The question that is asked more than any other before committing to a new client management software is, “Is this the right choice for my business?” For advisory firm Financial Lifestyle Managers (FLM), myprosperity was the best choice to grow efficiencies and free up time to build trusting relationships with clients. FLM oversees $18 million in assets and in the last year onboarded all clients to the myprosperity platform. We sat down with Practice Principal, Louise Parker to discuss the changes she’s enjoyed since partnering with myprosperity.

With over 20 years in financial planning and experience working with both AMP and Westpac, Louise is passionate about maintaining long-term relationships with her clients. “I have a mostly retired client base and a lot of them are ex-police, so for me to gain their trust makes my life so much easier,” she says. Despite varying levels of tech literacy, Louise is pleased to find all her clients are embracing various features and tools, and enjoying the great snapshot of their wealth that the FLM branded app provides.

When asked what the biggest change to her process has been since implementing myprosperity, Louise noted the security that comes with being able to chat to her clients directly in the portal.

“I’ve moved away from email completely. As I’ve said to my clients, everything goes through the chat because if I do it through an email, somebody could be hacked or scammed and their privacy is gone. It’s a portal that is as secure as a bank.”

Saving time and improving efficiencies was a focus area for Louise when she bought FLM in 2006, with the right tech stack being an important part of that objective. Myprosperity plays a key role in many aspects of streamlining processes, from onboarding clients with digital forms through to reporting and the mobile app.

“It’s made my business so efficient. It pays for itself ten times over. Due to myprosperity, my efficiencies have made FLM one of the most profitable in my licensee.”

When it comes to annual review time at Financial Lifestyle Managers, Louise uses myprosperity to demonstrate the value of her services to her clients. With the help of powerful reports produced in the portal using live financial data feeds, clients can see exactly how they’ve been tracking against their goals, and have more insightful discussions with Louise.

“My Statements of Advice and review documents are all uploaded, so they’ve got their whole financial world in one place.”

The goal setting feature is a favourite for Louise’s clients to check in on their financial goals in between review meetings, “Say, they want to go on a holiday or save for a house, they can link their goal to a bank account and track it.”

By combining the power of myprosperity and Xplan, Louise can easily synchronise SOAs and documents across the two platforms, allowing her to leverage the most recent data. “I run the two side-by-side. Reason being, Xplan gives me my illustrations and my Statements of Advice and documents, but myprosperity gives me the factual information and what is actually going on. I don’t have to wait for a client to ring me and say ‘Lou, I’ve changed my car – please update Centrelink’, they go online themselves, update their car, update whatever they’ve sold/bought and it’s there on myprosperity. So, it’s fantastic. I just love it to death.”

FLM has been on a journey to continue improving efficiencies across the business and provide the best possible client experience, and with myprosperity, Louise’s clients are embracing this technology with her.

“That’s what I love about myprosperity – it’s the feel. It’s your compliance world in one place, so my clients are benefitting, my practice is benefitting and my compliance is all ticked off and correct.”

Watch the full interview with Louise here.

Author: Lauren Main

To kick 2021 off, the first episode of the year had to be topical and motivating, especially given what 2020 was like. We needed to start this year off with a fresh perspective and renewed positivity, so we invited Digital Health Business expert, Paul Waldren – Founder of Loup, an agency that creates digital health and fitness apps like Centr with Chris Hemsworth (more on this later) to explore a holistic and sustainable approach to getting financially fit.

But first, Waldren shared some incredible stories and insights from his long-serving career at The Nine Network during the days of Kerry Packer’s reign and negotiating the AFL rights. A key takeaway was his recollection of how the internet disrupted the consumption of traditional media in the early 2000’s. While there were several opportunities to adapt and leverage this new technology to grow exponentially, the myopic outlook of free-to-air media executives caused these traditional channels to stagnate. And you can still see the effects of that today as paid streaming platforms own the lion’s share of the market. Waldren’s advice to accountants and advisers is “I’d be embracing technology and having an open mind that wonders to the what if’s and maybe’s of what this world is going to look like in 10 years’ time. Don’t be the Fairfax of the Financial industry.”

So what of getting financially fit? Paul expressed his deep knowledge of the health consumer, “Often they make all sorts of decisions in January and by March the motivation has gone. Often the motivation goes because the results aren’t there. And that’s largely because they don’t set realistic expectations.” He wasn’t only referring to health goals however, but also wealth goals because they are proven to give better outcomes when they go hand in hand. So to get your clients to become financially and physically fit, Waldren’s advice is to tell them to, “Be realistic of where you are in your financial and health journey, and set achievable goals, ones that are attainable. Small incremental lifestyle changes that are going to take time but you enjoy practicing and pursuing, is the secret.” By setting realistic and long term goals and expectations, the sustainability and durability of your relationship with your client then rides on keeping them on track and delivering them what you promised based on these achievable goals.

