Produced in partnership with Netwealth.
Around 800 financial advisers gathered in Melbourne in September for the annual Netwealth Accelerate Summit.
According to Netwealth managing director Matt Heine the summit had two key objectives: to support the advice community to close the advice gap and the client expectation gap.
“We feel an obligation to support the advice community to deliver more advice to more people and close to advice gap,” he told Professional Planner on the sidelines of the event.
“It’s an enormous challenge and part of the solution is making advice businesses more efficient and productive.”
Based on research by Netwealth, 7.3 million people – or nearly 30 per cent of Australians – will have complex advice needs by 2050. This need is being fuelled by the 800 or so Australians retiring every day.
Problematically, it is estimated that there are only 11,000 advisers currently providing holistic advice.
Heine points out that the maths doesn’t add up, meaning technology must play a bigger role in both providing scalable digital advice, and helping advisers run more efficient businesses to free them up to spend more time with clients.
Melbourne-based financial planning firm, First Financial, are proficient users of technology and social media to drive client acquisition and engagement.
Despite the group’s numerous referral relationships with accounting firms and joint venture partnerships, it is social media that generates the highest number of leads.
Speaking on a panel titled, Growth unlocked: AI, automation and social media in action, First Financial principal James Wrigley said the firm received 80-100 inquiries per week via social media.
An internal team, called the Tik Tok Group after the social media app, responds to those inquiries and a small number elect to proceed to an initial meeting.
To manage the volume of enquiries, the firm uses technology as much as possible, including tools like Calendly to schedule 15-minute phone calls.
While only a small number go on to become advice clients, social media is a strong and important source of growth.
The key to success with social media, according to Wrigley, is “authentic, real-life content”.
Wrigley, who boasts over 120,000 followers on Instagram and 90,000 on Facebook, produces content, including simple short-form explainer videos on his iPhone, that discusses complex financial concepts in layman’s terms.
“The vast majority of videos I do are based on conversations I’ve had with a client,” he said.
“It just dawned on me, if my clients are asking me about these issues, chances are that someone else out there wants to know about it too, or they don’t know what they don’t know and may need to know.”
Wrigley posts content about three to four times per week and regularly responds to comments. His advice to other advisers is to just do it.
“If I get an idea, I’ll just whip out my phone and record something and post it, even if I’m at home in a hoodie at nine o’clock at night,” he said.
“I don’t have expensive technology. I have a phone and I bought a microphone so the audio is clearer but that’s it. I’ve found that my less polished videos perform better. People like authentic, real-life content.”
This kind of informal content is popular on social media and used extensively by businesses operating in other professions and sectors.
When it comes to using technology, including AI and machine learning, to deliver greater customisation, faster service and self-service, the advice profession is lagging but consumers increasingly expect advisers to keep up when it comes to tech.
Heine said as technology rapidly evolves so do client expectations.
“We’re focused on supporting advice businesses to deliver a more engaging digital experience,” Heine said.
“We spend a lot of time speaking to advisers every year to find out how their business is going and what their major challenges are. We focus our attention and technology budget on solving those problems.”
When it comes to investing in technology and innovation, and delighting clients, Netwealth leads by example.
In the latest NMG Australian Wealth Adviser Study 2024, Netwealth was rated number one for ease of business and overall quality of offering under key success measures and top overall admin service quality and digital under key functional measures. The platform provider was rated number one for best transaction tools by Investment Trends in the industry researcher’s December 2024 Competitive Analysis and Benchmarking Report. It has also been ranked first overall for adviser satisfaction on mobile access for clients in a wrap platform, in the latest Investment Trends Adviser Technology Needs Report June 2025.
The group is in the middle of a major transformation program to become a “more product-led organisation,” Heine said.
“We’re an agile shop, which I know is a bit of a buzzword, but we’re constantly optimising the whole organisation to find better ways to deliver a great product.
“Being product-led means getting closer to the customer and understanding their needs at a much deeper level.
“It’s up to every business to figure out how to make the most of what is really a golden age in financial planning and make sure that we can service those people seeking advice.”
In his presentation, Pathfindr’s Dawid Naude identified four themes that summarise the AI opportunity for advisers.
According to Naude, AI can be used to by advisers to know their clients better, make every interaction personal and impactful, inform and educate, and free up capacity in order to focus on what truly matters.
“Try and think of AI as three new team members that are going to help you out; an assistant, thinker and creator,” he said.
“Of course, the impact is much bigger than that, but this concept might help you apply AI.”
As an assistant, AI can perform administrative tasks, which a university graduate or entry level employee might ordinarily do. As a thinker, AI is akin to a highly skilled researcher and analyst who has read thousands of books, papers and articles, and can analyse and interpret spreadsheets and data sets. As a creator, AI can help produce endless content, including videos, audio, articles and images.
Another way to think about AI is like an “energy”, as opposed to a tool, Naude said, using the example of handsaws and chainsaws.
“Handsaws and chainsaws are tools, but AI is not really a tool. Handsaws and chainsaws are tools that do the same thing but one does it a million times better,” he said.
“With a handsaw, it would take years to cut down a forest, but it could be done in days with a chainsaw. However, it doesn’t matter how much you innovate that chainsaw, if it doesn’t have power or energy, it’s useless.”
“Think of AI as an energy that can be applied across your business. The key is knowing how to apply it.”
What advisers had to say
For Natallia Smith, director and principal financial adviser at TruWealth Advice in Melbourne, the annual Netwealth Accelerate Summit is an “invaluable” event for learning, development and networking with peers.
“Netwealth are really driving growth and innovation through continuous improvement, and they’re supporting advisers to do the same in their own businesses,” she said.
“The content is really interesting, diverse and relevant, and there’s always great energy in the room.”
Beanca Monks, an adviser at BDO Private Wealth in Brisbane, attended the summit to gain an insight into what leading advice businesses are doing to improve processes and drive productivity.
“It’s pretty cool to hear about how other businesses are using technology to drive process improvements,” she said.
Similarly, financial planners Katie Hodgson and Michael Crowe from The Hendrie Group gained inspiration, motivation and a degree of comfort from this year’s event.
“It’s a great opportunity to connect with people and think about what we could be doing better, particularly when it comes to technology and AI,” Hodgeson said.
“A lot of the things being discussed, we’re already thinking about so it’s good to know that we’re on the right track. It’s just a case of getting in there and doing it.”
For Crowe, who is yet to miss an Accelerate Summit, the main takeaway was that businesses don’t necessarily need to spend a lot to gain meaningful improvements and results.
“A little bit of tech can go a long way and there are a lot of opportunities with AI,” he said.
“Most of us aren’t using it very well or taking full advantage of the opportunity but there’s definitely more that we could be doing to incorporate AI into our businesses to drive efficiencies and deliver even better value to our clients.”
Financial advisers and business partners, Nazar Pochynok and Julien Renard, who established ASO Wealth in 2024, enjoyed hearing from thought leaders, not only in financial advice but other industries and sectors, because it stretched and challenged their thinking.
“We’re building a business from the ground up and we want to be a firm that is strongly positioned for the future,” Pochynok said.
“We’ve literally started from scratch, which is a unique opportunity to solve some of the industry’s problems without being hindered by legacy. We’re also focused on recruiting talent so we need to make sure that we’re a firm that others want to come and work for.”
Renard says his attendance at this year’s summit had little to do with platforms “respectfully” and everything to do with finding ways to service more clients better.
“My job is to guide my clients, help them find purpose and enable them to achieve their goals,” he said.
“It’s not about [managing] portfolios and risk analysis. It’s about providing goals-based advice, which isn’t linked to a product or platform.”
