Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice

Hot new ASIC report dropped this week and just like the classic, finger-on-the-pulse tastemakers they are, Nathan and Jordan are here to unpack it.  Donning their best Meldrum-style hats, Nathan and Jordan dive into REP 833, which examines ASIC's concerns with the way platform trustees just don't seem ready to get their act together.  There's a fair bit of ground covered: What ASIC's concerns seem to be Why they're actually pretty justified in being annoyed at how little has changed since that little thing we know as the Royal Commission The horror stories contained within the report Why this report reinforces Jordan's thinking that it's only a matter of time before fees-from-super is a thing of the past Although, really, let's face it - none of you are here for the actual content of the podcast.  No, you're here to hear the latest on Nathan's obsessive journey into the land of tea leaves, and Jordan's bewilderment at Nathan's hard-earned online knowledge.  That, and having Nathan sing at Jordan.  Links ASIC REP 833   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26070209-16520001 Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.      Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Take a short flight, with a hot cup of tea (but bring your own teabag) for this episode, where Jordan and Nathan answer some listener questions. They discuss How they got a break into the profession Their advice for new entrants on how to break into the profession Remuneration for junior advisers, and whether profit share is common Whether a power of attorney can/should appoint a beneficiary nomination in super The lawyers tell us they have broken a show record in how far they get into the episode without getting on topic, so be warned.  Lastly, a quick appreciation to the listeners who send in questions and ethical delimmas, keep em' coming.    CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26062411-17440001 Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.    Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.    

How much work can you reasonably get done? How many SOAs per week, per quarter, per 40 week year is youre realistic capacity? Or is that approach old fashioned, and missing so much of the nuance in your capacity to meet your goals, in the short term but in the long term? Given it's the end of financial year, Jordan and Nathan reflect on  The difference between motivation and consistency The factors that influence your capacity How time, output, culture, systems and processes influence capacity  How knowing yourself and your team, and setting boundaries is just as important as the numbers How a burrito in the sun is the key to happiness As usual this episode sets out to deliver a structured approach to capacity planning, but quickly meanders to philosophy and nonsense.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26061812-31310001 Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.    Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.

Well, isn't this all very exciting?! Some big new listings hitting the market and it's such fun watching everybody lose. their. goddamned. minds.  Rules no longer need apply which, in the world of index investing, is kind of a big deal.  So, this week, Nathan and Jordan try (honestly, we really tried) to focus on the client-facing-reality of all the noise your clients are hearing about these big floats.  How relevant are they? How worst case could the worst case scenario be? And, crucially, what can we advisers do when confronted by clients either ecstatically embracing Elon-brain, or petrified by the pension plundering? (Sidenote - maybe don't listen to this one in the car with the kids...Jordan has a real moment part of the way through with language that made Nathan blush...) You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  Video of relative motion physics mentioned in the ep: I Tested The Law of Relative Motion at 80 km/h! CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26061122-46390001 Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.    Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

We've talked about Aged Care before, but things have changed. Lots of things! There are new rules about how fees are calculated, applied and, most importantly for any government agency, renamed. (Who knew 'hotelling' was a word...look it up though) Nathan's been doing some even more interesting work in this valuable, important space - and written many a CPD piece on it.  And even Jordan's getting involved in it now, gingerly stepping on the learning curve and realising it's not quite as steep as he feared.  Which is why we're revisiting the topic in this week's episode.  Throughout, we're trying to answer the underlying question: if your clients need Aged Care advice (and they will), how will you help them?  CPD Quiz thanks to CPD Check: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26060602-54110001     Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Apparently the Federal Government dropped some sort of Budget thingamajig the other day. It's got many people in a lather with the injustice of it all.  Dragged into the discussion with their characteristic reluctance to share an uninformed opinion, Nathan and Jordan thought an episode on this epoch-ending disaster* (going by the reaction of some of the panic merchants out there) would be a good idea.  Or at least a chance to further expose their vicious leftie sensibilities for their patient, wonderful listening audience.  They also enter what hopefully becomes another phrase for the CTS community to use at the various Chicken Little's in their lives.  Complete your quiz to get CPD For this episode, thanks to CPDCheck: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26060603-25500001   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Say it with us...paraplanning. Paraplanning.  Paraplanning. Para - planning. What is it, why is it important, who's doing it and how are they doing it? This week's episode - likely the first of a series we'll return to - is all about the noble art of paraplanning. Because Jordan and Nathan know that hitting the kind of collaborative alignment that can occur between a financial adviser and paraplanner is one of the joys of the profession.  But they also know that finding that synchronicity takes work and more than a dollop of luck.  They also end up quite enjoying whispering the word...  Paraplanning...   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26052109-04290001   Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.      Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

