Produced By: Ensombl
In an era where technology continues to reshape every aspect of modern life, financial advice is no exception. As more professionals and clients recognize the potential in digital platforms, the opportunity to deliver high-quality, ethically grounded personal advice grows exponentially. In a recent podcast discussion, host Patrick Gardner, Head of Technology at Collins SBA, spoke with guest George Haramis, CEO and Co-Founder of Money GPS, about how digitizing the advice journey is helping both advisors and clients across Australia. This article distills the key insights from that conversation into an in-depth exploration of how digital advice platforms are enabling a new chapter for ethical and professional financial services.
For decades, the financial advisory industry has grappled with a simple yet pervasive challenge: how to deliver cost-effective advice to segments of the population who need it but often cannot afford it. Traditional one-on-one advice models can be expensive, as they require individualized attention from qualified advisors for every step—from fact-finding to plan formulation, product recommendations, and implementation.
Digital advice platforms aim to solve this accessibility problem. While “robo-advice” has been around for several years—primarily offering automated investment management based on a user’s risk profile—truly comprehensive digital advice involves much more. As Haramis explains, “[Robo] is basically a single strategy, single-step process... Digital advice needs to incorporate product recommendations, multiple topics, and even implementation.”
Traditional comprehensive advice can be overkill for many Australians who only need guidance on select financial goals—like consolidating superannuation, better managing cash flow, or making an investment or insurance decision. By contrast, a digital advice model can be user-driven, allowing an individual to specify exactly what they need at a given time. Once those singular objectives are addressed, the same client can easily come back for another piece of advice—be it insurance, retirement preparation, or refinancing a mortgage.
Moreover, ethical practice in financial advice has long centered on the concept of serving the client’s best interests. Digital platforms that incorporate thorough fact-finding procedures, robust compliance checks, and transparent product recommendations can provide a new path to consistent, ethics-driven decision-making. Haramis notes that Money GPS, for example, “shuts the door on advice topics that are not in the client’s best interest to access,” ensuring that each user only receives relevant, beneficial guidance.
It’s one thing to create a digital platform that can produce a seemingly valid Statement of Advice (SoA); it’s another to ensure that the advice meets the highest ethical and professional standards. Money GPS, like other emerging platforms, holds its own Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) and employs Responsible Managers (RMs) who take legal responsibility for the advice generated. By assuming compliance and regulatory duties, the platform’s creators signal a deep commitment to meeting legal obligations and protecting clients’ financial well-being.
For Haramis, who serves as an RM himself, the focus is on ensuring that every algorithmic decision in the digital SoA is fully tested against Australian regulations and best-interest requirements. This level of scrutiny exists to minimize any risk of misleading, incomplete, or incorrect advice—thereby upholding ethical standards.
Advisors must perform extensive due diligence to comply with the Corporations Act and ASIC guidelines. Digital platforms like Money GPS embed these standards into their software. At each stage, compliance checks ensure that clients have entered the necessary information, understood key concepts, and received recommendations tailored to their unique circumstances.
When asked about the platform’s security, Haramis emphasized annual penetration testing by independent cybersecurity firms and end-to-end encryption for data at rest and in transit. This high level of attention to data protection further reinforces ethical obligations—privacy, confidentiality, and the secure handling of personal information lie at the heart of any trustworthy advisory offering.
“Professionalism” in financial advice is often equated with a face-to-face conversation, where an advisor draws upon their expertise to provide nuanced guidance. While digital advice has advanced significantly, many clients still value—or outright require—the chance to speak with a human being. This blend of human and digital is crucial in meeting ethical obligations, because nuanced client issues, complex strategies, and edge cases may need personal interaction.
Money GPS, for instance, employs “GPS Coaches,” who provide general advice alongside the platform’s single-topic personal advice. These coaches verify user responses, clarify concepts, and ensure ethical best-interest considerations are being met. If it becomes clear a user’s situation calls for more complex, comprehensive advice, the coach will seamlessly “triage” the client to a full-scale financial planner, potentially refunding the cost of the SoA to ensure fair dealing. The result is a structure that avoids mis-selling and strives to protect the client at every stage.
