Avsnitt
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Cybersecurity has moved from an IT problem to a boardroom problem, and most AFSLs haven't caught up yet.
In this episode, I sit down with Michael Connory, CEO of Aphore Technology, who has spent over a decade helping some of the largest licensees in Australia, including RI Advice in the wake of their well-publicised incident, build genuine cyber resilience. Aphore now supports around 250 AFSLs through its Cyber Assurance Risk Rating program, and Michael brings a rare view into what actually happens when advice firms get hacked, what ASIC expects when they come knocking, and why the old Essential 8 framework is being retired in favour of something better suited to businesses like ours.
We talk through:
What Aphore does day to day, and how the Cyber Assurance Risk Rating process worksWhy credential compromise, not unpatched software, causes the vast majority of breachesInside the first 48 hours of a real incident, and the exact order of calls a firm should makeHow AI is already reshaping both the threat landscape and the defences available to usThe one thing Michael says every AFSL should do right nowThis is a timely, occasionally confronting, and ultimately reassuring conversation for any adviser or licensee who has been meaning to get on top of cyber risk but hasn't quite gotten there yet.
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Drew Burden is the co-founder and CEO of MBS Insurance, an insurance specialist advice firm celebrating its twentieth year in business. In that time, MBS has grown from $8 million in premium and 1,500 clients to $250 million in premium and 25,000 clients, without ever deviating from a single specialist discipline.
In this conversation, Drew shares the three deliberate choices behind that growth: hiring above the role, building a genuine flywheel, and quarterly focus on what matters most. We go deep on the technology MBS built when the market wouldn't, the JV model they've developed with 40 to 50 firms nationally, and the newer minority investment model they're now using to help quality risk practices grow with the tools and insurer relationships MBS has spent two decades building.
Drew also reflects honestly on the acquisitions that didn't go to plan, and what keeping going actually looks like in practice.
A conversation with plenty of lessons for advice firms of any kind.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Most advice firms know the under-40 client exists. Few have built their entire business around them.
Rebecca Tai is the co-founder of Game Plan Wealth Advisers in Melbourne, a practice she built from scratch with her business partner Alicia specifically to serve the millennial client — a cohort that the traditional advice model has largely left behind. In this episode, Rob sits down with Rebecca to unpack what it actually takes to design an advice business for a generation that thinks, engages, and makes decisions differently.
They cover the origin story behind Game Plan — born not from a business plan but from a genuine personal need — and the deliberate choices Rebecca and Alicia have made to keep their service model tight, their boundaries clear, and their long-term vision intact. From a three-tiered service structure to a project-based advice model that lowers the barrier to entry for new clients, the conversation is a masterclass in business design and the discipline required to say no to the wrong opportunities.
Rebecca also shares how she has built a highly engaged Instagram following using nothing more than a phone and a tissue box — and why that low-fi approach is far more effective for her audience than any polished production could be. She talks pricing evolution, onboarding, technology, the decision to refer insurance work rather than take it in-house, and what has surprised her most about running her own firm.
And stay tuned to the end. After the episode wrapped, Rebecca and Rob kept talking — and there was too much to leave on the cutting room floor. The bonus conversation includes the story behind a quote Rebecca has had on her bedroom wall since childhood, one that gets to the very heart of why she does what she does and how she thinks about money, values, and the kind of advice that actually changes lives.
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Rod Bertino has spent 26 years inside hundreds of Australian advice practices through Business Health, and his message is clear: the biggest threat to your firm right now isn't technology or client acquisition — it's the war for talent, and most practices aren't ready for it. In this episode, Rod and Rob cover the findings from Business Health's latest remuneration research, what independent practice valuations really look at, and — saved for the very end — the question every self-licensed principal needs to sit with about what their business is actually worth if they're no longer in it.
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Most financial planning principals are so focused on building their business that they never stop to ask a more important question: what happens to it if you're not there?
Gabe Enslin is the CEO of Adapt, a business built specifically to help SME owners answer that question — before it becomes an urgent one. In this episode, Gabe traces how Adapt came to exist through a very personal crisis faced by founder Bill Withers, who discovered the hard way just how fragile a business becomes when it's been built around a single person. That experience sparked over a decade of research into what it actually takes to build a business that can thrive without its owner at the centre.
Rob and Gabe dig into the distinction between succession planning and succession thinking — and why the gap between those two ideas is costing business owners time, money, and options. Gabe walks through the five principles that give owners a framework for building a genuinely resilient business, unpacks why role clarity is the principle most consistently underestimated, and explains why it's often the owner's own behaviour — not a lack of good people — that stands in the way of real transferability.
