Adviser 3.0: The Podcast

Recorded live at Adviser 3.0 2026, this is the fourth and final Sunset Studio Session. Nicki Hinton-Jones, CIO at Timeline, sits down with Gary Paulin, Chief Investment Strategist, International at Northern Trust Asset Management, for a conversation that starts with a warning: every major move of Gary's career has landed on a market top, from the Russian debt crisis to 9/11 to the GFC. But the...

Some conversations on SoapBox are uncomfortable. This is one of them. Abraham Okusanya and Matt Pitcher are joined by Lauren Turner, Head of Financial Planning and Chartered Financial Planner at TFP Financial Planning, to work through three topics that every adviser should be thinking about right now. First: has the SpaceX IPO broken indexing? The media says yes. The data says otherwise. Abraham m...

For years, financial advisers have been told that empathy is their ultimate competitive advantage, the moat that no algorithm can cross. But what if that assumption is the most dangerous bet in the profession? Recorded live at the Adviser 3.0 2026 conference, this special live edition of SoapBox takes Dan Haylett's viral LinkedIn article, The Empathy Delusion, as its starting point and tears i...

What does it actually take to build a financial planning firm that lasts, not just one that sells? Keith Butten, CFP Certified Financial Planner and co-founder of boosst, has spent four decades finding out. In this episode, Abraham sits down with Keith to explore the philosophy behind one of the UK's most distinctive lifestyle financial planning businesses, from scrapping self-employed advisers an...

What does it mean to protect your clients' wealth in a world where governments are spending without restraint? This session from the Adviser 3.0 2026 conference puts two of the most compelling voices in alternative assets on stage together -- and lets them argue it out. Dan Parkinson, the Bitcoin IFA, traces his conviction to Lebanon, where he watched a currency lose 99.9% of its purchasing po...

Olivia Maynard is Managing Director at TFP Financial Planning in Essex. In this episode, she shares how she went from school leaver to MD without ever planning it that way, why she stepped away from financial planning into operations, and how she has built a culture where no one is confined to a job box. Olivia talks about the "breath moment" - that exhale when a client finally lets go o...

Three CEOs. One stage. The biggest questions facing adviser businesses right now. Recorded live at Adviser 3.0 2026, this is the first of our Sunset Studio Sessions — a series of four panel conversations captured on stage at our flagship annual conference. The Sunset Studio stage is sponsored by Northern Trust Asset Management. Philippa Mather of Paradigm Norton, Jo French of Attivo, and Alan Smit...

A career built without a degree, a partnership earned without shortcuts, and a profession that risks losing its soul to consolidation. In this episode of Adviser 3.0, Kate Phillips is joined by Tara Maynard, Partner and Chartered Financial Adviser at PM+M, for an honest conversation about doing it your way in financial planning. Tara shares how financial circumstances steered her away from univers...

The triple lock is costing us 7% of GDP by 2070. Advisers are overpaid, or are they? And your money personality was probably set before you turned 10. In this episode of SoapBox, Matt Pitcher and Abraham Okusanya are joined by Sarah Roughsedge, founder of Eva Wealth and author of Smart Money, Strong Women, for a wide-ranging conversation that pulls no punches. They dig into the Tony Blair Institut...

Ed Dymott, CEO of Benchmark Capital, joins Abraham Okusanya to challenge the logic behind a decade of advice firm consolidation. The old playbook of buying IFA practices cheap and selling the whole thing at a premium was never as clever as it looked, and the cracks are showing. Ed and Abraham dig into the breakaway adviser trend, why planners are leaving consolidators and private banks alike to bu...

What does it mean to own "the whole market" when parts of it make you uncomfortable? Dominic Thomas, founder and principal of Solomon's IFA, joins Abraham to challenge some of the orthodoxies of financial planning. A fee-based adviser since 1999 -- more than a decade before RDR made it fashionable -- Dominic has built a tight, intentional family firm in Cobham with ethics and relatio...

What if retirement is not the reward you think it is? In this episode, Dan Haylett joins the show to challenge one of the biggest assumptions in financial planning. That retirement is a destination. A number. A finish line. Drawing on his work with clients and insights from his book, Dan explains why so many people reach retirement only to feel lost, lacking purpose, and unsure what comes next. Th...