We get serious this week. No guest. No banter about dentists or Jordan's latest grievance with... well, you know.  Just Nathan and Jordan, a Treasury consultation paper, and a genuine call to action for every financial adviser, business owner, PY, associate, paraplanner etc that'll listen.   The Compensation Scheme of Last Resort is broken. Not broken in a subtle, nuanced, needs-a-closer-look kind of way. Broken in a we-are-paying-for-other-people's-fraud-and-the-people-who-caused-it-are-on-a-golf-course kind of way. Treasury has opened a consultation on reforming the CSLR, submissions close 22 May 2026. The big end of town will be lodging submissions. The institutions, the product providers, the fund managers; all of them have people whose entire job it is to argue why this shouldn't be their problem. We need voices too. Lots of them. In this episode Nathan and Jordan have read the paper so you don't have to (although you should), and discuss What the CSLR actually is and why it isn't working the way it was supposed to All eight proposals; what Treasury is asking, what they think, and what you should probably think about before the 22nd The SMSF question that will either make your blood boil or make you think harder than you expected The one proposal that actually fixes the problem rather than just spreading the cost around Why volume of submissions from advisers matters and what happens if we stay quiet How to structure your own submission without it taking all weekend Submissions close 22 May 2026.  The window is open. Let's flood it with sense.   Challenge the Standard Submission Helper: Download Consultation Paper: Treasury The Treasury guidelines: Submission guidelines FAAA CSLR Hub: CSLR Hub   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26051200-20450001 Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.    Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.

We're proud of all our episodes, but the level of useful gold in this one is incredible.  Joined by regular guest, Martin McGrath, who seems to enjoy ganging up on Jordan as he attempts to corral the conversation into some sort of structure, they explore the world of tax planning for financial advisers.  What is it Why do it Is it really our job How to do it How to do it (badly) And so much in between Share this episode with every other financial adviser you know, because there are at least three tips in here that Jordan and Nathan have shamelessly stolen for their own practices - if everybody else can do the same, what a massive impact.    You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26050705-36180001    Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.    Martin: Find out more about Martin LinkedIn Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

It's hard to believe that this show has been going long enough to start building traditions, but this is absolutely one of our favourites - our annual check-in with full-time podcaster, part-time lawyer James D'Apice.  James was good enough to join us early on in his Gravamen journey, then come back last year to talk about how he's finding the growth path in his second year of operations.  Now, in year three, James returns to chat about: The joy, responsibility and depth adding a senior associate has brought to Gravamen How his branding and marketing might seem relatively 'non-traditional' - but are deeply rooted in classic ideas around specialisation Why community is our best defence against the financialisation and artifice of the modern economy (yeah, we still haven't worked out how to stay on topic) The path he's walked to his latest - and perhaps proudest - marketing venture: sponsoring the North Sydney Bears NRLW team.  The impact of his recent opportunity to interview the incredible Michael Kirby. These chats and check-ins with James are incredible fun for Nathan and Jordan, and we look forward to checking in again next year. And the year after that. Etc etc.  James D'Apice Find James on Linkedin Visit the Gravamen Website Watch James' interview with Michael Kirby here Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Following a run of outstanding and informative guests, this week we return to our normal programming - Jordan and Nathan mouthing off about a stack of different things - but this time prompted by listener questions! In this week's episode, they cover: The best U2 Album The conflicts that can arise when advising people who's romantic life is over, but have chosen to continue their shared life.  Advice Fees from Super How advisers can navigate limits imposed by other, non-qualified, professionals in a clients life Civil mascotts And why is it that we don't really talk about investment bonds It's a fun discussion, zooming in on matters that are relevant to advisers out there.  That, and a revealing discussion about sippy cups and why Jordan finds them so discomforting in a conversational setting.  Enjoy! CPD Quiz thanks to CPD Check: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26060603-11560001 Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

In this episode Jordan and Nathan are joined by none other than Brendan Frazier, most well known as host of The Human Side of Money Podcast.  The boys discuss How to just get started, and not be a perfectionist The power of questions, but why the words themselves are not the most important aspect in a client engagement. How leaning into the Human side creates a moat in a world of AI (yes of course we talked about AI) This ep has been a long time coming, and its well worth it!  Human Side of Money (Apple) Human Side of Money (Spotify) RFG Advisory YouTube Channel Brendan's LinkedIn Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.    You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26042002-08120001  Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.       

Our recent episode on collaborating with other advisers - 'Playing Well With Others' - is one we're really proud of. And in that episode, Nathan and Jordan both mention the eye-opening experience of working with one specific financial adviser in a deeply specialist area.  Well, this week, that adviser - Kathy Havers of Viridian Advisory - is good enough to come on and introduce us and our listeners to some of the many complexities that arise when helping people with additional needs.  From Special Disability Trusts, to Centrelink, to the importance of (good) accountants and lawyers in the process, to the intricacies of guardianship, estate planning and Powers of Attorney - this episode is deep, technical, educational and, surely, useful as hell for all financial advisers out there.    Kathy Kathy Havers - Viridian Advisory Kathy Havers | LinkedIn Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.    You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26040808-13560001   Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.           