They also get into the mechanics of how Adapt works with businesses — from the business resilience assessment that measures a firm's health across economic engine, culture, financial security and organisational design, to the reverse performance review that asks not how your team is performing, but how your business is performing for them. It's a reframe that lands differently when you hear how directly it connects to what financial planners already do every day with clients.
For financial planning principals thinking about their own business — whether succession is five years away or fifteen — the practical takeaway from this conversation is clear: the time to start is well before you think you need to.
You can find Gabe and the Adapt team at theadaptway.com or connect with him directly on LinkedIn.
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What does it actually take to attract your next best client — before they've been referred to you?
Most advice firms are excellent at converting a warm referral. But in a world where affluent consumers increasingly search before they ask a friend, the ability to earn trust from scratch is an entirely different skill.
In this episode, Rob is joined by David Newson, founder of XNW Atelier and a marketing strategist with over two decades of experience inside the independent advisory world. David brings a rare combination: deep expertise in consumer behaviour, a background in business development at a San Francisco-based RIA, and a genuine understanding of what makes affluent clients choose — and stay with — a financial advice firm.
Together, Rob and David unpack why most advice firm websites look and sound the same, the critical difference between communications and true marketing strategy, and what it means to build genuine magnetism rather than just push content into the world. They explore the psychology of the affluent consumer, how to design trust signals that actually hold water, and why positioning is a business decision long before it becomes a marketing one.
David also shares a perspective on AI and the future of advice that is worth the listen alone — and it has nothing to do with out-teching the technology.
Whether you're a principal thinking about organic growth or a leader wondering why your digital presence isn't converting, this conversation will reframe how you think about marketing your firm.
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What happens when 13 of the most successful independent advice firms in Australia decide to put their egos aside and build something together? That's the modern origin story of Shadforth Financial Group — and it's the backdrop for one of the most compelling conversations we've had on this show.
Terry Dillon has been with Shadforth for 34 years. He spent the first two decades as an adviser before stepping into the CEO role in 2018 — right in the middle of the Royal Commission. Rather than retreating from the scrutiny that came with institutional ownership, he walked into the boardroom and told the parent company: if we can't make each other better every day, you should probably sell us.
That moment set the tone for everything that followed.
In this episode, Terry and Rob cover the decisions that transformed Shadforth from a business built for sale into one built to lead — now close to 100 advisers, 270 staff, 11,000 families, and around $20 billion under stewardship. They get into Shadforth's evidence-based investment philosophy, the family advice guarantee that addresses intergenerational wealth transfer in a way Rob hadn't heard before, and their technology roadmap — including a client app that takes advice from a static document to something closer to a live financial plan on your phone.
They also talk acquisitions. Shadforth is growing strongly — double digits, organically — and now has its sights set on inorganic growth to match. But it's the way Terry frames the ambition that really lands. He's not talking about incremental targets. He's asked his leadership team to think about what Shadforth looks like at ten times its current size — and what that forces you to do differently today.
Stick around for the moment near the end where Terry names the kind of firm he believes Shadforth can become — and the professional services names he wants spoken in the same breath. It's the kind of ambition that reframes how you think about what's possible in advice.
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What does it actually take to build a financial planning firm that wins Company of the Year?
Jeff Thurecht is the co-founder and CEO of Evalesco Financial Services, a Sydney-based firm he built alongside business partner Marshall Brentnall nearly two decades ago. The name says it all: Evalesco is Latin for "to grow strong, prevail and add value." In 2025, the industry agreed, awarding Evalesco both the Holistic Advice Firm of the Year and the overall Company of the Year at the IFA Excellence Awards.
In this conversation, Jeff opens up about the deliberate decisions behind that recognition. He shares how Evalesco built demographic-specific advice pods, from wealth accumulators and pre-retirees through to a genuine high net worth, multi-family office offering via the Principal Edge acquisition. He explains how a team of nine in the Philippines became one of the most valued parts of the business, not as outsourced support but as genuinely embedded team members.
Jeff is also candid about what it really meant to win a company award rather than an individual one, and why building a team without "rock stars" has always been the goal.
We also cover:
The acquisition of Principal Edge: what made it the right move, what made it hard, and what's still being worked throughThe identity shift from adviser to CEO, and the surprisingly difficult task of measuring your own progress when client appointments no longer fill your diaryEvalesco's bold 3k 30 vision: 3,000 ideal clients by 2030, and exactly how they plan to get thereHow technology is being used to free up adviser face time, including a new CRM build on Microsoft Dynamics and a purpose-built Technology and Advice Delivery Manager roleJeff's answer to the final question, what single thing would move the needle most right now, is one of the clearest articulations of great advice leadership you'll hear.
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In this episode of The Trusted Adviser, I sit down with our Chief Operating Officer, Nick Bordi, to unpack one of the most talked-about topics in financial planning businesses: employee ownership.
