The Trusted Adviser EOFY Planning Playlist
A curated listening guide for advice businesses planning for the year ahead
The most dangerous number in an advice firm is not always revenue, profit or margin. Sometimes, it is the amount of complexity the business has quietly learned to tolerate.
It shows up in clients who no longer fit the service model, pricing that has not kept pace with the work required, workflows that depend too heavily on a few key people, initiatives that begin with good intent but never quite land, and leadership conversations that keep being pushed to “after EOFY”.
That is where planning season can become genuinely useful — not because it produces another tidy document, but because it creates the space to ask the questions that often get crowded out during the year.
Where is profit leaking?
Is capacity being properly managed, or simply absorbed by the team?
Are we pricing with enough confidence?
Are our leaders aligned on the few priorities that will actually move the business forward?
Are we building a firm that compounds, or one that keeps adding friction?
Across The Trusted Adviser Podcast, we have spoken with advice business owners, consultants, CFOs and industry leaders about the commercial, operational and leadership decisions that shape stronger advice firms. For EOFY, we have curated a practical listening guide for advice principals and leadership teams preparing for the year ahead.
A Practical Way to Use This Playlist
This playlist can be used individually, but it is even more useful as a leadership team exercise.
- 1Listen to The Starting 4 podcasts below.
- 2If you need to focus on a topic, pick from the Listen by Planning Priority list further down the page.
Suggested Listening Paths
If your leadership team wants a shorter path through the full library, use one of these curated sequences.
The Planning Reset Path
For firms wanting a balanced planning-season overview.
- Special Episode: A Reflective Start to the Year
- Ep 27: Profitability, Pricing & Capacity – Rob Jones
- Ep 36: The Profit Gap – Dean Lombardo
- Ep 16: Building Enduring Advice Practices – Warr Hunt
- Ep 44: Why Great Advisers Don’t Always Run Great Businesses – Rod Bertino
The Profitability Path
For firms wanting to sharpen commercial performance.
- Ep 27: Profitability, Pricing & Capacity – Rob Jones
- Ep 36: The Profit Gap – Dean Lombardo
- Ep 8: Pricing Mastery – Phillip Little
- Ep 10: Partnering for Success – David Haintz
- Ep 2: Financial Planning Business Valuation – Tim Lane
The Scale & Succession Path
For firms preparing for growth, merger, acquisition, succession or ownership transition.
- Ep 3: Mergers & Acquisitions – Richard Hernan
- Ep 26: Strategic Scaling Up – Ben Calder
- Ep 32: Built to Last – Michael Goodman
- Ep 39: Inside the Equity Engine – Nick Bordi
- Ep 43: The Business That Doesn’t Need You – Gabe Enslin
The Leadership & Talent Path
For firms needing better leadership depth, team development and culture.
- Ep 12: Leadership, Culture & Success – Alman Partners
- Ep 16: Building Enduring Advice Practices – Warr Hunt
- Ep 21: Growing Stronger Advice Practices – Terri Reid
- Ep 22: G2 Leadership – Philip Palaveev
- Ep 23: Future-Ready Advice – Apt Wealth
The Technology & Productivity Path
For firms reviewing AI, automation, systems and operational efficiency.
- Ep 34: Tech Sanity – Peter Worn
- Ep 20: Rethinking the Backbone of Advice – Stephen Bell
- Ep 28: The Technologists Roundtable
- Ep 33: Xplan, Integrations & the Future of Advice Tech – Matt McGuinty
- Ep 38: Reinventing the SOA – Corey Wastle
The Client Experience & Marketing Path
For firms wanting to improve client attraction, service model and perceived value.
- Ep 42: Beyond Referrals – David Newson
- Ep 45: Building for a Generation That Wasn’t Being Served – Rebecca Tai
- Ep 29: Inside the HPH Client Experience – Zac Leeson
- Ep 35: The Adviser-Led Estate Plan – Inherit Australia
- Ep 37: You Can’t Scale Trust – Xan Kitchin
The Starting 4
Start here. These four episodes set the tone for the rest of your planning conversation.