Is it possible to scale good, quality, personalised financial advice? If it can be done - then how can we do it?  Can we scale the advice without scaling the discovery? How can we find out enough about somebody to know what advice they don't need - and how do we have to charge for that work?  How can you, as a professional adviser, exercise and evidence your professional judgment about what a client needs - while not being bound only to what they want? Why is an episode on the efficiency of scaling advice to keep it within limits the longest episode we've recorded? Why are there so many questions? Is it because these knuckleheads have no answers? Perhaps...   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26040210-03490001  Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.      Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Financial advisers - you've spent your entire working relationship with your clients helping them build their wealth.  How prepared are you to help them make sure it passes to the next generation/s, without triggering the next War of the Roses? In this week's episode, Jordan and Nathan explore one of the alternatives to the 'traditional' view of estate planning and disputes; 'interdisciplinary collaborations'.  This method, familiar to regular listeners from Jordan discussing it on the divorce side, is a powerful way to help family's properly plan how their estate will play out, minimising acrimony, family ructions and estate annihilation (Zinta's word that we're shamelessly stealing).  It's a broadranging, expansive discussion about this topic and we sincerely hope it helps our listeners think of introducing clients to this option - because after helping them grow their wealth, wouldn't it be great if we could help their family keep it? Resources Free Lunch & Learn Webinar - 29th April 2026 Family Inheritance Solutions - website Collaborative Practice Training Zinta's Bookk Zinta LinkedIn Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Quick question for you - is the 'old' way of doing fact finding enough in the current financial advice profession? If it is, great - let us know! But if you don't think it is, if you think that the bar has been lifted, over and over and over again, then this episode might be for you! In this weeks meander Jordan and Nathan start to tackle the battle of gathering and evidencing a clients situation to an adequate level for the advice we provide - and what does that even mean?!   Pats Blog - The Trust Canyon https://patrickflynn.info/trust-canyon/   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26021111-24240001  Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.    Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Financial advice is a fairly solitary pursuit - the burden sits heavy on our individual shoulders.  But, does it necessarily need to be so? In this week's episode, Nathan and Jordan explore how advisers can, and are, work collaboratively to help meet our clients best interests.  From sharing ideas, discussing cases and referring to specialists within the profession, the opportunity to find the best advice for your client, has never been greater.  But how do we do it? Especially now that we are seeing so much specialisation within advice - what's the 'best' way to bring in other advisers to help your client? How do you put your own concerns, worries and, yes, even ego to the side in the interests of your client.  And what of the mechanics of actually doing it? It's a fun episode and we can't wait to hear from listeners about how they're fostering collaboration in the world of advice.     Tim Moores Blog: https://moorefinancialadvice.com.au/why-a-well-connected-financial-adviser-matters-more-than-you-think/ You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode:  https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26031304-00350001  Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.     Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Remember QAR? The noise, the fury, the outrage? The column inches, breath and spittle diverted into 'discussing' the Quality of Advice Review? Would it surprise you to be reminded that the final report dropped way back in February 2023 - 3 years prior to this week's episode?  And, when you look around and see what a big difference it's made (...), isn't it quite astonishing? This week, prompted by Nathan discovering how funny the report was while researching another piece, he and Jordan discuss the QAR report in some (read: excruciating) detail.  The report's actually a really interesting insight into the operations of the financial advice profession, and well worth a read.  But absolutely stuffed if we can find the Big Lebowski reference.  Links Etc: Quality of Advice Review - Final Report | Treasury.gov.au Terms of Reference | Treasury.gov.au Michelle Levy pens open letter on QAR, urges action - IFA The Finsider with Michelle Levy   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode:  Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.     Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

We all know what bad engagement looks like. The shiftiness in the face of the truth, the big sales pitch, over-promises and, sadly, inevitable pain when the truth comes to light.  And we know what good engagement looks like - if I asked you, you could name a handful of advisers doing great work in engaging with the public.  But, what about that space in between?  How big is the gap between good and bad engagement? Why does it matter? Why, after all, are we all in this race for attention and engagement? This week, Nathan and Jordan explore this topic in (arguably excruciating and hypocritical) detail, discussing: Why advisers need to compete with the unqualified noisemakers out there Why it's so important that advisers own the space, instead of ceding it to product providers etc - not just for those of us in it now, but also for the future Why the slippery slope of chasing metrics can tempt the best of us to sliding towards the wrong end of the spectrum And you'll also get to know a little more about the newest character in the CTS universe - Conscience Chicken.  Riding atop Theseus's Train of Trolley Carriages all the way to roost.  (It gets weird) You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26021904-04440001 Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.        Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

This week, we're joined by Stuart Riddle, of Claras.ai - one of the AI offerings in the financial advice market.  Nathan and Jordan start by asking him about the state of AI in financial advice, and expand into: The questions advisers should be asking about AI The questions licensees are asking about AI How AI can help advisers be more efficient, effective and balanced The specific workflows and implementations they've used with Claras, and the difference it's made How these AI products actually work Be sure to stay tuned for Jordan to throw any semblance of integrity and calm out the window and instead become a shameless shill for Claras.ai. It feels, at times, as though you're eavesdropping on a very specific, very irrelevant product support query between a product and it's bumbling user.  Enjoy!   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26021904-04440001 Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.    Stuart: [email protected] www.claras.ai   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.       