One of the most notable developments is how these platforms accommodate a range of complexity. Whereas traditional robo-advice might limit itself to simplistic investment allocations, modern platforms incorporate superannuation, general investments, property strategies, retirement transitions, and more. This breadth of topics means:
All of this is delivered at a fraction of the cost typically charged by a full-service advisor, with fees for single-topic SoAs in the realm of $90 to $180 in a retail setting. Haramis underscores that the platform’s SoAs typically run about eight or nine pages total, with the actual “advice” portion spanning only three pages—a testament to streamlining, clarity, and removing superfluous jargon that can overwhelm clients.
For financial practices, digital advice platforms present an opportunity to expand services without incurring the massive overhead of hiring new full-time advisors. Managing Director or Principal-level advisors can focus on complex, high net-worth clients, while the digital tool effectively services “low-touch,” cost-sensitive individuals. As Haramis says, “I’d always say we’re your new best friend… We can engage all of the clients you can’t afford to look after.”
This sort of scalability helps prevent quality-of-service issues that might otherwise arise when a practice tries to handle too many clients manually. It also ensures consistent ethics and professional standards across a wide array of clients because the automated advice mechanism applies the same thorough approach each time.
A significant advantage to adopting digital advice is the ability to engage younger demographics. Estimates suggest Australia is in the middle of one of its largest intergenerational wealth transfers, as baby boomers transition into retirement and pass down assets. For many advisors, a perennial challenge has been winning the trust of younger, tech-savvy heirs.
Digital advice platforms offer a user experience and price point that resonates with millennials and Gen Z. They can log in from anywhere, explore scenario planning at their own pace, and purchase single-topic advice as they please. Once they establish a baseline financial plan, they also have the option to add more services and eventually transition to comprehensive advice as their financial situations become more complex.
Accounting firms often focus on core compliance work like tax returns and financial statements. Many lack the capacity or internal expertise to handle sophisticated financial planning services for their clients. Consequently, they miss out on establishing deeper client relationships that go beyond end-of-year compliance tasks.
Digital advice platforms offer a ready-made solution, effectively bolting financial advisory capabilities onto an accounting business. Haramis recounts how they integrate seamlessly with popular SMSF administration tools (BGL, Class) to swiftly analyze client data and propose relevant strategies. By providing white-labeled digital advice under the firm’s branding, these platforms help accountants expand their offerings ethically and efficiently—while the platform’s AFSL shouldering the responsibility for the advice alleviates risk for the firm.
Employees today increasingly look to their workplaces for more than just salary. Many want robust financial wellness benefits, such as superannuation guidance, insurance coverage insights, and help with budgeting or loans. Employers have begun to see that if staff worry less about personal finances, they can be more engaged and productive.
Yet, corporate HR teams generally do not hold licenses to provide financial advice. Here, the digital model comes to the rescue: employers can form partnerships with AFSL-holding fintech platforms, delivering confidential, on-demand personal advice to employees cost-effectively. Some employers may even subsidize or fully cover this advice, treating it as a valued employee benefit. By extension, the workforce gains a safe, secure channel to obtain trustworthy advice—strengthening both corporate culture and employee well-being.
ASIC’s MoneySmart platform has recently underscored the urgency for superannuation funds to better engage younger members—particularly millennials—who often neglect to optimize their contributions or consolidate accounts. Additionally, the Retirement Income Covenant has heightened expectations that super funds must deliver proactive, easily accessible advice solutions to help members transition smoothly into retirement.
This confluence of regulatory push and market demand sets the stage for superannuation funds to re-enter or expand their advice offerings. However, direct in-house advice teams can be prohibitively expensive to manage, especially under ongoing compliance changes. For these large institutions, licensing a sophisticated digital advice platform can be an ideal middle ground. The fund can brand it, integrate it with their online member portal, and rely on the platform’s AFSL to meet regulatory requirements. Haramis notes that this could be done at scale by spreading the cost across a fund’s entire membership, potentially making basic advice free at the point of service.
