Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice

We genuinely had a plan for this episode...and then it just ran right off the rails. Which is a shame*. Because ASIC have updated their regulatory guidance around Conflicts of Interest, in Regulatory Guide 181.  And it's good.  Useful. Broader than before, touching on a wider range of potential conflicts amongst a much larger ecosystem than was the case when it was last refreshed (2004, ahem).  It...

Get in touch Continuing our streak of bringing people on, then putting them in commercially awkward positions by asking silly questions, we're joined in this episode by Patrick Flynn of Simply Kaizen. Who, despite our shenanigans, is happy to discuss: Why the leap from 1-2 advisers to 7+ is across such a large canyon Where Kaizen comes from and how it feeds into his philosophy about the business o...

Weaknesses - we've all got 'em.  But, what do we do about them? This week's episode sees Jordan and Nathan exploring the idea of weaknesses: What they are (and what they aren't) How to recognise them What to do about them  How the weaknesses we all have can manifest in our work, our personal lives and our practices There's a smidge of vulnerability from the two of them, but hopefully you leave wit...

Time for more dilemmas - this time, what do you do when a client (strongly) hints they want to end their marriage? How do you handle the disclosure? How do you advise them? What do you do about the partner? Throw in TPD, infidelity, a brief detour in ASIC's SMSF report and a healthy dose of uncertainty, and you've got this week's episode.  In it, Jordan and Nathan: Propose frameworks to help you n...

You see the event announcement, and you think to yourself, " Flights, Accomodation, Time out of the business, Time away from your family... is this conference really worth it? " In this episode (recorded live in the vendor hall of the FAAA Congress 2025) Jordan and Nathan are joined by Glen James (Podcaster Extraordinaire, now Youtuber) to discuss How the gold Glen got from conferences helped set...

Fresh off the release of his first book - Retire Life Ready - we're joined by James Wrigley. With the largest following on social media of any Australian financial adviser*, James is building his practice by talking to people on all the social platforms.  Which is why, in this episode, we studiously ignored talking about social media or marketing.  Instead, we wanted to know about his experience w...

Index vs Active - it's the investment debate we all love to keep having.  Or, is it? Because what's presented as a flat, binary choice is really much more nuanced. And, to be frank, boring.  More interesting to us - and what we explore in this week's episode - is the framework and process advisers build to help answer the many "what about"s that come up when we're building our own investment philo...

How much of your actual development as a professional is being captured via your CPD obligations? Are you only doing 40 hours of learning across the year? Or are you constantly learning? If the latter, then join us this week as we chat with Clayton Daniel of CPD Check. Best known for his central role in the rise of the Ensombl platform, Clayton has turned his eye to expanding and democratising the...

Referrals. We all need them. We all want them. And we're all, to some degree, getting them.  But what works? Why does it work? And, critically, what doesn't work? In this week's episode, Nathan and Jordan have a shot at unpacking this huge and critical topic, to discuss: How advisers can easier find clients they like working with The two key problems all business owners face Why those of us who ar...

We're getting philosophical again this week, but unlike our other meanderings up our own backsides - this one has real value for listeners*.  Nathan realised recently that our job as advisers comes down to one, big concept: expectations.  Helping clients recognise, articulate, explore, challenge and achieve their expectations.  This seed of an idea triggered a conversation that touches on: The gap...

We can all agree that the first meeting is crucial .  But - why? What are you looking for out of that meeting? What makes the first meeting a successful one? What's your intention for this meeting - and for the entire process around it? In this week's episode, Nathan and Jordan unpack what they think makes a good first appointment, what they've seen other advisers doing and what they've learned fr...

We're joined this week by Ashley Taylor, accredited family law specialist from Lander & Rogers. Ashley's here to help us unpack the trickier financial complexities that can arise in divorce negotiations, including: Family trusts in all their wonderful permutations Why it's not as simple as 'if you're the appointor, it's in the pool' How intergenerational trusts are looked at in the settlement proc...

We've thought about doing an episode about private credit, equity and markets for a while now - but couldn't ever work out the right angle to take on such a big topic.  Then the news cycle swooped in and gave us the link we never knew we needed - between private credit investments and Target Market Determinations (TMDs).  This is a big topic, and Nathan and Jordan do their best to: Define just wha...