On to Thor! Well no, no connection there except that the leading man of Centr app is Chris Hemsworth. Waldren explains his venture into the digital health landscape was born out of the failures he’d ‘enjoyed previously’. They were seeing the emergence of the online personal fitness category, which involved a consumer subscribing to an app or website. Fortunately, one of his previously failed projects bore a great piece of technology that suited this emerging category perfectly. It was web-based and provided consumers with direct access to video packages, meal plans and audio files. He had come across personal trainer and later down the track Bachelor no. 3, Sam Wood, who aspired to get his health program out in the market, so they went on to develop 28 by Sam Wood. It became a huge success and was followed by Tiff Hall with TIFFXO and other graduations that finally led to Centr with Chris Hemsworth. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Waldren’s keynote was followed by a reflective and motivating discussion by our expert panellists, Trent McClaren, VP of Client Success TOA Global and Accounting thought leader of the year (Awarded by Accountants Daily); Caren Hendrie, Advisory Consultant and Co-founder of The Business Growth Group; and Karolina Kuszyk, Head of Wealth Channel for myprosperity, with host Chris Ridd, Director of myprosperity. The panellists reflected on the unprecedented year that was 2020, and how accountants and advisers rose as the ‘unsung heroes of the year’; navigating stimulus packages and other government initiatives to try and keep businesses and the economy afloat.  Their advice for the year ahead echoed Waldren’s, in setting more short-term and realistic goals given the unpredictable climate we find ourselves in, and leaning on technology to improve efficiencies seek out new opportunities.

Digital technology may have once been a disruption to certain industries but now it’s more an enablement tool for the advice industry, which saw a phenomenal uptake in its adoption last year. As Karolina Kuszyk mentions, “There’s been a lot of research done into digital transformations in the finance industry and what those trends have shown is that technology isn’t there to replace anything, it’s there to enable us humans to do a better job. And that extends to attracting better quality employees and client engagement.”  This became evident for us at myprosperity when the pandemic hit last year and we saw a 300% increase in the number of documents being digitally signed, 91% increase in user logins, apps downloaded, and a huge increase in digital form development requests. Accountants and advisers are realising the benefits more and more with evidence in the increased efficiencies and client engagement. And if chosen correctly, long term opportunities that will keep their revenue growing.

Those are just some of the highlights from the episode. You can catch up on the full episode below.

Author: Christina Jones

In 2014 when I was running Xero in Australia, I recall a rather prophetic article that quoted Mike Cannon-Brookes of Atlassion fame, along with reknowned tech investor and Seek co-founder, Paul Bassat regarding the blossoming fintech industry. Cannon-brookes, no stranger to disruption and innovation took great delight in declaring war on the Big 4 banks and describing their $29B of profits that they disclosed that year as “insane” and fair game for new fintech players. Since then the fintech industry has burgeoned with well over a thousand local fintechs vying to bring innovation, new capability and disruption to the financial services industry and take a slice of those profits.

One of those categories within the fintech industry is the so-called neo banks. The likes of Judo, Xinja, Volt, Up and 86400 (denoting the number of seconds there are in a day) have come to the fore over the past few years vowing to take a huge chunk of the retail banking market by attracting a younger and more tech savvy cohort of consumers to their mobile online bank offering. However, in late 2020 it was announced that Xinja was handing back it’s banking licence and returning more than $252M back to its nearly 40,000 customers. Then last week, we learned that Nab had approved $220 million to acquire 86400 to leverage the technology they had built in order to accelerate the growth of their UBank business. So it begs the question, are the neo banks really what they were cracked up to be? And would you recommend them to your clients?

Last week, I was approached by Simon Thomsen, Editor in Chief at Startup Daily to comment on this latest development with 86400. A month earlier, he had noted a cheeky remark that I had made on Twitter regarding the demise of Xinja.

And so I guess that made me an instant expert to comment on the plight of the neobank movement? 🙂 And to unpack the unfolding drama that lies ahead for this seemingly unchallenged category within the large fintech landscape. You can watch the full interview on Ausbiz here. By the way, my tweet was simply remarking on the thin margins that any bank is currently experiencing given that the RBA cash rate is so low. I also wonder whether the rise of neobanks was largely driven off the back of growing public dissatisfaction with the Big 4 banks and not just a better tech-enabled user experience.