This week, Nathan and Jordan try to answer the question - how involved should you, as an adviser, be involved in implementing your advice? Well, they don't try all that hard, but they have a shot at it.  Starting at fairly opposite ends of the spectrum, they try to discuss: Working out who's job it is to get the forms signed If it's not your job, who's is it? How involved should you still be, even if you're not the one doing the forms? Now that how we get paid has been (should be?) severed from whether somebody implements our recommendations, does implementation have the same weight? Why are printers so rubbish still? This isn't a topic people discuss very much, but Nathan and Jordan are confident that it's an area ripe for challenging...and discussing...and questioning.  So, have at it and let us know how involved YOU are with implementing your financial advice!   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26021111-24240001  Thanks again to the team at CPD Check for letting us publish our episodes using their AI-CPD certifying engine. Check out Clayton's episode on the pod for more info.    Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Managing to keep the meandering at the start of the ep to a - wide ranging and flower-heavy - minimum, Nathan and Jordan quickly get on task today to discuss getting paid.  From choosing how to structure the timing of when you get paid for your work as a financial adviser, to the methods you offer clients, to handling that blessedly rare occasion of a client stiffing you on a bill, they try to explore all the considerations of the topic.  Because, as a professional financial adviser, you add immense amounts of value to your clients lives. But do you believe in that value enough to expect to be paid your full worth?  And what decisions, steps and systems have you put in place to make sure that happens without the biggest impediment (i.e., you. Us. Advisers.) getting in the way?     You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26020906-00480001   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.       

As a financial adviser, you no doubt know some stuff about the Age Pension. The Income Test. The Assets Test. Thresholds, limits, reduction factors - a fair bit of stuff.  But how do you tackle some of the ethical considerations? How do you balance client best interests with client intentions - especially when some of those intentions can be a bit dicey? In this week's episode, we explore this fundamental part of retirement advice and try to add some new details and nuance to your approach.  And, for keen listeners, let us know your answer to the $10,000 question - where has this 'rule' come from?   Some links for you: History of the Age Pension in Australia Administration of the Age Pension | Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) Using the Social Security Guide | Social Security Guide   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26012910-42380001 Client Care and Practice - 0.75 Professionalism & Ethics - 0.25   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143. 

100 episodes! 100 episodes of these two goons meandering around topics that affect, interest and bewilder financial advisers in Australia.  To celebrate this milestone, Nathan and Jordan have decided to meander around the topic of 'power' in financial advice.  Who has it, who doesn't, why they do (and don't), how they can exercise it and how we can increase it.  It is, like most of our oddly popular ones, very philosophical, very meandering and filled with outdated pop culture references (they fly together, just so you know).  Enjoy the pod and here's to an undetermined number of more episodes into the future! Thanks for listening.    You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.    CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26012910-31480001 Client Care & Practice – 0.25 Professionalism & Ethics – 0.75    Chuffed - Aunty Donna: https://youtu.be/o4fHlldbRHo?si=YehRABoc6fmhqQl6 Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

We genuinely had a plan for this episode...and then it just ran right off the rails. Which is a shame*. Because ASIC have updated their regulatory guidance around Conflicts of Interest, in Regulatory Guide 181.  And it's good.  Useful. Broader than before, touching on a wider range of potential conflicts amongst a much larger ecosystem than was the case when it was last refreshed (2004, ahem).  It's one of our longest episodes, but even with our weird tangents and Simpsons quotes and more Willy Wonka recitations than you'd expect, we think it's still actually pretty helpful.  Hopefully, anyway.    *A hilarious, rollercoaster, digression-filled jaunt through our year-end tired minds, shame.   Link to the RG: RG 181 AFS licensing: Managing conflicts of interest | ASIC   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-25121808-54570001    Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Get in touchContinuing our streak of bringing people on, then putting them in commercially awkward positions by asking silly questions, we're joined in this episode by Patrick Flynn of Simply Kaizen. Who, despite our shenanigans, is happy to discuss: Why the leap from 1-2 advisers to 7+ is across such a large canyon Where Kaizen comes from and how it feeds into his philosophy about the business of advice Why the skills that make you a great financial adviser may not make you a great business owner - and why that's ok The red lines we get to - have to? - draw as business owners when it comes to managing around the people we work with. The two big things all practice should ensure are ship shape before doing anything else.   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-25121110-19530001 Patrick: Get in touch The Trust Canyon (As discussed at Congress)  Another interesting blog on leadership   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143. 