You've heard the experts (and these two mugs) repeatedly say "you should niche". But they never pay you the courtesy of explaining how .  Well, let us rectify that oversight in this week's episode by giving you one, easy answer: "Roll a dice". Or, more accurately, a set of D&D dice. This week, Nathan and Jordan set up a number of different categories and roll the dice to build out and explore pote...

What's stopping you from being more active on social media? From a professional perspective, that is - I'm sure you're forever taking photos of your meals on your own account.  But when it comes to work (or your business), what's stopping you from getting your voice out there? Is it shyness? Impostor syndrome? Perfectionism? Disdain? Or a mix of the above? Well, that's why we asked Deline Jacovide...

This week we're back with a Q&A episode, tackling three big questions that have been landing in our inbox from our listeners.  New and exciting Annuity products: With a wave of new products hitting the market, we unpack what advisers should watch out for, why a healthy dose of skepticism is essential, and the dangers of shiny innovation that later gets grandfathered or disappears. Tax-deductible a...

This week's episode is about an incredibly serious, meaningful topic.  Just kidding.  It's a gameshow!! Mr Fradley has designed an excellent gameshow to put his (bewilderingly bad) co-host and (outstanding) guests, James d'Apice of Gravamen and Morgan Hayward of Lume Wealth through their paces.  He's also managed to keep it in the realm of financial advice!  More fun than should be allowed in any...

This week's episode is all about the immense difference a network of peers can have on your career, practice and life.  Joined by Charmaine Hall of Unbound Financial , Nathan and Jordan find out: How the peer network Charmaine's part of came to be The pros (and cons) of facilitating, and participating in, a peer group What good practice as a participant looks like A cracking example on the immedia...

Whether it's sheer coincidence or not, Nathan and Jordan have happened to have a few...interesting pricing cases float their way since last week's episode on Pricing.  So in this one, they take the time to examine two examples of pricing in the market. Anonymised, but detailed enough to provide lots of meaty discussion, including: How much is too much to charge for financial advice? Who are we to...

We've talked about pricing before. We've discussed the options, the methods and (some of) the considerations.  But, let's be honest, the audio sucked and we had even less of an idea than we have now.  So it's time to revisit this foundation stone of the financial advisers practice. Get pricing right, we believe, and yours will be a successful career.  Get it right, or fall for the propaganda that...

This week's episode is all about the conversations advisers are having - or should be having - with their clients about their truly long-term questions.  Robert Rich of Unite Wealth joins Nathan and Jordan to discuss: The challenges he's found in exploring client views on inheritance, bequests, wealth and support for their kids The way he's structured his process to draw out a person's real financ...

This one gets  weird ... Or, more professionally, it gets introspective. Philosophical. Meandering. Circuitous. Solipsistic. Navel-gazing.  Because this week, Nathan and Jordan are exploring the most arcane topic they've yet covered on Australia's Nichest Podcast: When does a client become a client - and when do they stop being a client? Because while we all 'know' what a client is, did you know i...

An alternative title for this episode was CSLR 2: The Rage Cometh, because it is getting  messed up .  And one of the journalists really working the beat on this topic is Keith Ford of ifa.com.au , who was good enough to come on and talk us through the latest updates on this rolling snowball of an issue.  From the various product failures potentially adding $2bn to the pipeline, to the labyrinthin...

This week's episode is all about the upcoming changes to the Aged Care rules. Nathan's good enough to take an oddly political Jordan through the changes this week, covering: The expansion of the options in the Home Care arena from 4 to 8+2. The value and impact the new 'End of Life' package is going to offer people who want to spend their last days in their home. The changes to the fees - upfront...

Friend* of the show, Phil Thompson from Skye Wealth joins us this week to discuss the very specific, very niche, but  very important topic of duration discounting in insurance.  Phil takes us through just what he's talking about, why it matters and the damage it's doing to the entire insurance ecosystem.  Importantly, though, he also shares what he sees as the best fixes to this problem. His confi...