Special Episode: A Reflective Start to the Year — The Ideas That Endure in Advice Businesses
Before jumping into targets, spreadsheets and new initiatives, it is worth stepping back and asking what actually endures in strong advice businesses. Rob Pyne explores the principles that show up repeatedly in high-performing firms: clarity of focus, disciplined consistency, the flywheel effect, and the power of compounding effort over time.
Great firms are rarely built by changing direction every year. More often, they are built by choosing the right few priorities and executing them consistently.
Episode 27: Profitability, Pricing & Capacity with Rob Jones of Peloton Partners
EOFY planning often starts with the numbers, but the real value is in understanding what sits behind them. Rob Jones brings a data-rich lens to advice firm performance, including profitability ratios, adviser remuneration benchmarks, capacity constraints and pricing discipline.
One of the strongest themes: many firms do not have a demand problem — they have a delivery, pricing or capacity problem. Rob also shares a useful diagnostic: if new business is contributing more than 30% of current profit, there may be a structural issue with ongoing fee profitability.
Episode 36: The Profit Gap with Dean Lombardo of Effortless Engagement
Every advice firm has a reported profit figure. But that does not always reflect what the business could be earning if its leadership, service model, workflows, pricing and capacity were working together properly. Dean Lombardo explores the gap between reported profitability and potential profitability — leadership misalignment, half-finished initiatives, workflow complexity, adviser variance and effort-based remuneration models.
Especially useful for firms that feel busy, productive and stretched, but suspect the commercial result should be stronger than it is.
Episode 16: Building Enduring Advice Practices with Anthony Warr & Bianca Musico of Warr Hunt
A planning session is only useful if it changes what happens after the room clears. Anthony Warr and Bianca Musico discuss how Warr Hunt has used the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to create a stronger operating rhythm, improve accountability and support continuous improvement — including their “diamond team” structure, mentorship and succession.
Listen by Planning Priority
Different advice firms enter planning season with different pressure points. Use the categories below to choose the episodes most relevant to the conversations your leadership team needs to have.
1. Strategic Focus, Planning & Business Model ClarityFor firms wanting to step back, reset priorities and think more clearly about the business they are building.+
Special Episode: A Reflective Start to the Year
A mindset primer on focus, disciplined consistency, compounding effort and the flywheel effect.
Planning question: What are the few things in our business that deserve more consistency, not more reinvention?
Listen →Episode 31: The First 30 Episodes – A Strategic Recap
A curated reflection on the major themes emerging from the first 30 conversations across growth, leadership, technology, pricing, client experience and business design.
Planning question: What themes keep recurring across strong advice firms, and which ones are most relevant to us now?
Listen →Episode 44: Why Great Advisers Don’t Always Run Great Businesses – Rod Bertino
A practical reminder that technical advice skill and business leadership are not the same thing. Useful for principals reviewing business dependency, management capability and enterprise value.
Planning question: Where is the business still too dependent on individual talent rather than enterprise strength?
Listen →Episode 43: The Business That Doesn’t Need You – Gabe Enslin from Adapt
A strong episode for firm owners thinking about independence, systems, leadership depth and building a business that can operate beyond the founder.
Planning question: If the principal stepped away, what would still work, and what would break?
Listen →Episode 41: Building a Modern Advice Firm – Terry Dillon on the Evolution of Shadforth
A useful perspective on how larger advice firms evolve, professionalise and adapt over time.
Planning question: What does a more modern, mature version of our firm need to look like?
Listen →2. Profitability, Pricing & Commercial PerformanceFor firms reviewing profit, capacity, pricing, productivity and commercial discipline.+
Episode 27: Profitability, Pricing & Capacity – Rob Jones of Peloton Partners
One of the most diagnostic episodes for advice firm owners, covering profitability, pricing, adviser remuneration, capacity and the economics of ongoing service.
Planning question: Are we growing profitably, or relying too heavily on new business and adviser effort?
Listen →Episode 36: The Profit Gap – Dean Lombardo of Effortless Engagement
Explores the gap between reported profit and potential profit, including workflow complexity, leadership misalignment, adviser variance and execution drag.