Weaknesses - we've all got 'em.  But, what do we do about them? This week's episode sees Jordan and Nathan exploring the idea of weaknesses: What they are (and what they aren't) How to recognise them What to do about them  How the weaknesses we all have can manifest in our work, our personal lives and our practices There's a smidge of vulnerability from the two of them, but hopefully you leave with a framework to tackle your own weaknesses - all with the goal of working towards your very best selves! After all, it's not a second, seven seconds away...   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  To choose the episode you'd most like to see CPD for, visit the link below, and donate to Good Shepherd charity to lock in your choice.  Request past Episodes for CPD: S7E3 Weaknesses Quiz - Ensombl CPD For this Episode:  Technical Competence - 1.0 Professionalism & Ethics - 0.50   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Time for more dilemmas - this time, what do you do when a client (strongly) hints they want to end their marriage? How do you handle the disclosure? How do you advise them? What do you do about the partner? Throw in TPD, infidelity, a brief detour in ASIC's SMSF report and a healthy dose of uncertainty, and you've got this week's episode.  In it, Jordan and Nathan: Propose frameworks to help you navigate this very thorny issue Thank the wonderful advisers who have posed these questions recently Congratulate all of you out there expanding the remit of financial advice, by examining your own thoughts and approaches Disagree on some bits and bobs Three case studies. Lots of overlap, but also lots of interesting nuance and variation.  PS: Like the new character image? Thank Mr Fradley's creativity for the evolution of our logo!   𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐳: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-25112611-35210001 - Professionalism and Ethics: 0.75 - Client Care and Practice: 0.25   𝐂𝐏𝐃 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 If you want to be able to accredit the informal learning you complete as part of your professional development check out CPD check at https://www.cpdcheck.com/ Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143. 

You see the event announcement, and you think to yourself, "Flights, Accomodation, Time out of the business, Time away from your family... is this conference really worth it?" In this episode (recorded live in the vendor hall of the FAAA Congress 2025) Jordan and Nathan are joined by Glen James (Podcaster Extraordinaire, now Youtuber) to discuss How the gold Glen got from conferences helped set up Glens business for success Why your mind set, and 'leaning in' is the key to get the most out How is always something to be learned, but the key is in taking action on those matters afterwards Why businesses that invest in getting their junior and admin staff to conferences (not just leadership and advisers) will get enormous ROI and retention benefits that far outweight any cost.  Why eating gelato while recording a pod isn't ideal, but it's still more professional than Jordan and I stuffing about at the start of the episode.  Guest Cameo from the newly appointed FAAA Board member Ben Marshan   CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-25112001-07590001 Technical Competence: 0.50 Professionalism and Ethics: 0.25  Check out https://cpdcheck.com/ to start getting accreditation for all of your professional development.    Find Glenn Glen James | Website This is Business | Podcast (Worth a listen if you're self employed} Retire Right | Podcast money money money | Podcast sort your money out | Book   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143. 

Fresh off the release of his first book - Retire Life Ready - we're joined by James Wrigley. With the largest following on social media of any Australian financial adviser*, James is building his practice by talking to people on all the social platforms.  Which is why, in this episode, we studiously ignored talking about social media or marketing.  Instead, we wanted to know about his experience working within a larger firm: How do they structure their teams? What're the key considerations with managing the people around you? How are they sharing the work that James' public profile is bringing in? What are some of the challenges advisers face when working within a business that offers asset management as a product? Who does he have in his top 10 friends list on his MySpace page, and how does he avoid upsetting people in the office when he - inevitably - leaves them out?   *I think this is true? CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-25111312-08020001 - Technical Competence: 0.75 - Client Care and Practice: 0.25   James: [email protected] James Wrigley - First Financial   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143. 

Index vs Active - it's the investment debate we all love to keep having.  Or, is it? Because what's presented as a flat, binary choice is really much more nuanced. And, to be frank, boring.  More interesting to us - and what we explore in this week's episode - is the framework and process advisers build to help answer the many "what about"s that come up when we're building our own investment philosophy.  Because indexing is fantastic...but what about that concentration risk? And active management has its place...but what about those costs? There is grey here, which we love to explore!   You can now get CPD points for listening to two knuckleheads (and guests!) wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  To choose the episode you'd most like to see CPD for, visit the link below, and donate to Good Shepherd charity to lock in your choice.  Request past Episodes for CPD: https://forms.office.com/r/Nu2euRRQx7 CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-25110619-27220001 - Technical Competence: 0.25 - Professionalism and Ethics: 0.75     Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143. 