Most of the banks continue to invest heavily in technology and particularly in mobile, and one could argue that their handling of the COVID crisis post Royal Commission has started to rebuild some of the consumer confidence in banks that was eroded over previous years and a string of high profile scandals.

A recent report by PWC into the future of retail banking would tend to support my assessment. Check it out here. Whilst new players, improved technology and alternative channels will continue to evolve out of the fintech revolution, the Big Banks are unlikely to go away. And competition won’t necessarily come from the startup and VC funded neobank challengers. It is going to be Bigtech such as Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon, all of whom have deep pockets, enormous global scale and low customer acquisition costs that allow them to launch adjacent financial services and offer them to an enormous customer base of consumers.

My comments in the interview with Startup Daily about myprosperity reflected the fact that we are not competing with banks and in fact, have identified whitespace in supporting the digital engagement between advisor and client. That is a big gap today and one that the banks are unable to plug, and at a time when they are all getting out of wealth management.

Our offering was built on the understanding that consumers will not only use multiple banks, but their investments, superannuation, insurance and many other financial products will need to be accessible in one place to enable a consolidated view of their financial position. So regardless of the emerging banks, neobanks or any other new wizz bang financial services offering that your clients choose to go with, we will continue to integrate with all of them. This gives you and your clients access to critical data to make collection seamless and in real time, and ultimately enable you, the advisor, to deliver data-driven and more timely advice.

Access to financial advice for ordinary Australians has become a big theme in the media of late, and we expect the debate will continue throughout 2021. What seems to be at the core, is the increasingly restrictive regulatory framework and increasing compliance costs for Advisers which has resulted in a lack of affordability of advice, and seems to work against the increasing need for professional advice.

This is one of the themes identified in CPA Australia’s “The Value of Advice” Report, released in November 2020. If you haven’t seen it then it is definitely worth a read and can be downloaded here. Noting the increase in complexity and an ever-changing regulatory framework, the report advocates for reforms to ensure advice remains affordable and accessible. We know this view is shared amongst many in the industry, and has in fact been one of the reasons we have seen an exodus of advisers. For many, it has become unprofitable or at least unsustainable as a business venture.

You only need to read some of the forums in ifa and other advice publications to know that emotions on this subject run very high. Much of this has also been inflamed by inconsistent approaches in how advice is being governed in this country. For example, last year’s decision by the Federal Government to grant temporary AFSL exemption to accountants to facilitate access to Superannuation. Some argued this was a necessary move to help clients gain much needed access to cash through the pandemic. Others argued it was inconsistent, in that AFSL holders remained very tightly governed and not fairly treated in other areas post Royal Commission. The point being, regardless of what opinion is held on the subject, what has been highlighted in the report is that different types of advice are governed by different legislative and regulatory frameworks.

The CPA Report was underpinned by in-depth qualitative research with 20 consumers and SMEs, along with quantitative analysis involving 1,244 consumers and 815 SMEs. The results of the research confirms the need for more client-centric advice models, as opposed to the rigid product aligned model that was carried over from an advice industry of yesteryear. What is staggering is that the research references 2019 GDP data and concludes that if every Australian was able to access properly implemented professional advice, we’d each be $24,716 better off each year. That’s an annual aggregate contribution of $630B. Interestingly, and on an equally alarming note, the research shows that more than 8 out of 10 consumers and SMEs said they had greater peace of mind since receiving professional advice. “Those that do not seek advice are more likely to experience negative impacts on other areas of their life. These include mental, physical and relationship impacts.”

Access to advice is a critically important issue that really needs to be higher up on the agenda for our policy makers in 2021, as it will become an increasingly important issue for Australia. This gap between the advised and the unadvised threatens to not only impact economic growth in this country, but also will see serious social and mental health outcomes across the population of lower to middle income earners. We advocate reform to ensure that advisers are responsibly freed up to offer advice and remain a vital professional services industry that supports strong economic outcomes for Australians across the board. We also advocate more use of technology to eliminate red tape and administration, in order to free up advisers to do what they do best. Advise.

The second episode of WoWcrowd led by Garry Lyon, former Captain of Melbourne Football Club and awarded media personality aired on Wednesday 9 December.

Viewers were given a glimpse into Lyon’s journey to football stardom, foray into writing – including the very popular children’s book series Specky McGee; alongside his blooming career in media.

Lyon spoke about young footballers as prime candidates for advice, and how their need for financial direction at the beginning of their career was not realised until much later on; leaving at least ten or so years where they could’ve started growing their wealth with better planning and guidance.

