stackpool | Feb 2, 2026 | Access Price, adviser fees, Pricing Advice, Wealth Management
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...
by Jim Stackpool | Dec 1, 2025 | Advice Clients, adviser fees, capacity to serve, Client Offerings, Fee For Service, Ideal Advice Client, Median Fees, Minimum Fees, Minimum Pricing, Pricing Advice, uplifts
Wayne is a client of mine. He has a problem with two of his clients, Tom and Jerry. Tom is paying Wayne $22,800 a year and rarely makes contact. Jerry is paying $10,780 and is constantly in contact. They have opposite problems. But they are paying for similar value....
by Jim Stackpool | Jan 31, 2024 | Advice Clients, Advice Conversations, Advice is not a Product, advice skills, Certainty Advice, client conversations, Complexity, Financial Complexity, Financial Paths, Financial Stress, Future of Financial Advice, Pricing Advice, skills
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...
by Jim Stackpool | May 18, 2023 | Advice is not a Product, advisers v distributors, best practice, Pricing Advice, Separation of advice from product
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...