After spending nearly two months in lockdown, we’re finally beginning to see the curve flatten. State Governments are starting to lift some restrictions and conversations are turning to how we’re going to reboot the economy.

Some of the transformations that have happened during COVID-19 will be very hard to unpick – we’re looking at sectors that will forever be changed as a result of the past two months. Take the advisory sector,  we’ve been talking about how technology will transform the industry for the better part of a decade but the uptick didn’t actually happen until literally overnight when face-to-face interactions were wound back. 

Through these trying times, technology has afforded accountants and financial planners the tools to not only continue to run their businesses but to also diversify their offerings. Key processes such as onboarding, document signing, fact finds, tax checklists, and many more have been digitised so much so that advisers now don’t need to worry about leaving the house to work with clients. 

The need for this technology was recently highlighted in a Startup Daily article which shone a light on the myprosperity wealth portal and the uptick in usage we’ve been experiencing for the past few months. The article focuses also on why advisers are finding themselves in need of this technology now more than ever. With high levels of unemployment and economic uncertainty, people are turning to their adviser for crucial guidance and peace-of-mind during this time. 

“We’ve seen a spike in interest from advisers looking for a platform to help older people get their affairs in order and younger people worried about their financial future, especially with uncertainty around job security,” myprosperity Founder Peter McCarthy said.

Peter also highlighted the concern felt by people around debt levels and their ability to make repayments.

“For households, we’ve seen a significant spike in requests around assistance in financial management, retirement and estate planning, highlighting the increase in concern around financial health. These troubling times suggest people are looking for advice to help stem the loss and shore up their financial future,” he said.

With so many Australians in need of assistance, there’s never been a more important time for advisers to be utilising technology to ensure business continuity and remain relevant in the post-COVID world.

When Caren isn’t meeting the likes of Mel Gibson, Vanilla Ice and Charlie Sheen, she’s busy managing 19 staff at The Hendrie Group, the Croydon based advisory business she founded. She recently sat down to chat with myprosperity Director Chris Ridd to discuss how she and her advisory business have been coping during these challenging times. 

When asked how her clients have been feeling amid the market shock of COVID-19, Caren explained that people are stressed and confused. The Government stimulus packages have been a saviour for people, but she admits that some clients have been confused by the details of what relief they would be able to access. She’s found strong value in helping guide clients through these applications, particularly now that there’s been a influx of JobKeeper applications. Working with clients through these steps has been made easy through the use of digital platforms that have made client engagement simple in remote working conditions.

Caren believes that “the way we lead our clients through this is going to be everything” and that this is an amazing opportunity for businesses to redefine how they work with clients. One way that The Hendrie Group has been doing this is by using the technology they’ve had at hand more effectively, which has led them to utilising the myprosperity wealth portal. Caren has the highest regard for the portal and the tools it gives her to work more effectively with her clients such as tax checklist, reminders and document signing. “We feel it’s the most high quality wealth management product that can be used.” she explains. “You can get so caught up in a wirl-wind that distracts you from giving this technology the time it needs, but what better time is there for people to get their financial affairs sorted than now, and that can be completely achieved through the wealth portal.”

Similar to Caren’s love for the wealth portal, she has three non-negotiable health practises that get her through any challenging time. The first one is treating food like fuel, not comfort, making sure everything that goes in inspires rather than tires. Secondly, making sure she’s moving around everyday and thirdly, quality sleep. With her three mantras, a strong team and technology helping her work with clients, Caren believes that while this time is hard on many people, we’ve seen challenging times like this that we’ve persevered through and it can be done again. 

You can view the full episode here. 

From challenging times come some of the most incredible innovations and scientific breakthroughs. As we all navigate the COVID-19 way of life, we’ve all had to figure out new ways of working, communicating and basically getting stuff done remotely.

 This time of remote working and self-isolation is making way for the complete digital transformation of entire industries. In health, we’ve seen GPs and pharmacists go online to see patients and financial advisory and accounting are no different – as Peter McCarthy said in a recent Startup Daily article, this digital transformation of our sector is something we’ve been talking about for the better part of a decade. 