How much of your actual development as a professional is being captured via your CPD obligations? Are you only doing 40 hours of learning across the year? Or are you constantly learning? If the latter, then join us this week as we chat with Clayton Daniel of CPD Check. Best known for his central role in the rise of the Ensombl platform, Clayton has turned his eye to expanding and democratising the CPD accreditation process.  And he's gone even further and agreed to allow us to submit all future (and up to 20 past) CTS episodes for accreditation! That's right - you'll be able to get CPD points for your commitment to listening to two knuckleheads wax lyrical about financial advice for an hour at a time.  To choose the episode you'd most like to see CPD for, visit the link below, and donate to Good Shepherd charity to lock in your choice.  Request past Episodes for CPD: https://forms.office.com/r/Nu2euRRQx7 CPD For this Episode: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-25103104-48590001 Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Referrals. We all need them. We all want them. And we're all, to some degree, getting them.  But what works? Why does it work? And, critically, what doesn't work? In this week's episode, Nathan and Jordan have a shot at unpacking this huge and critical topic, to discuss: How advisers can easier find clients they like working with The two key problems all business owners face Why those of us who aren't charged with finding new work should take a moment to appreciate how difficult that job can be Their own (mis)adventures when it comes to finding more people they like to work with - who also want to work with them.  For bonus points, one of them takes you through his bird species preferences - in order of tastiness.  Enjoy.  Thanks to CPDCheck you can get CPD for this Episode Access the Quiz here: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-25103105-12020001 Check out our Newsletter (and you can sign up at the bottom of the page) Coffee Optional Books etc The Technium: 1,000 True Fans BOOKS | Nick Murray Company Robert Cialdini - Science Of Persuasion Matthew Jarvis Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

We're getting philosophical again this week, but unlike our other meanderings up our own backsides - this one has real value for listeners*.  Nathan realised recently that our job as advisers comes down to one, big concept: expectations.  Helping clients recognise, articulate, explore, challenge and achieve their expectations.  This seed of an idea triggered a conversation that touches on: The gap between aspirations and expectations (and whether the value of our advice sits in there) The power of challenging a clients expectations What you can achieve by asking a client about their expectations - and whether their expected destination lines up with their desired one How the strength of your questioning around expectations ultimately aligns with your value and quality as an adviser It's a big, wonderful topic and we loved recording this episode. Be sure to share it with anybody you know who is curious about advice, and how to tweak the way they're delivering it.    *You're welcome for me not including the word 'nuggets' in this opening line.   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.  If you see this, Jordan forgot to do the text. 

We can all agree that the first meeting is crucial.  But - why? What are you looking for out of that meeting? What makes the first meeting a successful one? What's your intention for this meeting - and for the entire process around it? In this week's episode, Nathan and Jordan unpack what they think makes a good first appointment, what they've seen other advisers doing and what they've learned from talking with people like Brendan Frazier.  With the now-customary digression into sceptical naivete and dissection of their own, internal processes, this episode is all about asking listeners - how good's your first meeting, and how can you make it better? CPD Quiz thanks to CPD Check: https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26060603-53510001 Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

We're joined this week by Ashley Taylor, accredited family law specialist from Lander & Rogers. Ashley's here to help us unpack the trickier financial complexities that can arise in divorce negotiations, including: Family trusts in all their wonderful permutations Why it's not as simple as 'if you're the appointor, it's in the pool' How intergenerational trusts are looked at in the settlement process What a Div7A loan is - and why family lawyers treat them very carefully Some of the things, flags and points financial adviser can look out for when helping their clients navigate their divorce AND - some of the topics advisers should be discussing with clients before they set up any of these structures.  And while we didn't get to the thorny topic of SMSFs in divorce, we did sneak in a cracking GTA: Vice City reference - so that's a clear win.  (PS Nathan apologises for sounding like he was in a tincan, he recorded offsite today) CPD Quiz thanks to CPD Check:  https://quiz.ensombl.com/NATH-26060604-05370001   Ashley: LinkedIn Lander & Rogers Guide to Family Law for Financial Service Practitioners   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

We've thought about doing an episode about private credit, equity and markets for a while now - but couldn't ever work out the right angle to take on such a big topic.  Then the news cycle swooped in and gave us the link we never knew we needed - between private credit investments and Target Market Determinations (TMDs).  This is a big topic, and Nathan and Jordan do their best to: Define just what all these private market investments are Acknowledge the tough path last week's news will have left for advisers who've recommended these products Why they don't use these products in their own portfolio advice The issues they have with these funds Why TMDs have never made much sense - until, perhaps, now At some point Nathan plays the guitar.  With a tasty side dish of acronym soup - TMDs, DDO, RG, ASIC, LIF, BID, CoE and, naturally, CSLR.  Finally, it might be hard to tell, but we also try to tread a very fine, please-don't-sue-us line as we navigate this story too.   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

You've heard the experts (and these two mugs) repeatedly say "you should niche". But they never pay you the courtesy of explaining how.  Well, let us rectify that oversight in this week's episode by giving you one, easy answer: "Roll a dice". Or, more accurately, a set of D&D dice. This week, Nathan and Jordan set up a number of different categories and roll the dice to build out and explore potential niches.  Not to build a business around them, but instead to demonstrate some of the thinking, considerations and options that come from building out your own financial advisory niche.    Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