He described his relationship with his adviser as familial, “I wouldn’t make a decision without consulting with my adviser. He invested in me and my family, and that’s what won me over. He got to know me and understand me to a level that left me in really good stead.” Lyon puts his greatest achievement down to his sons and the relationship he has with them. He was able to enjoy being a devoted father as he was confident that his financial world was always in good hands.

Host, Chris Ridd – Former MD of Xero, and Director of myprosperity then led a robust discussion with panelists, Jason Cunningham, Co-founder and Director of The Practice, Matthew Rowe, CEO & MD of CountPlus, and Kim Payne, Founder of 9Rok. They delved into the importance of being authentic and investing in technology and processes that deliver efficiencies and gives you back time to form deeper client relationships. Relationships that go beyond annual reviews and checks, where demonstrating the value of your services is fundamentally what attracts not just high profile clients but lifelong clients.

The episode concluded with a brilliant wrap up of the unprecedented year that was 2020, from PR and media expert, Alex Beashel. If you missed this great episode watch it below. Also, don’t forget to register for the WoWcrowd to be the first to watch and discover the brilliant line up for upcoming episodes watch, gain CPD points, and be part of the Whole of Wealth conversation.

When the pandemic first hit and markets went into meltdown in March of last year, Australians and particularly business owners needed good advice. We wrote about these changing tides of the financial advice industry in a blog entitled “Opportunities in a time of crisis”. Aleks Vickovich of AFR also reported last week on the opportunities that lay ahead for the financial planning industry, noting how the pandemic in 2020 shone a spotlight on the value of good advice, and the industry delivered. So if we all acknowledge the important role advice will play going forward, what will it look like in 2021 and how can we set ourselves up for success?

Let’s perhaps start with the challenges. One area of ongoing concern and uncertainty is the regulatory framework shaping the industry and consequently driving an increase in the cost of providing advice. Whilst FASEA is being disbanded, there is still a strong appetite from the Government and ASIC to implement many of the recommendations for the Hayne Royal Commission. Matthew Rowe, CEO of Count Plus who appeared on the expert panel of our last WowCrowd episode with Garry Lyon, expressed that more angst was to come in 2021. “I think there’s some extinction events and that’s around the education standards and the exam, and there’s also a big shift in the financial dynamic in terms of the economic drivers of advice with the banning of grandfathered commissions and rebates coming off.”

In late 2020, ASIC acknowledged these concerns and released a consultation paper that seemingly looked to identify avenues for simple, low-cost scaled advice. Many feel this is easier said than done and won’t prevent further exodus of advisers who continue to struggle to adapt their business model in this brave new world. An unintended consequence of the increased regulatory framework is that financial advice becomes out of reach to many Australians who can’t afford the increased fees associated with a shift to a commission-free, fee-for-service advice world.

So what about the opportunities? Hopefully, the events of 2020 made it clear to many that good financial advice is something we should all aspire to receive. As reported previously, only 14% of Australians use a financial adviser on an ongoing basis. In an ifa article last week, Eugene Ardino, Chief Executive of Lifespan Financial Planning referenced the recently released research showing that about four out of 10 Australians will seek financial advice over the next 12 months. If that is indeed the case, it is a substantial increase compared with past numbers. Adding to the fact that there are fewer advisers left in the industry, there will no doubt be orphaned clients seeking help and those advisers that have elected to stay and complete their educational requirements will benefit. The combination of increased demand in advice with lower supply, particularly from the large vertically aligned players such as the big 4 banks that have all sold off their wealth arms over recent years, will represent a substantial upside opportunity for those mid-tier advisers that have stayed the course.

Commenting further in the article, Eugene also references the importance of advisers to review their business model and ensure they are maximising the efficiencies within their business. “In a user pays, fee-for-service world, it is crucial for advisers to understand how they can maximise the efficiency of their practice, including finding the right technological solutions to both suit and highlight the advice they give their clients.”

Once again, this is a key opportunity as we move into 2021 to adopt new technology to improve efficiencies and reduce the cost of compliance as well as how we service clients by eliminating manual processes. Let’s acknowledge that some things won’t change. For example, the need to fill in forms, complete fact finds and gather financial information about your clients and keep it up to date. But how we perform these tasks can be vastly improved. Many advisers are finding opportunities to cut significant time and effort out of these processes by using myprosperity to streamline these mundane and costly tasks.

If you would like to check out the myprosperity platform and see how it can transform the way you perform these and many more tasks for your clients, you can sign up for a free 1:1 demonstration by visiting https://myprosperity.com.au/book-a-demo/