 “Without face-to-face meetings, advisors have had to think very quickly about how they could better leverage technology to build and maintain their client relationships,” McCarthy said.

The use of online forms – or digital fact finds, tax checklists and onboarding forms – which help advisers digitise the engagement process by eradicating paper to streamline data collection, is up over 300% since December 2019.  Digital signing of documents is up 225%, a direct result of less face-to-face meetings and people working from home.

 On the subject of remote working, as we’ve previously mentioned  a  Federal Government Telework Advisory panel in 2012-13 sought ways to encourage businesses and their employees to embrace “telework”, we were devising strategies to incentivise industry to move the needle on remote working practices. Never did we conceive that a global pandemic such as COVIDCovid-19 would one-day force this change upon people, and do so literally overnight. Back then, technology was improving to help accommodate telework, but today we are truly in a great position to embrace this and there are many signs that technology is delivering.

 Let’s start with the all-important pipes or networks needed to cope with the surge in demand and Australia’s growing appetite for data. In early April the NBN reported that weekly activation numbers had surged to 42,000 premises in consecutive weeks, up from previous averages of 32,000 in the prior 6 months. Peak business hour upstream speeds were reportedly topping out at 1.02Tbps during April, which was a 104% increase over the pre-COVID timeframe. Importantly, it seems that the NBN in Australia is coping reasonably well with the sudden increase in demand. Notwithstanding, upload capacity on the network had to be increased in order to address the demand and further enhancements are likely to be needed. As you’d expect, much of this increase in traffic is related to the huge uptake in video conferencing services, but it seems it is not all about work. For example, the busiest traffic day on the NBN was apparently April 8th which happened to coincide with an online update to the popular video game “Call of Duty”. “Sure boss, I’m really busy here in my home office” as the sound of machine-gun fire echoes in the background. 

 Home video conferencing is the new communications medium of choice and the industry is booming. Zoom and Microsoft Teams are clear winners here. Zoom’s share price is up from $68 in January to over $144. Interesting to note it’s PE ratio is tracking at 1,532. By comparison, the average P/E for the S&P 500 has historically ranged from 13-15.

 Video conferencing is the new communications medium of choice and the industry is booming. Zoom and Microsoft Teams are clear winners here. Zoom’s share price is up from $68 in January to over $144. Interesting to note it’s PE ratio is tracking at 1,532. By comparison, the average P/E for the S&P 500 has historically ranged from 13-15. Other tech companies providing solutions that promote remote working are seeing big lifts in their share prices. Microsoft is up 32% since late March. Atlassian is up 26% in the same timeframe. Slack is up 40%. This is all based on greater uptake of their platforms and related to that, the market’s expectation that this will continue to be a trend long after COVID lockdowns are lifted.

 Closer to home, myprosperity is also seeing a substantial increase in the use of its platform. This trend, however, goes beyond remote working and speaks to the renewed economic uncertainty that is facing clients. Speaking with myprosperity CEO, Stephen Jackel since the beginning of 2020, partner logins to the platform have doubled. Assets added by clients is up 110% and liabilities even higher at 200%, possibly signalling that households are increasingly concerned about debt levels and wanting to get on top of it. Furthermore, the use of Digital Forms and Fact Finds is up 300% and just in the last month, Opportunities have seen an increase of 35%, driven on the back of in-application surveys and a clear signal that clients are seeking help from advisers. 

 Clearly advisers are turning to digital technology to stay connected and their clients not only want it but are in fact demanding it. In our video interview series, myprosperity@home we’ve had the opportunity to speak with numerous advisers on how they are coping in this new remote world. Whilst they have not had a choice, overall the mood is very positive and it seems that being forced into isolation has prompted a rethink on how technology can make a substantial and sustained impact on how the industry will operate. For me personally, I believe the hardship caused by COVID-19 will bring about long-term positive change in the way technology can help bring about better outcomes for advisers and their clients. 

 Early adoption of technology and a strong team culture were just some of the topics discussed when Chris Ridd sat down with Sam Cranange of Cranage Private Wealth in episode eight of the myprosperity @ home series. Managing an office of 30 people and a large portfolio of clients during the market shock of COVID-19 is no simple task, but Sam perseveres forward with a strong team and a positive working culture.