What's stopping you from being more active on social media? From a professional perspective, that is - I'm sure you're forever taking photos of your meals on your own account.  But when it comes to work (or your business), what's stopping you from getting your voice out there? Is it shyness? Impostor syndrome? Perfectionism? Disdain? Or a mix of the above? Well, that's why we asked Deline Jacovides from Mazi Wealth on for this week's episode, because she has entirely grown her business using social media.  And she helps us by running through: The low(er than previously) time investment she makes in her overall marketing each month How many new leads 3 posts per week have earned her over the last few months The biggest bottleneck in her business Why her intentions in starting her social media presence matter Our hope in this one is to inspire at least one listener to start sharing more of themselves on social media. For the commercial and economic benefits, yes.  But also because there are a lot of other great people out there that you might get to meet. And the longer we're in this game, the more we're beginning to realise that it's the people you meet and work with along the way that make the biggest impact.  Except for that one person at Deline's Brisbane FAAA presentation - they'll probably think it's all a bit "pointless".   Deline Instagram No phone number. Natch. Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

This week we're back with a Q&A episode, tackling three big questions that have been landing in our inbox from our listeners.  New and exciting Annuity products: With a wave of new products hitting the market, we unpack what advisers should watch out for, why a healthy dose of skepticism is essential, and the dangers of shiny innovation that later gets grandfathered or disappears. Tax-deductible advice fees: how to think about in-super vs out-of-pocket charging Insurance commissions. Do they really serve advisers, or just the insurers? We share our own experiments with nil-com, rebates, and referrals, and why Independent advisers are better (jokes, they aren't) Drown-Drought cycles for referrals and workload: We get a bit vulnerable on this, as we haven't figured it out yet.  It's a meaty one, blending the usual product skepticism, practice pragmatism, and a few rants about the system (as always).   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143. 

This week's episode is about an incredibly serious, meaningful topic.  Just kidding.  It's a gameshow!! Mr Fradley has designed an excellent gameshow to put his (bewilderingly bad) co-host and (outstanding) guests, James d'Apice of Gravamen and Morgan Hayward of Lume Wealth through their paces.  He's also managed to keep it in the realm of financial advice!  More fun than should be allowed in any professional endeavour, we hope this works as a palette cleanser after the last few weeks of capital-S Seriousness.  Incredibly fun - be sure to reach out to James or Morgan if you've enjoyed the episode, thank them for coming on for us!   Morgan: Morgan Hayward - Lume Wealth James: Gravamen Law | Co-owner dispute specialists Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

This week's episode is all about the immense difference a network of peers can have on your career, practice and life.  Joined by Charmaine Hall of Unbound Financial, Nathan and Jordan find out: How the peer network Charmaine's part of came to be The pros (and cons) of facilitating, and participating in, a peer group What good practice as a participant looks like A cracking example on the immediate impact advice from peers can have on your business Later in the episode, Jordan expands on his experience with a Practice Group in his time in Ballarat, and the pros and cons of his approach to it all.  We may have also uncovered the real star of this podcast too - see if you can catch his name mentioned in passing.    Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Whether it's sheer coincidence or not, Nathan and Jordan have happened to have a few...interesting pricing cases float their way since last week's episode on Pricing.  So in this one, they take the time to examine two examples of pricing in the market. Anonymised, but detailed enough to provide lots of meaty discussion, including: How much is too much to charge for financial advice? Who are we to have an opinion about what other advisers are charging? Are our own biases colouring how we see things? What responsibility do individual advisers have to bear the cost of fixing a clients previous  mistakes? Is an SoA going to give us enough information to make an informed judgment of another adviser's fees? What of Standard 12? Hmmm? Well, hmmm? This one was a lot of fun, and that fun was amplified by the wonderful occurence this past week of having multiple advisers get in touch to say nice things about this podcast. It's so nice and rewarding for us to hear that this little project of ours is having an impact in the lives of practitioners out there.  We really hope we're hitting the mark, and capturing those conversations we know other practitioners are having out there. And, as always, trying to remind you that there are way more of us out there than you'd think - you're not alone, you glorious oddball you.   Professional Planner article: Push to serve 200 clients throws adviser burnout risk into spotlight - Professional Planner LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

We've talked about pricing before. We've discussed the options, the methods and (some of) the considerations.  But, let's be honest, the audio sucked and we had even less of an idea than we have now.  So it's time to revisit this foundation stone of the financial advisers practice. Get pricing right, we believe, and yours will be a successful career.  Get it right, or fall for the propaganda that says it's our responsibility to provide cheap advice to all people, and your career will be electron-esque - filled with anxious motion, but little progress. (Yes, there'll be bonding, but not always with the atoms you want to bond with...).  In this episode we hit all the highlights: Why minimum fees are important - and what yours should be What empathetic quoting really looks like Why fees are only one part of the pricing equation How your choices around pricing feeds into every other element of a successful advice practice The benefits of the 50/50 pricing structure We also didn't even mention the CSLR once in the whole episode.  (We did mention Shield, Guardian, MDAs and a variety of other irritants though, so huzzah).    Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

