Summary - AdviceTech Podcast 104 – Wealth Maximiser

In an ever-evolving financial landscape, it can be daunting for individuals to piece together the components of their financial life. Many people struggle with where to start, which goals to prioritize, and how to reconcile limited budgets with the rising costs of professional advice. At the same time, ethical and professional standards in financial services grow more rigorous every year, making it imperative for professionals to craft services that are accessible, transparent, and truly beneficial to the client.

Within this context, the development of technology-driven solutions has taken center stage, promising faster onboarding, streamlined client journeys, and customized recommendations at scale. Yet, fully automated services sometimes lack the empathy and nuance only a human advisor can provide. Enter hybrid advice: a model where digital tools do the heavy lifting on data collection and goal-shaping, while a human advisor provides the personal connection and expertise that can never be replaced by algorithms.

In this article, we explore how Wealth Maximizer, a new hybrid service under the umbrella of NobleOak, embodies both professional rigor and ethical sensitivity. We’ll look at how its Head of Strategic Ventures, Lucy Winship, conceived of the solution after extensive consulting and product-design work. We’ll dive into its functionality, from goal-setting to action plans, and consider how its people-plus-technology approach can open new frontiers for both clients and financial advisors. By the end, you’ll see how combining empathy, expertise, and data-driven technology can create a more ethically sound, client-focused advice ecosystem.

1. The Shifting Terrain of Financial Advice

Before examining Wealth Maximizer’s specific offerings, it is important to understand the wider shifts in financial advice. Regulation has become increasingly stringent, prompting higher compliance costs and more comprehensive client fact-finds. This has left many traditional practices primarily serving high-net-worth individuals, whose portfolios justify the fees of a customized, in-depth approach. At the same time, younger professionals or families with modest resources can find themselves shut out of traditional advice—or they believe they are, given how the industry is sometimes perceived.

These gaps in the market create a dual challenge:

1. How can firms deliver quality advice at a fee that aligns with smaller, simpler portfolios?
2. How can they maintain ethical and professional standards while innovating with technology?

Wealth Maximizer entered the scene in early 2023 (with a public launch in April) as one attempt to address these challenges. Its hybrid framework offers a personalized, actionable financial plan with input from qualified financial advisors—whom they call “wealth coaches”—supported by user-friendly software designed for all levels of financial literacy.

2. Meet the Minds Behind the Model

Patrick Gardner, Head of Technology at Collins SBA, hosts the conversation in which Wealth Maximizer’s design is unpacked. As a former advisor deeply passionate about technology’s role in improving client outcomes, Patrick frames the conversation around bridging the gap between technology and human insight.

Lucy Winship, Head of Strategic Ventures at NobleOak, oversees Wealth Maximizer. She brings a wealth of international experience: starting her career at KPMG in London with large-scale tech implementations, then moving into product design and strategic consulting at Deloitte. Working across industries—from carbon reduction strategies for corporate fleets to increasing healthcare access during the COVID-19 pandemic—Lucy saw recurring themes of complexity, inefficiency, and unmet societal needs. She recognized similar challenges in financial services, especially in personal financial well-being for younger or lower-wealth segments of the population.

Lucy moved to Australia about two years ago. Seeing that Australia’s regulatory environment was stringent and complex, she wanted to combine her background in solving big problems with the country’s appetite for technological innovation. At NobleOak, she found the opportunity to do precisely that: help design a “digital advice platform” that could close the advice gap for individuals who feel advice is out of reach.

3. The Wealth Maximizer Concept: Solving Real Problems

Wealth Maximizer exists to address a recurring set of issues:

• Complexity and Overwhelm: Many consumers are unsure where to begin planning for their financial future. They know they want to save for a house deposit or plan for a comfortable retirement, but they’re unsure how to prioritize or balance multiple goals.
• Accessibility and Cost: A significant portion of the population still believes financial advice is only for those who already have substantial assets to invest. High fees, or the perception of them, deter many potential clients from seeking quality guidance.
• Limited Engagement with Traditional Advice: Younger and tech-savvy consumers may feel more comfortable with a digital interface initially. They want quick self-service tools that can guide them but may still need a professional’s counsel for more nuanced decisions.

Thus, the solution had to be both digital and human—leading to a hybrid approach. In Lucy’s words, the target customer is “someone who finds the idea of financial planning overwhelming, doesn’t know where to start, or feels priced out of traditional advice offerings.”

3.1 A Hybrid Approach: Technology + Wealth Coach

Wealth Maximizer’s core idea is that technology can do much of the heavy lifting on data collection, early goal discovery, and initial strategic modeling. However, a human wealth coach—who is a qualified financial advisor—remains essential for providing empathy, personalized nuance, and final recommendations. This hybrid approach rests on the notion that many people feel too intimidated to meet with a professional until they have first engaged with a less judgmental, more automated interface. Once they have a better understanding of their situation, the conversation with an advisor flows more comfortably.