Matt Pitcher and Abraham Okusanya are back on the Soapbox with no guest, no filter, just two advisers getting into the numbers that matter. This episode they dig into the Dimson, Marsh & Staunton Global Investment Returns Yearbook 2026 and the Bessembinder paper, and the findings are uncomfortable. In 1900, railroads made up 63% of the US market. Today, less than 1%. Yet they still outperforme...

Chris Palmer’s career didn’t start in financial services, and it nearly didn’t happen at all. From the Navy to banking during the financial crisis, Chris worked his way into financial advice before making a move that would define his career: buying into the firm he joined. In this episode, Chris shares his journey from employee to owner, the realities of equity and progression, and what it takes t...

In this episode, we’re joined by Brian Hill, founder of Pathfinders and author of Everyone Exits: You’re Either Bought Out, Pushed Out, or Wheeled Out® Brian shares what really happens when financial planning firms go to market and why many advisers are not prepared to sell. We explore valuation, buyer behaviour, and the most common mistakes that reduce deal value. The conversation covers the gap...

In this episode, David Gibson, Managing Director of Gibson Financial Planning, joins the podcast to discuss how mindset, values and purpose influence the growth of a financial planning business. David shares how his firm evolved from a transactional advice model to a relationship-led financial planning practice built around long-term client work. Today the majority of the firm’s revenue comes from...

You Built It. Can You Afford to Sell It? In Episode 126, Louise Jeffreys joins the show to discuss M&A, valuations and the market forces reshaping financial planning. We explore what firms are actually selling for, how buyers assess value, and why succession should begin years before an exit is agreed. Louise explains the difference between buy-side and sell-side models, the role of private eq...

Financial Advice at the AI Crossroads: Empathy, Expertise, and Human Touch in the Agentic Era In this episode of Soapbox, Matt, Abraham and Philippa Hann explore the evolving role of artificial intelligence in financial services. They examine whether AI challenges the empathy advantage of human advisers, the potential risks to entry-level roles, and the importance of protecting new professionals f...

What does it look like to build a financial planning firm that is not designed to be sold? In this episode, Abraham sits down with Andy Hounsell, Managing Director of Beyond Finance, to explore stewardship over ownership, leadership beyond control, and why succession should start far earlier than most advisers think. Since taking over the business in 2015, Andy has reshaped the firm around long-te...

In Episode 124 of Adviser 3.0 , we are joined by Ian Dempsey to explore what it really takes to build a modern advice business. From going independent and finding his voice, to using content with intent rather than chasing followers, Ian shares a grounded perspective on growth, credibility, and control. He explains why independence brings responsibility, why audience size is often misunderstood, a...

In this episode of Adviser 3.0 The Podcast , Abraham is joined by Ashton Chritchlow , Managing Director and owner of IFC Max, to unpack one of the rarest outcomes in financial advice: internal succession that genuinely works. Ashton shares his full journey, from joining the firm in 2008 with no industry experience, to remortgaging his home to buy equity, taking on the role of Managing Director, an...

In this episode of Adviser 3.0 The Podcast , we are joined by Sasha Wakefield , founder of The Paraplanner Project , to explore what growth really looks like behind the scenes of a modern advice business. Sasha shares her journey into paraplanning, how she built an outsourced business model around collaboration and trust, and why growth quickly becomes a leadership challenge rather than a technica...

SoapBox Ep.3 - Passive Investing Didn’t Break Markets, It Exposed Active Management Hosts Abraham and Matt are joined by Carla Brown , President of the Personal Finance Society, for an unfiltered discussion on markets, behaviour and the realities of modern financial advice. The episode explores why UK investors continue to exit equity markets at the worst possible moments, even during periods of s...

In the episode of Adviser 3.0: The Podcast , we speak with Alasdair Walker , Managing Director and owner of Optimum Financial Planning, about the conversation most firm owners delay for too long: ownership and control . Alasdair shares his full journey from trainee adviser to completing a management buyout, offering rare insight into how internal succession actually works in financial planning fir...

In this episode of Adviser 3.0 The Podcast , we sit down with psychologist and human optimisation specialist Ross Anderson to explore how high performers approach growth. Ross unpacks the relationship between mind, performance and behaviour, challenging the idea that growth is driven by motivation alone. Drawing on psychology, behavioural science and lived experience, he explains why sustainable p...