During the last few months we’ve heard a lot about the different sectors of people in Australia that will be impacted in different ways by the COVID-19 market shock. Director of Fox & Hare Financial Advice, Jessica Brady, has for a long time now been driven to help young Australians get access to financial advice that’s tailored to their generational needs. Having met her business partner, Glen Hare, whilst working at Macquarie Bank, the pair have created a unique business model that centres itself around membership packages rather than the traditional build of an advisory firm. 

The dynamic duo completed two years of research into their audience before starting their business, in the pursuit of finding out exactly who they were and what their needs were. The result of their findings led to the building of 3 different coaching packages with varying levels of complexity in the advice they’d give to each group. The member programs are designed in a way so that members can flow between them depending on how developed of an approach they wish to take to their financial situation. 

Jessica comments that “Yes, it’s been an awful time, but actually I think it’s going to enable people to start really setting themselves up for financial success moving forward”. “I’m excited for the opportunity to change from a member perspective”. Jessica feels that this time is an incredible opportunity for people to understand their spending and where they can cut down on unnecessary things. She also feels that it’s a perfect time for the value in a savings account to be rediscovered, as well as young Australians’ approach to insurance.

During this time of remote working conditions Jessica’s client’s and team were well equipped for the digital transformation, however she expressed that the Australian fintech space had some improving to do. “We feel like we’re in the middle of financial services giving archaic processes while our clients want a really easy, streamline tech solution, so it’s an interesting challenge as a business to figure out what tech is going to give the best customer services”. 

Despite this their early adoption of technology meant that remote working was the last of their worries as COVID-19 wreaked havoc on global markets. They’ve managed to be that important, trusted adviser to so many in a time of need, and have been able to take insights out of this scenario that helps inform their businesses future success.

You can view their full conversation here: 

1. We’re getting back to business. Yep, from Monday pubs clubs and restaurants can host 50 patrons. For your hospitality clients, this is going to be a huge relief. After many being shut or only doing takeaway for several months, times have been tough. 

2. Save or make cash? That’s the question the AFR’s wealth column asks this week – is it better to save a lot or make a lot when it comes to getting rich. Bloomberg Opinion writers Nir Kaissar and Barry Ritholtz met online to debate which tactic is better.

3. Super contributions. As we edge closer to the end of the financial year, your definitive guide to year-end super contributions to minimise tax and boost that retirement nest egg is here. 

4. MLC has announced a new licensee network, TenFifty Financial Group, for self-employed advisers and advice businesses as it attempts to create a “more focused and sustainable” financial advice business. More here. 

5. Advisers continue to leave the sector. Rainmaker analysis of the ASIC Financial Adviser Register indicates that the register has dropped by 1488 advisers since the start of 2020. There were just 53 new entrants to the industry in the same period. More at Financial Standard.

There’s been a lot of discussion around the technological impact industries will feel in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly to the way we work. Diving deeper into the impacts expected to shake up the advisory space, Chris Ridd sat down with Founder & Managing Director of Pitch Labs, Jarrod Morris, to discuss what might be on the horizon. 

Jarrod began his career at KPMG in their cadetship program and quickly moved through impressive projects over the years including the launch of GroupOn in the Australian context, as well as relocating from Sydney to Adelaide to do the rebrand and relaunch of buy now, pay later platform Humm. Now, he dedicates himself to building what he calls the “future firm”. 

“Pitch Labs wears two hats. The first one is in recognition of the fact that we’re seeing generational shift in our client base, whereby ways of succession and patriarchs are handing over the reigns to the next generation, and that generation is wanting a more technology enabled solution, they want to be interacting their data and they want to be looking at their adviser like coaches, as opposed to people they just outsource the compliance obligations too.”

Jarrod explains that Pitch Labs is a stand alone entity which enables the team to look into business development opportunities, and the shift toward a subscription based business model is something that resonates strongly with their clients. “As you’ve rightly identified it’s not rocket science, we’re not reinventing the wheel necessarily, I just think from a marketing perspective that’s something that resonates.”

“From a Pitch Labs perspective, we’re looking at automating a lot of what is the existing transactional elements of both book keeping and compliance, and leveraging best in-class technology solutions to free up the capacity of our staff to deal with more commercial objectives of those businesses.”

Jarrod believes technology will play a huge part in what the longer term implications are for the advisory world. “Businesses will be reluctant to reemploy individuals put into hibernation, stood down or worst case made redundant, as they might start to explore what those outsourced possibilities look like because of the costs associated with rehiring.”

 You can view their full conversation here: 

The fact is the entire business world had to do the same and so began a social experiment, the likes of which we have never witnessed before. Like many other businesses, the myprosperity experience has been largely positive. In fact, Peter claims that productivity has not diminished at all and some employees are claiming that they are more productive in the home setting. That’s a very real and encouraging proof point that we simply can’t ignore. 