 “We’ve been really lucky having a young, dynamic team of people who have a really strong work ethic.” Sam tells Chris as the two start to discuss how Sam’s been coping during these tough times. What’s been his saving grace has been the strong work ethic of the entire office, as well as having a huge amount of trust for his team. For the past few years Sam has also been working a few days from home, making the transition to lockdown conditions easy. In adapting to this the team had become fluent in doing meetings via Zoom, so much so that Sam had been seeding this technology into the way he serviced clients. 

 Sam has been utilising features in the myprosperity portal such as document signing and digital onboarding surveys for some time now, asserting that they dramatically increased business efficiencies and saved time handling client paperwork. This digital shift in his business that evidently everyone is now having to adopt he feels will be the new business-as-usual. For Sam and his business the digital transition has unearthed some truths about the way he services clients that he cannot not see. 

 Outside of the tech world, Sam’s managed to maintain a healthy body and mind during this time by taking the time to enjoy surfing. While he acknowledges he’s lucky enough to live down in Torquay and have access to the beach, he encourages his whole team to take that time to clear their mind so they’re not feeling overwhelmed by the large volume of work coming through at this time. 

 You can watch the full episode below.

Here’s what’s happened in advisory: 

1. Gift or loan? The AFR this week published a column urging parents to think very carefully before giving adult children financial help. As parents, we all want to help our children in whatever way we reasonably can. However, Louise Biti warns before you write that cheque, consider the impact on age pension entitlements as well as current or future aged care needs. There’s a great breakdown of the financial effects of helping your children here. 

2. Early super access – we’ve been banging on about it for weeks now but super funds CIOs say funds are liquid enough to handle member switching and early withdrawals. AustralianSuper’s Mark Delaney said stress testing had been performed on “much bigger numbers” than was being anticipated. More here. 

3. Dividends deferred. The banks are deferring dividend decisions after their profits fell more than 50 per cent off the back of COVID-19. More here. 

4. Online learning for advisers. The Adviser has launched a new online learning centre for brokers this week. The e-learning platform will help brokers earn CPD points and continue professional development remotely.

5. Long read for your weekend. Professional Planner has put together an opinion piece analysing why dismantling reforms may be the only option for the future of the advisory sector. 

Bonus item: This week on myprosperity@home Chris Ridd sat down with Andy Fenton of Fenton Financial to discuss how he and his advisory business are coping, the conversation spanned several topics including technology, Instagram TV, client communication and a summary of how he’s been managing his client’s finances amid this crisis. Watch it here.

When Chris Ridd sat down to speak with Andy Fenton of Fenton Financial to discuss how he and his advisory business are coping, the conversation spanned several topics including  technology, Instagram TV, client communication and a summary of how he’s been managing his client’s finances amid this crisis. 

Andy begins by telling Chris how busy Fenton Financial was prior to the market shock of COVID-19. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t working harder than I’ve ever worked before.” commented Andy, as he went on to explain that when the markets first crashed he rushed to put together communications for his clients, when another shock hit the market. 

Andy felt the situation was evolving so quickly that the only way to get ahead was to get on top of it. He decided to do this by developing a cohervice series of platforms that communicated directly with his clients, giving them valuable peace-of-mind and updates. This approach was made up of Instagram TV, Zoom for webinars and meetings, live video streaming and Facebook groups, as Andy felt that he needed to go to where people were already communicating, not bringing them somewhere new to communicate. 

“Client’s were wondering what was going on, what legislation was in place, what did the stimulus’ mean, so we needed to give practical and calm guidance.” Andy and his team developed their own contingency plan for their business, figuring out what their 5 stages of planning were and voicing that to their clients so they could prepare their own businesses with similar planning. 

For the past two years Andy has been developing a new service that’s a membership-based platform which will give access to DIY services, act as a single source of truth for all financial data and provide collaborative technologies so that clients can be guided through it at all times. 

“We’re going into that space now where it’s how you use technology partners that communicate with other technologies, it’s about how you bring them together and I honestly believe whoever does that really well will start to own big niches in the market.”

You can watch the full episode here