At HPH Solutions, what started as a simple idea to reward and retain great people has evolved into something far more powerful. Our Team Equity Trust now plays a central role in ownership transition, long-term incentives, and what we’ve come to think of as an “internal private equity” model.
Nick and I go deep into how the structure actually works – from eligibility and valuation through to funding mechanisms for younger team members and the governance required when you have dozens of employee owners. We also share the lessons we’ve learned along the way, including mistakes, structural changes, and the thinking behind key decisions like not discounting equity.
If you’re a business owner thinking about succession, culture, or how to align your team to long-term growth, this conversation offers a practical and transparent look at what’s worked for us – and what we’d do differently.
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In this episode of The Trusted Adviser, Rob sits down with Corey Wastle, founder of Verse Wealth, to unpack how his firm has reimagined advice delivery, replacing the traditional SOA model with a streamlined video-first approach that has dramatically reduced paraplanning time, and elevated client clarity.
Corey shares:
How recording advice meetings can meet SOA compliance requirements
Why Verse reduced its advice document from 15,000 words to 3,500
How they cut paraplanning time from 8 hours to 2.5 hours
The structure of their 3-meeting advice process
How tracking financial wellbeing strengthens long-term relationships
Why the future may lie in a “CXM” — a Client Experience Manager
This is a practical, behind-the-scenes look at how one firm is modernising advice delivery, without waiting for regulatory reform.
If you’re thinking about efficiency, client clarity, AI integration, or the future of advice, this episode is essential listening.
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Alexander “Xan” Kitchin, Managing Director of Wealth Connexion and 2025 IFA Excellence Award – Individual winner, joins Rob Pyne to share how a corporate mindset, disciplined systems, and a strong team culture are reshaping modern financial advice. In this episode, Xan explains why “you can’t scale trust,” and what that means for adviser capacity, AI, and the future of professional advice businesses. A thoughtful conversation for practice owners and advisers thinking about sustainable growth and long-term impact.
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Many financial advice businesses are busy, growing, and delivering for clients — yet still fall short of their true commercial potential.
In this episode of The Trusted Adviser, Rob Pyne is joined by Dean Lombardo, Founder of Effortless Engagement, to explore the insights from Dean’s white paper The Profit Gap and why advice firms often leak profit without realising it.
Dean outlines four core sources of profit leakage identified through extensive research and diagnostic work across advice businesses:
Organisational misalignment
Workflow complexity
Capacity misuse
Conversion friction
The conversation focuses on how these issues quietly compound inside otherwise well-run firms, why they’re hard to see from the inside, and what business owners can do to unlock profit already embedded within their existing model — without cutting service or culture.
If you’re an advice business owner who feels busy and commercially disciplined but suspects there’s more potential in your business, this episode offers a clear and practical framework to start closing the Profit Gap.
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In this episode of The Trusted Adviser, Rob Pyne is joined by Chris Hill (lawyer and financial adviser) and Rafael Cohen (fintech founder) from Inherit Australia to explore a smarter, adviser-led approach to estate planning.
They unpack why advisers are uniquely positioned to drive estate planning conversations, how structured questioning can surface family dynamics and risks before they become disputes, and how technology can bridge the long-standing gap between advisers and lawyers, without crossing into legal advice.
You’ll hear how Inherit Australia enables advisers to:
Confidently lead estate planning discussions within a compliant framework
Improve client engagement, retention, and intergenerational connections
Work more efficiently with lawyers through better upfront information
Ensure estate plans are completed, stored, and accessible when they’re needed most
A practical, future-focused conversation for advisers looking to deepen client relationships and protect their practice through the coming intergenerational wealth transfer.
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Is your advice tech stack quietly helping your business grow, or quietly driving everyone mad?
In this episode of The Trusted Adviser, Rob Pyne sits down with Peter Worn, co-founder of Finura Group, to unpack what it really takes to bring tech sanity to a modern advice firm. Drawing on years of experience working with licensees and advice businesses across Australia, Peter lifts the lid on the promises, pitfalls, and hidden costs behind today’s technology and AI solutions.
They explore:
The difference between a genuine tech stack and a messy tech pile
How to spot conflicts of interest with Managed Service Providers (MSPs), vendors, and “AI agencies”
A simple ROI lens for deciding which tech or AI project to do next
Why duplicating tools for tasks, communication, and storage adds risk (not value)
The real trade-offs between industry platforms and enterprise CRMs like Salesforce or Dynamics
What good document management and data hygiene actually look like in practice
Stay listening right to the end, where Peter shares how buyers really assess your tech when you’re preparing for sale. Why “weird and wonderful” systems can hurt your valuation, how your cyber posture becomes a trust filter for acquirers, and the key signs that your problem isn’t technology at all, but leadership and business model.