I recently spoke with a number of staff in another technology company about how they were coping during this time away from the office. During the discussion, one of the employees made an interesting point that when working previously in a large company prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, if you ever needed to work from home you often had this feeling of guilt that drove you to constantly prove to ‘the boss’ that you were actually working. That feeling of guilt suggests a hidden bias towards a clock-in and clock-out mentality that I personally have never been a fan of. However, with forced remote working, we’ve proven we can keep a business running without staff being in the office. Importantly, we’ve smashed the old-fashioned perception that time in the office equals value to the company and something that is necessary in order to satisfy the boss. That’s a huge win in my view and that leads me to think things will never be the same.

From a lifestyle standpoint, it almost feels to me like we are back in the 70’s, but with loads of cool tech. If you are my vintage, born in the late 60’s, you probably have recollections of afternoons after school or work, and indeed weekends, where people were out and about. Walking dogs, jogging, riding bikes, flying kites. There is a nostalgic sense right now that the clock has been wound back and we are seeing a return to a more simple life. Many of my friends and colleagues talk about the joy of spending more time with family and outdoors, rather than being stuck in traffic with long commutes to and from work. Add to that picture the incredible choice of technology such as Teams, Zoom, Slack, and so on, the ability to stay connected, to collaborate and get stuff done whilst enjoying the freedom that comes with being out of the office brings a work-life integration that could be a new reality.

OK, so it’s not all upside. If you are in a small apartment with limited space to get away from the dishwasher being unpacked or the young child home-schooling, remote working can be tough. For me, the social interaction of a coffee meeting in a cafe or the famous myprosperity Friday team lunches which I used to love are just not possible. Equally, the value in participating in a casual conversation in the kitchen or the immediacy of a random chat by the watercooler (or in the case of a modern tech company, the coffee espresso machine) doesn’t happen in this new normal. 

The bottomline though is that we are all now reassessing how we are working and what changes we can and should make once we ease our way out of isolation. For me, it’s about spending more time on simple things, having quality time with the family and choosing to get down the coast where I can work perhaps more productively as I would in an office. For others it might be spending less time in traffic or working hours that better suits their lifestyle or choosing the convenience of an online meeting. As Peter McCarthy said, there are unintended consequences of this shutdown and one of the big ones is proving that working remotely at scale whilst maintaining productivity has passed the real life test with flying colours.

Chris Ridd recently sat down with Ron Lesh, Managing Director of BGL to discuss how the financial technology startup has been going in these unusual times. With software sales running out the door, BGL has been in a unique position whereby all staff were assured at the beginning of lockdown that their jobs were secure. This set the tone for things to run smoothly as they transitioned to remote working conditions having already been doing that since 2019. 

Remote working conditions was no new concept for the team at BGL. “Working from home was something we began introducing last year. One of the projects we had planned this year was giving more flexibility to work from home.” Ron believes that giving people back that freedom and time to have more flexibility generates untold benefits to a business and it’s working culture. He also believes that Australian’s will return to a state normalcy that’s reminiscent of times before COVID, asserting that “People need to socialise, and the office is as much a social space as it is a work space.” 

BGL is an excellent case study of how some technology companies during this time are able to navigate the turbulence with great success due to an unimpacted demand for their product. Now more than ever with people working from home we’re realising the strong value in adopting software like BGL’s.

1. When we think of those who have been on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic, we imagine the thousands of medical staff across Australia who are helping to save lives despite the risks the virus poses for all. These important figures behind the scenes are experiencing the impacts of the market shock just like we are, and it’s thanks to people like Carolyn Bindon, Director of WealthMed, who are helping navigate these folks through the economic uncertainty. You can watch how WealthMed, an advisory business that works specifically with medical professionals, is helping our doctors and nurses navigate their own wealth worlds during this time of crisis in this week’s myprosperity@home episode here. 

2. Just like the rest of us, WealthMed’s Carolyn Bindon has had to transition her team to work remotely. It’s something we expect to continue – at least in part – even when Australia opens up again. Myprosperity Founder Peter McCarthy was this week interviewed on 2GB radio about how he intends to run a hybrid workforce.

3. The COVID-19 industry shakeup has created a surge in demand for digital services. Moody’s says it’s accelerating existing trends and causing a rethink of old habits, business models, consumer preferences and competitive dynamics. More at Mortgage Business. 

4. Young Australians hit hard. New research from Finder shows that young mortgage holders have been hit hard by the financial fallout from COVID-19 with 26 per cent seeking or planning on seeking assistance from their lender or landlord, compared with 10 per cent of Gen X respondents and 1 per cent of Baby Boomers. More here. 

5. Advice subscription? That’s what Adelaide’s Pitcher Partners has backed as the model that will disrupt the accounting and advisory sector. They’ve launched a fixed monthly rate model that they hope will encourage clients to reach out for more real-time advice, more often. More here.