Podcast
The Trusted Adviser
Hosted by Rob Pyne · EN
The Trusted Adviser is a podcast for financial planners who want to learn from the best in the profession. Hosted by Rob Pyne, founder and CEO of HPH Solutions, each episode features in-depth conversations with leading financial planners and experts from businesses that support the advice community.
Guests share practical insights, lessons learned, and ideas for building better advice businesses, from technology and pricing to succession and client experience.
Whether you’re an experienced adviser or growing your practice, The Trusted Adviser offers thought-provoking conversations to help you, and your business thrive.
28episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Building for a Generation That Wasn't Being Served - Rebecca Tai, Game Plan Wealth Advisers
1w ago00:52:19Tap to summarizeMost 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.
Transcribe →Rod Bertino (Business Health): The War for Talent, Practice Valuations and the Question Every Self-Licensed Owner Must Answer
3w ago01:02:54Tap to summarizeRod 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.
Transcribe →The Business That Doesn't Need You with Gabe Enslin from Adapt
May 2100:54:32Tap to summarizeMost 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.
Transcribe →Beyond Referrals: David Newson (XNW Atelier) on the Future of Marketing for Independent Advisers
May 701:09:30Tap to summarizeWhat 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.
Transcribe →Building a Modern Advice Firm: Terry Dillon on the Evolution of Shadforth Financial Group
Apr 2300:46:07Tap to summarizeWhat 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.
Transcribe →Scaling Advice: Jeff Thurecht on Talent, Technology and Growth
Apr 900:41:47Tap to summarizeWhat 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 through The identity shift from adviser to CEO, and the surprisingly difficult task of measuring your own progress when client appointments no longer fill your diary Evalesco's bold 3k 30 vision: 3,000 ideal clients by 2030, and exactly how they plan to get there How 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 role Jeff'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.
Transcribe →Turning Your Team into Owners: The HPH Employee Ownership Model with Nick Bordi
Mar 2600:46:42Tap to summarizeIn 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.
Transcribe →Reinventing the SOA: Corey Wastle's Journey Towards Video-First Advice
Mar 1200:51:41Tap to summarizeIn 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.
Transcribe →You Can’t Scale Trust — 2025 IFA Excellence Award Winner Xan Kitchin on Building Wealth Connexion
Feb 2600:52:24Tap to summarizeAlexander “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.
Transcribe →The Profit Gap in Financial Advice, with Dean Lombardo of Effortless Engagement
Feb 1200:51:17Tap to summarizeMany 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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