Planning question: Where is complexity costing us more than we realise?
Listen →Episode 8: Pricing Mastery – Phillip Little from Slipstream Group
A practical episode on pricing confidence, minimum fee thresholds, value communication and commercial sustainability.
Planning question: Are our fees aligned with value, complexity, cost to serve and the business we are trying to build?
Listen →Episode 10: Partnering for Success – David Haintz of Merchant Investment Management
A commercial conversation on profitability, productivity ratios, client selection, acquisitions and business performance.
Planning question: Are we clear on the clients we are best built to serve, and are we willing to shape the business around that?
Listen →Episode 2: Financial Planning Business Valuation – Tim Lane
A foundational episode for firms wanting to understand value drivers, business valuation and the commercial factors that influence enterprise worth.
Planning question: What would make our business more valuable, more resilient and less dependent on the current owners?
Listen →3. Scale, Mergers, Acquisitions & SuccessionFor firms thinking about growth, acquisition, succession, ownership transition or building beyond the founder.+
Episode 3: Mergers & Acquisitions in Financial Planning – Richard Hernan
A practical look at M&A in financial planning, including acquisition strategy, readiness, culture, financing and valuation.
Planning question: Are we building a business that is ready to acquire, merge, sell or transition?
Listen →Episode 7: Scaling Smarter – Dan Brown from Coastal Advice Group
A growth-focused episode on transforming a smaller planning team into a larger, more scalable advice enterprise.
Planning question: What needs to change operationally if we want growth to strengthen the firm rather than stretch it?
Listen →Episode 26: Strategic Scaling Up – Ben Calder
An inside look at the merger between Calder Wealth and Coastal Advice, including cultural alignment, integration, governance and growth through scale.
Planning question: What would we need to get right culturally and operationally before pursuing merger-led growth?
Listen →Episode 32: Built to Last – Michael Goodman
A conversation on multi-generational ownership, long-term firm building and avoiding the assumption that outside capital is the only path to scale.
Planning question: What ownership model best supports the firm we want to build over the next decade?
Listen →Episode 39: Inside the Equity Engine – Nick Bordi
A behind-the-scenes look at HPH’s Team Equity Trust and how ownership can be used as a strategic tool for retention, accountability, alignment and succession.
Planning question: Could ownership be used more strategically to align behaviour, commitment and long-term value creation?
Listen →Episode 1: Exploring Employee Share Plans – Rob Pyne
A foundational discussion on employee share plans and how equity can help retain, reward and align key people.
Planning question: How could we better align our people with the long-term success of the business?
Listen →4. Leadership, Culture & Team DevelopmentFor firms reviewing leadership capability, culture, accountability, career pathways and the next generation of advisers.+
Episode 12: Leadership, Culture & Success – Alman Partners
A strong episode on leadership, culture and building an award-winning advice firm.
Planning question: What cultural strengths do we need to protect, and what leadership habits need to change?
Listen →Episode 14: Fast-Tracking Growth – Eliza De Pardo
A planning checklist across compensation, performance alignment, decision-making, hiring, retention, technology and culture.
Planning question: Which growth lever would create the greatest improvement if we focused on it properly this year?
Listen →Episode 16: Building Enduring Advice Practices – Warr Hunt
Covers EOS, the “diamond team” structure, mentorship, succession, career development and disciplined execution.
Planning question: What operating rhythm will keep our priorities visible, measurable and accountable after the planning session ends?
Listen →Episode 21: Growing Stronger Advice Practices – Terri Reid of Traxiom
A leadership recalibration episode on stepping back from problem-solving, building team alignment and asking whether you are running the business or the business is running you.
Planning question: What role do our leaders need to play differently this year for the business to move forward?
Listen →Episode 22: G2 Leadership – Philip Palaveev
A conversation on next-generation leadership and how advisory firms need to evolve as leadership passes from founders to future leaders.
Planning question: Are we deliberately developing the next generation of leaders, or assuming they will emerge on their own?
