by Hayley Hoile | Jul 7, 2026 | Leadership, Value Proposition
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...
by Jim Stackpool | Jun 29, 2026 | Client Offerings, Leadership, Pricing Advice, Value Proposition
Two directors in a Toowoomba advice firm are having hard conversations. Their long-term clients, some going back fifteen, twenty years, are being told that access to them today costs more than it did last year. Most are paying the increase. Two other directors in the...
by Jim Stackpool | Jun 21, 2026 | Advice Clients, Advice is not a Product, Certainty Advice, client conversations, Client Offerings, cost to serve, Cost-To-Serve, Delivering Value, Fee For Service, Pricing Advice, Value Proposition
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...
by Jim Stackpool | Jun 1, 2026 | Business Performance, Consultative Approach, Leadership, Pricing Advice, Value Proposition
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:...
by Jim Stackpool | Apr 13, 2026 | Advice Conversations, advice skills, AI, best practice, Certainty Advice, Consultative Approach, Cultivating Advice workshops, Delivering Value, future of advice, Greater Good, LIfe Choices, Public Good, skills, Transformative Advice, valuable advice, value, Value of Advice, Value Proposition, Wealth Management
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...
by Jim Stackpool | Jul 18, 2024 | Advice Conversations, Advice is not a Product, Best Interests, best practice, Certainty Advice, future of advice, Future of Financial Advice, Measures of Success, Mindsets, perfectionism, Professionalism, Value of Advice, Value Proposition
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...