practice management

Striking a balance
In our recent blog, we discussed the importance of striking a balance between efficiency and compliance. What practical steps have you take to get this balance right in your business? Are there any tools/solutions you would recommend?
Why cyber risk can make or break an advice business
Over the last five years, digital signatures, strategy modelling tools and virtual client meetings have all become commonplace in today’s advice practice. Iress’s 2023 Advice Efficiency Report found a strong correlation between effective use of technology and profitability – but these new opportunities also present new…
Don't let the stuff distract from your main game
It’s no surprise that against a global background of political, economic and societal change, we’re noticing increasing levels of disengagement in business – between employer, employee, clients, service providers and so on. We notice it every day in the advice firms we work with. It’s not something new (and it certainly…
How are we going (really)?
"No, I’m not aware of my employer’s business goals for the next 12 months." Unfortunately, this is a response we regularly receive when we’re conducting a staff survey on behalf of the owner/principal of a financial advice business. In fact, in the latest analysis of our US clients, 62% of staff expressed this view. A…
What steps have you and your team taken to address cybersecurity risk?
Recent CoreData research suggests advice practices could lose at least 13% of business in the aftermath of a cybersecurity incident. In light of this alarming figure, I want to know what steps have you and your team taken to address cybersecurity risk? I also encourage you to register for the upcoming webinar on February…
Three ways to stress-test your cyber plan for 2024
Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) data shows a cyber crime was reported every six minutes and cost small businesses $46,000 on average in the last financial year. Research shows financial services firms are 300 times more likely to experience cyber attacks than other institutions. As advice practices review their…
What is limiting your efficiency?
It seems between compliance requirements, size of advice documents and the general administration practices need to keep up with, no one is feeling at the top of their game. I would love to hear what areas you are struggling with, or if you have found some solutions that may be helpful to us all!
The struggle for adviser capacity
These days, we see advisers doing more administration work than we saw 5 or 10 years ago. Research, plan requests and even application forms are unnecessarily taking up their time and stifling capacity. And this is not simply due to more compliance. So what's driving the hesitation to hand-over to a support role? Is it…
Get with the program
While there's a lot to discuss in 2024 already, there were a couple of stats from US-based financial software company YCharts that caught our attention late last year. According to their research, almost one in two clients had switched their financial adviser (or had seriously considered doing so) since the start of the…
Cyber crime: a driver of sleepless nights?
Advice businesses across Australia are all faced with the increased threat of cyber incidents. Many hold data that is very sensitive about a client’s situation – whether it be health, tax or banking. Despite the increase in automation, there are still emails and files that can compromise a business. Sometimes these can be…
The hunt for purpose and passion
In life and work, many of us want to spend more time doing things that are important and provide us with a clear sense of purpose. When the stars align, we feel happier and more satisfied. Despite the significant opportunities in our industry to assist clients and achieve success, many of us feel fatigued, drained and…
You hire a coach because they're not you
In our first article for the Advisely community, we discussed the importance of benchmarks and how they help you get a clear handle on how your business is travelling compared to peers – where it outperforms or underperforms and where the potential is. Our second article discussed the importance of developing a plan for…
Ensuring your business thrives beyond you
Life is unpredictable, and sometimes things happen that we never saw coming. Whether it's a sudden health issue, a family emergency, or just the need for a well-deserved break, there may come a time when you're unable to run your advice business. The question is: do you have the systems, processes, and people in place to…
Who proactively asks their software stack providers about security?
The results are in from ASIC's Cyber Pulse Survey, and the report has been released (12th November 2023). So much to unpack! One of the points they make is around supply chain risk. Without looking at the survey, I'm interested to know your thoughts on the percentage of advice firms that have already asked their software…
Benefit for advice businesses that offer general insurance to HNW clients goes beyond good service
I have read many articles over the years about servicing High Net Worth (HNW) clients in the financial services industry; however, most businesses that put together a HNW Best of Breed service model do it without looking through the eyes of their clients. In fact, very few businesses have a model that effectively and…
I'm Dela Dzadey, Advisely board member
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How do you stay focused on the right client?
I think the best of us get sidetracked into helping people with their challenges, especially when that's what we've had training and experience in. I'm curious about how other advisers, or even business owners "stick to their knitting"? It's so easy to say "yes" to someone especially if things are a bit quiet but what tips…
The money is in the planning
You don’t need us to tell you that the last few years have presented financial advisers with a mountain of change, challenges and competition. It’s been consistent and persistent. And it’s not likely to slow down in any meaningful way over the next few years. So much for the owner to consider as they strive to run their…
Advice Request Best Practice
What is seen as the best practice for advisors sending through a request for advice to be prepared to the paraplanning team? I can think of some ways using cases to have a task where the advisor completes templated notes, but most businesses that I've seen the requests are still sent via email to the paraplanning…
POLL: What will impact advice accessibility the most in the next decade? ?
It is commonly agreed that accessibility of advice is currently a problem and is only set to compound over the next decade. In your opinion which of the following will have the most profound impact on advice accessibility over that period? * Data - efficiently in who needs advice and when People - professionals and support…
Efficient vs Effective
I'd love to hear the experts' views on Efficient vs Effective, please. I think we fall into the trap as business owners and advisers of focussing on efficiency at the expense of being effective. For instance, we can be super efficient at producing a review document (as measured by time taken, quality, content etc.) but, if…
Xplan TaskHub
Xplan's new TaskHub. Who has been using this and can you share your experiences please. Thanks Rob.
Benchmarking in context
Business Health is delighted to be a part of the Advisely initiative and is looking forward to providing practical, meaningful support to its community. One area where we believe we can truly bring value is through benchmarking data and, in doing so, provide business owners with the opportunity to gauge their performance…
Does everyone understand the “why”?
When working with clients, we are often asked to focus on processes and governance so the business can minimise their risks while driving efficiencies and reducing costs. We often find what happens “on the ground” could be their biggest risk. How often are you engaging with staff who are making sure the “doing” is getting…
Succession Plan - Be honest ! How prepared are you?
This is something that is so close to my heart at the moment as I am in the home stretch of realising the dream that I mapped out 8 years ago! A real mixture of emotions and this has been 8 years in the making to get to that realisation. With a number of advisers still looking to transition out of the industry over the…
Virtual office, what are your thoughts?
Back in 2020, we were forced to close our office due to Covid and the many lockdowns that Melbourne had. We quickly had to mobilised the team of 10 at that time to work from home, fortunately we predominately use M365 and Xplan, with any other software being 100% cloud based, hence no server issues, which made life a…
PY – How do we build and where do we find?
I’m proud to say we started the professional year journey about 6 months ago and feel we’re on the right path and happy we took the leap! However, I feel I got lucky finding the right person for our business and with a relatively limited pool of people going through this process (albeit growing slowly), how do we promote…
3 ways improving processes can speed up your SoA creation
Creating a Statement of Advice (SoA) is a critical aspect of a financial adviser's role, providing valuable insights to clients and ensuring regulatory compliance. However, the time and effort involved in crafting a comprehensive SoA can be substantial. While every adviser will have their own system and plans, Iress'…
I'm Paul Tynan, Advisely's M&A expert
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Navigating common challenges in advice businesses
Running a business can be very rewarding but it’s not without its challenges. And in an industry where we are faced with ongoing change that could disrupt our business, it’s important to focus time and resources to minimize disruption as much as possible. While there are many things that can be implemented, this article…

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