Superannuation funds also face competitive threats from industry peers vying for the same members. A well-executed digital advice program can improve member engagement, foster loyalty, and reduce “super leakage” to other funds or self-managed accounts. Younger members, in particular, can use the platform to explore how to structure contributions, review insurance options, and even plan for a first home deposit using the First Home Super Saver Scheme. These benefits directly connect to ethical goals: helping members achieve stronger outcomes by simplifying their ability to make informed financial decisions.
Since the Australian government’s acceptance, in principle, of many Quality of Advice Review recommendations, the sector awaits more definitive legislative changes. Stephen Jones (Minister for Financial Services) has urged superannuation funds and other institutions to leverage digital advice to make personal guidance widely accessible and affordable. However, progress has been slower than many in the industry would hope.
Haramis expressed optimism that once these frameworks become more concrete, adoption of digital advice will accelerate. Nonetheless, he warns that the sector should not wait for every detail to be finalized. The demand for financial advice is already robust; with fewer human advisors in the market, the unmet advice gap is growing. “We’ve got the tools. We’ve got the technology. Let’s just keep moving,” he says.
Advisors who worry about the professional standards of digital solutions should note that compliance and best-interest rules remain identical whether advice is delivered online or face-to-face. Responsible Managers and AFSL holders offering digital advice must adhere to the same legislative codes, including ensuring no conflicts of interest, no misleading content, and that the platform’s recommendations satisfy the client’s overarching objectives.
These platforms can embed ethics checks at multiple points—fact-finding, strategy recommendations, product selection—to reduce human error and unconscious bias. The digital nature of record-keeping is also more transparent, as each user’s click-through journey can be audited by regulators if questions arise. Paradoxically, a well-designed automated system may reduce compliance breaches by virtue of pre-programmed guardrails, though it must be carefully monitored and regularly updated to remain aligned with evolving regulations.
When considering a digital advice partner, look beyond the user interface. Advisors need to ensure that the provider:
Even the best digital platform will occasionally encounter situations too complex for automated advice alone—such as complicated SMSF setups or multi-generation family trusts. Ensure there is a seamless mechanism to triage clients back into a full-service advisor’s offering. This fosters trust, protects the client’s interests, and underscores professional responsibility.
Although digital platforms handle the lion’s share of data collection and preliminary assessments, advisors can add significant value through implementation support and coaching. Some clients, even highly tech-savvy ones, may feel overwhelmed at the final decision point and appreciate a short, human-led consultation. These micro-sessions often become revenue-generators in their own right, reinforcing the value advisors bring and ensuring that recommended strategies are executed correctly.
Digital advice is no longer a “future tech” novelty; it is steadily becoming standard across financial services. Accounting firms see it as an efficient entry into strategic advisory. Employers see it as a high-value benefit for employees’ financial wellness. Superannuation funds, under pressure from government and regulators, perceive it as a means to deliver more holistic member guidance. And for practicing financial advisors, it offers a powerful way to scale up client engagement without compromising on ethical standards or best-interest obligations.
Yet, as with any technological revolution, success hinges on trust and professionalism. This includes robust regulatory compliance, a rigorous approach to data security, transparent fee structures, and, above all, a dedication to serving each client’s best interests. Platforms like Money GPS, directed by industry veterans such as George Haramis, exemplify the potential for ethically grounded, highly professional digital advice. Through a combination of human expertise and advanced algorithms, they create accessible pathways to personal advice for vast segments of Australians who might otherwise remain underserved.
The time is ripe for advisors to harness these digital solutions. If you are an advisor, accountant, or a superannuation trustee, the message is clear: incorporating a digital advice component into your service offering is not only a method for improved client engagement—it is rapidly becoming an ethical necessity. Addressing the advice gap requires scalable solutions that maintain a high standard of care, confidentiality, and compliance. Digital platforms have opened new doors to precisely that.
By proactively adopting these tools and upholding rigorous ethical standards, financial professionals can serve more clients, reduce compliance risk, and keep pace with the rapidly changing demands of today’s market. The question is no longer whether digital advice has a place in the industry; it is how quickly and effectively firms will integrate it to safeguard their relevance and uphold the profession’s paramount commitment to client well-being.
Accreditation Points Allocation:
0.10 Technical Competence
0.10 Regulatory Compliance and Consumer Protection
0.10 Professionalism and Ethics
0.30 Total CPD Points