Listen →Episode 23: Future-Ready Advice – Apt Wealth’s Andrew Dunbar & Abbie Gellatly
Explores workforce structure, talent pipeline, career pathways and the team required to support future scale.
Planning question: Do we have the people, roles and development pathways needed for the business we say we want to become?
Listen →Episode 40: Scaling Advice – Jeff Thurecht
A conversation on talent, technology and growth inside a scaling advice firm.
Planning question: Where does our growth plan depend on better people, better technology or both?
Listen →5. Technology, AI & Operational EfficiencyFor firms reviewing systems, automation, advice production, platforms, portals, cyber security and productivity.+
Episode 4: Transforming Financial Planning with Technology – Pat Gardner
A practical technology episode for firms wanting to think more strategically about advice tech and implementation.
Planning question: Are our technology decisions solving business problems, or just adding more tools?
Listen →Episode 11: AI Advances in Financial Advice – Nick Downey & Sam Patterson of Direct Wealth
Explores how artificial intelligence is transforming financial planning and what advisers should be thinking about.
Planning question: Where could AI improve quality, consistency or efficiency in our advice process?
Listen →Episode 18: Future-Proofing Advice Firms – Neil Kendall of Tupicoffs
Covers AI, cyber security and client portals, with a focus on using technology to improve compliance, client experience and future readiness.
Planning question: Are our technology and cyber practices strong enough for the trust clients place in us?
Listen →Episode 20: Rethinking the Backbone of Advice – Stephen Bell
A process-driven technology episode exploring how better systems and operating infrastructure can support advice firms.
Planning question: Which part of our operating model needs better process before more technology?
Listen →Episode 24: Digital Staff, Real Impact – Nick Perrett
Explores AI agents, robotic process automation and how digital staff can reshape financial advice operations.
Planning question: Which repetitive tasks could be removed, automated or redesigned this year?
Listen →Episode 25: AI in Financial Advice – Glenn Elliott
A forward-looking episode on AI, automation, open platforms and what it might mean if your CRM could think.
Planning question: How would our client experience and team productivity change if our core systems became more intelligent?
Listen →Episode 28: The Technologists Roundtable
A broad discussion on AI, platforms, productivity and how leading advice firms are using technology to improve efficiency, client experience and adviser performance.
Planning question: Which technology opportunities are genuinely strategic, and which are just noise?
Listen →Episode 33: Xplan, Integrations & the Future of Advice Tech – Matt McGuinty
A specialist episode on Xplan, integrations and the future of advice technology infrastructure.
Planning question: Is our advice technology connected in a way that supports scale, or are we still relying on manual workarounds?
Listen →Episode 34: Tech Sanity for Advice Firms – Peter Worn
A grounded episode for firms wanting to make clearer, calmer and more strategic decisions about technology.
Planning question: What technology should we stop, simplify or rethink before adding anything new?
Listen →Episode 38: Reinventing the SOA – Corey Wastle
Explores video-first advice, client communication and rethinking one of the most traditional parts of the advice process.
Planning question: How could we make advice easier for clients to understand without weakening rigour or compliance?
Listen →6. Client Experience, Service Model & Value PropositionFor firms reviewing who they serve, how they deliver advice and how clients experience value.+
Episode 29: Inside the HPH Client Experience – Zac Leeson
A practical episode on client experience, advice delivery and what a thoughtful client journey looks like inside an advice firm.
Planning question: Where could our client experience become clearer, more consistent or more valuable?
Listen →Episode 35: The Adviser-Led Estate Plan – Inherit Australia
Explores estate planning as a deeper client engagement opportunity and a way for advisers to strengthen intergenerational relationships.
Planning question: Are we using estate planning as a genuine family advice conversation, or just a referral prompt?
Listen →Episode 37: You Can’t Scale Trust – Xan Kitchin
A conversation on trust, client relationships and building a firm where growth does not dilute personal connection.
Planning question: How do we preserve trust as the business grows?
Listen →Episode 45: Building for a Generation That Wasn’t Being Served – Rebecca Tai
A modern advice model built around younger professionals, scalable service tiers, digital engagement, project-based advice and long-term client development.