This week's episode is all about the conversations advisers are having - or should be having - with their clients about their truly long-term questions.  Robert Rich of Unite Wealth joins Nathan and Jordan to discuss: The challenges he's found in exploring client views on inheritance, bequests, wealth and support for their kids The way he's structured his process to draw out a person's real financial priorities and values The impact his background in marketing has had on the (rapid) growth of his business, Unite Wealth.  A favourite part comes at the end when he distinguishes the professional financial advisers out there with the historical approach of inherent people pleasing instincts.    The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Robert: www.unitewealth.com.au  Robert and Unite Wealth are authorised representatives of Lifespan Financial Planning Pty Ltd ABN 23 065 921 735 Australian Financial Services License 229 892. Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

This one gets weird... Or, more professionally, it gets introspective. Philosophical. Meandering. Circuitous. Solipsistic. Navel-gazing.  Because this week, Nathan and Jordan are exploring the most arcane topic they've yet covered on Australia's Nichest Podcast: When does a client become a client - and when do they stop being a client? Because while we all 'know' what a client is, did you know it's not defined in any of the legislative or regulatory material we carry around on our shoulders, Atlas-like? And so we explore this topic - from the top-down, to the side, to the other side, inside out, upside down, on our heads, from around the corner and in all sorts of interesting, looping ways.  Like a Christopher Nolan film, but with a slightly smaller SFX budget, this one will hopefully make you think, make you yell at your podcast player and ask your own odd question about this thing we all do.   The LinkedIn Post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jordan-vaka_for-the-financial-advisers-out-there-two-activity-7348599291512356865-jtah?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAETjYwBJl-o206ehOjE85kiX12WAEVN4Uk   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

An alternative title for this episode was CSLR 2: The Rage Cometh, because it is getting messed up.  And one of the journalists really working the beat on this topic is Keith Ford of ifa.com.au, who was good enough to come on and talk us through the latest updates on this rolling snowball of an issue.  From the various product failures potentially adding $2bn to the pipeline, to the labyrinthine ownership entanglements underpinning these latest rounds, through to the phoenixing-esque loophole somehow left in the legislation - Keith has the inside running on it all.  It was simultaneously wonderful having somebody with Keith's level of detail and knowledge walk us through the intricacies of this issue - and hair pullingly frustrating at just how bad this is going to get.  Enjoy!   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

This week's episode is all about the upcoming changes to the Aged Care rules. Nathan's good enough to take an oddly political Jordan through the changes this week, covering: The expansion of the options in the Home Care arena from 4 to 8+2. The value and impact the new 'End of Life' package is going to offer people who want to spend their last days in their home. The changes to the fees - upfront and ongoing - for residential aged care.  How the new-but-not-new hotelling fee is adding to the overall cost.  Why these changes mean the middle class is going to feel the squeeze the most.  Nathan and Jordan also expound on why this is important and relevant for all advisers, not just those directly practicing in the space.  This was a fun one, with lots of ranting and political gasbagging amongst the - hopefully useful - practice insights.    Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

Friend* of the show, Phil Thompson from Skye Wealth joins us this week to discuss the very specific, very niche, but very important topic of duration discounting in insurance.  Phil takes us through just what he's talking about, why it matters and the damage it's doing to the entire insurance ecosystem.  Importantly, though, he also shares what he sees as the best fixes to this problem. His confidence that the industry will see sense and fix this rolling issue is encouraging.  Stay on to the end to hear his unvarnished thoughts on the burgeoning general advice model of life insurance (non) advice too.  To be honest, this won't be the most uplifting episode you ever listen to - this stuff is heavy, the consequences severe and the options limited.  But damned if it isn't fantastic to be part of such a mature conversation relevant to our entire profession.  Thanks again, Phil.    *Perhaps 'former' is more accurate, given the arguing that goes on in this one...and the opening slander too.    Phil LinkedIn Phil's Article We Discuss Skye Wealth Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.   

This week, we conclude our Ongoing Advice series with the one, the only Michael Back.  Renowned by advice firms that know what's what, Michael has long helped advice practices take their client experience to the next level.  So we've asked him to come on to help us explore the CX part of Ongoing Advice, with a very particular focus on the value of all the coaching advisers do for their clients.  What is coaching, how does our version differ from the one you might have in mind, and why are we all so hung up on charging for these amazing, but intangible, services? Jordan says this one was hard to keep on track, with the digressions and diversions threatening to overwhelm.  "But a Goofyphile would say that, wouldn't he" says Nathan. It's a fun episode - and a worthy cap to this enjoyable series on Ongoing Advice.    You can reach Michael via his LinkedIn Page.   Nathan: [email protected] www.nathanfradley.com.au Jordan: [email protected] www.planningsolo.com.au LinkedIn:  Challenge the Standard in Financial Advice (Podcast): Overview | LinkedIn The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Jordan and Nathan are both authorised representatives of PlanningSolo Licensing, AFS Licence 526143.