If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re overpaying for tech, under-using what you have, or on the brink of an expensive misstep, this conversation will help you reset, refocus, and get more out of every dollar you invest in technology.
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As we wrap up the year, this short solo episode is part reflection and part recommended reading list.
In this episode, Rob steps back to reflect on some of the key ideas that have shaped his thinking as a business owner, drawing on a selection of books that have had a lasting influence on how HPH Solutions has been built. What’s been especially striking is how consistently these same ideas have shown up in the real-world experiences shared by guests on The Trusted Adviser.
From Jim Collins’ Flywheel concept and the power of disciplined, compounding progress, to the importance of transparency, execution, culture, and trust, this episode connects enduring business principles with lived experience inside advice firms.
It’s a reflection on what really drives sustainable success in professional services businesses, and particularly in financial advice. Not shortcuts or breakthroughs, but clarity of purpose, disciplined execution, strong people, and a long-term mindset.
We’re taking a short break over the New Year and will be back in two weeks with a new guest episode.
Wishing all trusted advisers a happy and healthy New Year, and every success in 2026.
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Most advice firms in Australia run on Xplan, but very few truly understand what’s happening under the hood, how to optimise it, where it breaks, and what it takes to integrate it into a modern tech stack.
In this episode of The Trusted Adviser, Rob Pyne sits down with Matt McGuinty (FinTech Strategic Partners), one of the rare people who has worked inside Xplan with the developers themselves, and now helps advice firms lift capacity, consistency, and scale through better systems and smarter workflow design.
Together, Rob and Matt unpack:
Why “the tyranny of variation” quietly destroys efficiency in advice businesses
The red flags Matt looks for in tech due diligence before a merger or acquisition
How to think about dual CRMs (Xplan plus Salesforce/Dynamics), data ownership, and avoiding double entry
What “online SOAs” could look like through a client portal, including digital fact finds and web-style advice presentation
AI in advice: what’s useful now, what’s hype, and why data security and data quality come first
If you’re wrestling with scale, consistency, or tech change (or you’re considering an acquisition), this one will give you a clearer framework for what matters and what to fix first.
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In this episode of The Trusted Adviser, Rob Pyne sits down with Michael Goodman, founder of Wealthstream Advisors and now President of Greenspring Advisors, for an honest and thoughtful conversation about what it really takes to build an advice firm that outlives its founders.
At a time when private equity is reshaping the advice profession, Michael chose a very different path. In 2025, he led Wealthstream into a merger with Greenspring Advisors — not for liquidity, not for scale at any cost, but to strengthen multi-generational employee ownership and build a governance structure designed for the future.
In this candid discussion, Michael shares:
Why remaining independent required broadening the shareholder base
The personal realisations that shaped his decision to avoid outside capital
How his role has evolved from founder to “bench coach” and strategic partner
What it feels like to step into formal governance after years of leading a smaller firm
How two culturally aligned firms blended processes, values, and people
Why the next generation — not external investors — should own the decision-making power
The early surprises, wins, and cultural moments that affirmed the merger
His hopes for the firm he will ultimately hand over, not sell off
This episode offers rare insight into succession planning, governance evolution, and leadership transition from someone who has lived through the complexity — and made deliberate, values-based decisions at every step.
Whether you’re a founder thinking about succession, an adviser stepping into leadership, or simply curious about what the future of independent advice can look like, Michael’s story offers clarity, conviction, and inspiration.
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This special reflection episode isn’t part of our numbered series. While Rob attends the FAAA Congress in Perth along with over a thousand advisers from across Australia, we’re taking a moment to look back.
Rob narrates a guided recap of the first 30 conversations from The Trusted Adviser — highlighting the ideas, strategies, and insights that have shaped the profession, and this podcast.
Whether you’re new to the series or revisiting a favourite conversation, this retrospective will help you navigate the episodes that matter most to you.
A curated guide. A moment to reflect. A look back at the leaders shaping advice today.
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Former AZ NGA CFO Dan Heckendorf, now founder of Astilla, joins Rob Pyne to discuss what it really takes to scale a professional services firm with strong financial discipline and intent. Dan shares lessons from overseeing 30+ advisory firms during a period of rapid growth and reveals the one mistake business owners make that can cost hundreds of thousands to fix later.
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In this episode, Rob Pyne sits down with Zac Leeson, Senior Financial Adviser and HPH Solutions Next-Generation Leader, to explore how the client experience has evolved from being investment-centric to truly life-centred. Zac shares the practical tools, processes, and conversations that help clients connect their financial decisions to what really matters, and reflects on what makes great advice both meaningful and sustainable.
- Visa fler