Planning question: Are there client segments we are overlooking because our service model was designed for someone else?
Listen →Episode 13: Building a Wealth Management Powerhouse – Cameron Passmore from PWL Capital
A conversation on building a sophisticated wealth management business and the strategy, discipline and client philosophy behind it.
Planning question: What would it take to build a more coherent, scalable and differentiated wealth management proposition?
Listen →7. Marketing, Brand & Business DevelopmentFor firms wanting to attract better-fit clients, build trust before referral and make marketing a strategic business function.+
Episode 17: Building a Brand – Keith Barrett of Reverb Media
Explores public relations, brand building and the role of visibility in financial services.
Planning question: What do we want the market to associate with our firm, and are we reinforcing that consistently?
Listen →Episode 42: Beyond Referrals – David Newson of XNW Atelier
A strong episode on marketing strategy for independent advisers, including affluent consumer behaviour, positioning, trust signals and the future of client acquisition.
Planning question: If referrals slowed tomorrow, would our positioning and marketing still attract the right clients?
Listen →Episode 45: Building for a Generation That Wasn’t Being Served – Rebecca Tai
Also relevant for marketing because it explores social media, personal brand, digital education and attracting younger clients through a differentiated proposition.
Planning question: Are we building trust where our future clients are already paying attention?
Listen →8. Outsourcing, Partnerships & Specialist CapabilityFor firms reviewing whether to build, buy, partner or outsource key functions.+
Episode 5: Exploring Outsourced Solutions – Jerry Kalogeropoulos
A practical discussion on outsourced back-office support and how outsourcing can help financial planning firms manage capacity and execution.
Planning question: Which parts of our business should we stop trying to solve internally?
Listen →Episode 6: Specialist Insurance Partnerships – Jade Burford
Explores the value of specialist insurance advice, joint venture models and how partnerships can improve client outcomes while freeing capacity for wealth firms.
Planning question: Where could specialist partnerships help us improve client outcomes and reduce operational strain?
Listen →Episode 35: The Adviser-Led Estate Plan – Inherit Australia
Also relevant for specialist partnerships because it explores adviser-lawyer collaboration and structured estate planning processes.
Planning question: Which specialist relationships could deepen our value proposition without requiring us to do everything ourselves?
Listen →9. Investment Proposition & Advice OfferFor firms reviewing investment philosophy, client portfolios, private markets or implementation efficiency.+
Episode 9: Leveraging SMAs – Chris West & Mike Parker from Context Capital
Explores Separately Managed Accounts and how they can support portfolio implementation and advice delivery.
Planning question: Could our investment implementation be more efficient, consistent or scalable?
Listen →Episode 15: Unlocking Private Markets – James Damicoucas & Tom Bernard of Frontier Advisors
Explores private markets and their growing accessibility for financial advisers.
Planning question: Does our investment proposition need to evolve, and do we have the governance to support that evolution?
Listen →Episode 13: Building a Wealth Management Powerhouse – Cameron Passmore from PWL Capital
Also relevant here for firms reviewing their wealth management philosophy and evidence-based investment proposition.
Planning question: Is our investment proposition clearly articulated, defensible and scalable?
Listen →10. Governance, Reform & the Future of the ProfessionFor firms considering regulation, advocacy, governance, technology, cyber risk and professional change.+
Episode 19: Advocacy, Reform & the Future of Advice – David Sharpe
A broader industry episode on reform, advocacy and the direction of the advice profession.
Planning question: Which industry changes should influence the way we plan, invest and lead this year?
Listen →Episode 18: Future-Proofing Advice Firms – Neil Kendall
Also relevant here for cyber security, compliance, technology and future readiness.
Planning question: What risks are emerging that we cannot afford to treat as “future problems”?
Listen →Episode 30: Inside the Numbers – Dan Heckendorf
A key episode for governance, finance function, management reporting and the discipline required to scale.
Planning question: Do we understand the drivers behind our numbers, or only the numbers themselves?
Listen →