Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice

Do you wind up more SMSFs that you open? So does everyone else apparently, so who is opening SMSFs then?  In this episode Jordan and Nathan open SMSF discussions with little regard for recourse, discussing The CSLR Treasury paper and it's comment on SMSF inclusion The recent changes to residential LRBAs  Accountant exemptions Working with vulnerable clients who have SMSF Served piping hot like a p...

Hot new ASIC report dropped this week and just like the classic, finger-on-the-pulse tastemakers they are, Nathan and Jordan are here to unpack it.  Donning their best Meldrum-style hats, Nathan and Jordan dive into REP 833, which examines ASIC's concerns with the way platform trustees just don't seem ready to get their act together.  There's a fair bit of ground covered: What ASIC's concerns seem...

Take a short flight, with a hot cup of tea (but bring your own teabag) for this episode, where Jordan and Nathan answer some listener questions. They discuss How they got a break into the profession Their advice for new entrants on how to break into the profession Remuneration for junior advisers, and whether profit share is common Whether a power of attorney can/should appoint a beneficiary nomin...

How much work can you reasonably get done? How many SOAs per week, per quarter, per 40 week year is youre realistic capacity? Or is that approach old fashioned, and missing so much of the nuance in your capacity to meet your goals, in the short term but in the long term? Given it's the end of financial year, Jordan and Nathan reflect on  The difference between motivation and consistency The factor...

Well, isn't this all very exciting?! Some big new listings hitting the market and it's such fun watching everybody lose. their. goddamned. minds.  Rules no longer need apply which, in the world of index investing, is kind of a big deal.  So, this week, Nathan and Jordan try (honestly, we really tried) to focus on the client-facing-reality of all the noise your clients are hearing about these big f...

We've talked about Aged Care before, but things have changed. Lots of things! There are new rules about how fees are calculated, applied and, most importantly for any government agency, renamed. (Who knew 'hotelling' was a word...look it up though) Nathan's been doing some even more interesting work in this valuable, important space - and written many a CPD piece on it.  And even Jordan's getting...

Apparently the Federal Government dropped some sort of Budget thingamajig the other day. It's got many people in a lather with the injustice of it all.  Dragged into the discussion with their characteristic reluctance to share an uninformed opinion, Nathan and Jordan thought an episode on this epoch-ending disaster* (going by the reaction of some of the panic merchants out there) would be a good i...

Say it with us... paraplanning . Paraplanning.  Paraplanning. Para - planning. What is it, why is it important, who's doing it and how are they doing it? This week's episode - likely the first of a series we'll return to - is all about the noble art of paraplanning. Because Jordan and Nathan know that hitting the kind of collaborative alignment that can occur between a financial adviser and parapl...

We get serious this week. No guest. No banter about dentists or Jordan's latest grievance with... well, you know.  Just Nathan and Jordan, a Treasury consultation paper, and a genuine call to action for every financial adviser, business owner, PY, associate, paraplanner etc that'll listen.   The Compensation Scheme of Last Resort is broken. Not broken in a subtle, nuanced, needs-a-closer-look kind...

We're proud of all our episodes, but the level of useful gold in this one is incredible.  Joined by regular guest, Martin McGrath, who seems to enjoy ganging up on Jordan as he attempts to corral the conversation into some sort of structure, they explore the world of tax planning for financial advisers.  What is it Why do it Is it really our job How to do it How to do it (badly) And so much in bet...

It's hard to believe that this show has been going long enough to start building traditions, but this is absolutely one of our favourites - our annual check-in with full-time podcaster, part-time lawyer James D'Apice.  James was good enough to join us early on in his Gravamen journey, then come back last year to talk about how he's finding the growth path in his second year of operations.  Now, in...

Following a run of outstanding and informative guests, this week we return to our normal programming - Jordan and Nathan mouthing off about a stack of different things - but this time prompted by listener questions! In this week's episode, they cover: The best U2 Album The conflicts that can arise when advising people who's  romantic life is over, but have chosen to continue their shared life.  Ad...

In this episode Jordan and Nathan are joined by none other than Brendan Frazier, most well known as host of The Human Side of Money Podcast.  The boys discuss How to just get started, and not be a perfectionist The power of questions, but why the words themselves are not the most important aspect in a client engagement. How leaning into the Human side creates a moat in a world of AI (yes of course...

Our recent episode on collaborating with other advisers - 'Playing Well With Others' - is one we're really proud of. And in that episode, Nathan and Jordan both mention the eye-opening experience of working with one specific financial adviser in a deeply specialist area.  Well, this week, that adviser - Kathy Havers of Viridian Advisory - is good enough to come on and introduce us and our listener...

Is it possible to scale good, quality, personalised financial advice? If it can be done - then how can we do it?  Can we scale the advice without scaling the discovery ? How can we find out enough about somebody to know what advice they don't need - and how do we have to charge for that work?  How can you, as a professional adviser, exercise and evidence your professional judgment about what a cli...

Financial advisers - you've spent your entire working relationship with your clients helping them build their wealth.  How prepared are you to help them make sure it passes to the next generation/s, without triggering the next War of the Roses? In this week's episode, Jordan and Nathan explore one of the alternatives to the 'traditional' view of estate planning and disputes; 'interdisciplinary col...

Quick question for you - is the 'old' way of doing fact finding enough in the current financial advice profession? If it is, great - let us know! But if you don't think it is, if you think that the bar has been lifted, over and over and over again, then this episode might be for you! In this weeks meander Jordan and Nathan start to tackle the battle of gathering and evidencing a clients situation...

Financial advice is a fairly solitary pursuit - the burden sits heavy on our individual shoulders.  But, does it necessarily need to be so? In this week's episode, Nathan and Jordan explore how advisers can, and are, work collaboratively to help meet our clients best interests.  From sharing ideas, discussing cases and referring to specialists within the profession, the opportunity to find the bes...

Remember QAR? The noise, the fury, the outrage? The column inches, breath and spittle diverted into 'discussing' the Quality of Advice Review? Would it surprise you to be reminded that the final report dropped way back in February 2023 - 3 years prior to this week's episode?  And, when you look around and see what a big difference it's made (...), isn't it quite astonishing? This week, prompted by...

We all know what bad engagement looks like. The shiftiness in the face of the truth, the big sales pitch, over-promises and, sadly, inevitable pain when the truth comes to light.  And we know what good engagement looks like - if I asked you, you could name a handful of advisers doing great work in engaging with the public.  But, what about that space in between?  How big is the gap between good an...

This week, we're joined by Stuart Riddle, of Claras.ai - one of the AI offerings in the financial advice market.  Nathan and Jordan start by asking him about the state of AI in financial advice, and expand into: The questions advisers should be asking about AI The questions licensees are asking about AI How AI can help advisers be more efficient, effective and balanced The specific workflows and i...

This week, Nathan and Jordan try to answer the question - how involved should you, as an adviser, be involved in implementing your advice? Well, they don't try all that hard, but they have a shot at it.  Starting at fairly opposite ends of the spectrum, they try to discuss: Working out who's job it is to get the forms signed If it's not your job, who's is it? How involved should you still be, even...

Managing to keep the meandering at the start of the ep to a - wide ranging and flower-heavy - minimum, Nathan and Jordan quickly get on task today to discuss getting paid.  From choosing how to structure the timing of when you get paid for your work as a financial adviser, to the methods you offer clients, to handling that blessedly rare occasion of a client stiffing you on a bill, they try to exp...

As a financial adviser, you no doubt know some stuff about the Age Pension. The Income Test. The Assets Test. Thresholds, limits, reduction factors - a fair bit of stuff.  But how do you tackle some of the ethical considerations? How do you balance client best interests with client intentions - especially when some of those intentions can be a bit dicey? In this week's episode, we explore this fun...

100 episodes! 100 episodes of these two goons meandering around topics that affect, interest and bewilder financial advisers in Australia.  To celebrate this milestone, Nathan and Jordan have decided to meander around the topic of 'power' in financial advice.  Who has it, who doesn't, why they do (and don't), how they can exercise it and how we can increase it.  It is, like most of our oddly popul...