4. The Client Experience: From Goals to Actionable Advice

One of the most striking features of Wealth Maximizer is its comprehensive but user-friendly process. It is designed around four main steps:

1. Goal Setting and Prioritization
   Clients begin by clarifying and prioritizing their goals. Rather than ask clients to list vague aspirations, the platform encourages them to trade off short-term versus long-term wishes and identify their core values. This process often sparks meaningful conversations, especially for couples who must negotiate shared goals like buying a house, raising a family, or achieving a certain quality of life in retirement.
2. Fact-Finding and the Wealth Health Score
   Clients enter their income, debt, savings, investments, superannuation, and more. Wealth Maximizer then generates a Wealth Health Score, which indicates how well the client is positioned across a range of financial-building blocks—debt management, budgeting, investing, retirement savings, estate planning, and even cyber-safety measures.This snapshot accomplishes two things:
   • It gives the client an immediate sense of where they stand and highlights critical areas needing attention.
   • It provides a baseline for the advisor to verify that the entered data is accurate, ensuring the subsequent advice is grounded in reality.
3. Choosing a High-Level Strategy
   Based on the information gathered, the platform models three distinct high-level strategies—perhaps emphasizing property, superannuation, or equities—allowing the client to choose which resonates most. This stage ensures that clients feel part of the decision-making process, rather than feeling the advisor is dictating a path.
4. Advisor (Wealth Coach) Consultation and Twelve-Month Action Plan
   After selecting a strategy, the client has a strategy session with their assigned wealth coach. Together, they review a simple but detailed twelve-month action plan, broken into quarterly tasks. Each quarter, the client knows precisely what to do—whether it’s consolidating super, adjusting insurance, or refining their budget. The wealth coach also checks in periodically, helping the client stay accountable and navigate any life changes.

This final stage is crucial for bridging the gap between theoretical plans and real-world action. One of the biggest challenges in financial advice is not merely giving guidance, but ensuring that guidance is carried out consistently over time. By featuring quarterly milestones and automated reminders, the platform helps clients build productive behaviors—such as saving consistently, reviewing their spending, or exploring new investment opportunities.

5. Emphasizing Ethics and Professionalism

Building trust is paramount. Financial advice is, by definition, deeply personal; it involves one’s hopes, dreams, fears, and unique life circumstances. A purely digital solution could feel sterile or reduce the client to numbers, while a human-only approach might be prohibitively expensive or slow for many.

The ethical considerations underpinning Wealth Maximizer are evident in how it has tackled potential conflicts of interest and transparency:

1. Separation from Other Business Lines
   NobleOak is well-known for its life insurance offerings, yet Wealth Maximizer does not recommend NobleOak products. By strictly separating insurance product offerings from strategic planning, the organization ensures that the advice is free from conflicts. This fosters greater confidence that any suggestions are made purely in the client’s interest.
2. Behavioral Economics and Clarity
   Much of the platform’s functionality—like prioritizing goals or structuring action items into quarterly tasks—helps nudge clients toward better outcomes without resorting to manipulative tactics. The aim is to bring greater clarity, so clients can make decisions that align with their personal values rather than feeling they are being sold a product.
3. Human Advisors as Coaches, Not Salespeople
   Wealth Maximizer’s wealth coaches undergo thorough training to ensure empathy, active listening, and client empowerment. They guide clients in understanding available options, including how different strategies can meet various goals. The transparent fee-for-service model, rather than commission-based compensation, further enhances the perception and reality of unbiased support.
4. Robust Data Security
   As a digital-native product, Wealth Maximizer puts a premium on data security. NobleOak, subject to APRA standards, brings a risk-management culture well-suited for safeguarding clients’ sensitive financial and personal data. Regular penetration testing, data encryption, and compliance with CPS 234 standards form an integral part of the solution’s foundation.

Taken together, these choices reflect a service designed to uphold professional standards, from data privacy to elimination of product conflict. The synergy between advanced tech and empathetic coaching strikes a balance between efficiency and reassurance, ensuring the end client feels supported at every step.

6. The Role of Hybrid Advice in Financial Services

The broader conversation around hybrid advice frames it as the “best of both worlds.” Software automates fact-finding, prompts engaging questions, and even employs some artificial intelligence for scenario modeling. Advisors then step in to interpret results, address client fears, and refine strategies to the uniqueness of each individual or couple.

Lucy notes that many clients actually prefer to speak with a human advisor earlier in the process than you might expect. In pilot testing, around 60% of clients asked for a “meet the coach” call before they ever completed their online modules. This highlights how relationships and trust remain paramount. A purely robo-led journey may be too impersonal for many people’s comfort levels, especially regarding major life decisions like property investment, estate planning, or retirement readiness.

Meanwhile, those who are fully comfortable with technology can self-serve until they truly need an advisor’s input. This flexibility mirrors a “choose your own adventure” ethos: the platform is designed to accommodate varied degrees of human interaction. Whether it’s a single phone call to verify strategy and finalize an action plan, or multiple sessions to talk through a challenging financial situation, the client sets the pace.

7. Potential for Advisory Partnerships

From a financial planning industry perspective, hybrid services like Wealth Maximizer can function as a complementary offering rather than a competitor. Many established practices have large books of clients who might be “priced out” of comprehensive, full-service advice. Yet these clients still need direction—particularly for budgeting, goal prioritization, and selecting from general strategy options.

Rather than turn away individuals with smaller amounts to invest or fewer pressing needs, a practice could direct them to a hybrid solution. The client would still enjoy a measure of professional input, and the practice preserves the potential to deepen the relationship in the future. This approach would ethically expand access to quality guidance without creating unsustainable workloads or pricing pressures on smaller accounts.

Additionally, advisors interested in part-time or flexible work may find the role of wealth coach appealing. Wealth Maximizer welcomes licensed professionals who share a mission to expand advice accessibility. Because the product is designed to do a great deal of the initial data gathering and strategy modeling, the human advisor can focus on high-value interactions. This fosters an environment where the advisor can deliver authentic, empathetic service rather than feeling bogged down by manual paperwork.

8. Future Enhancements and Ethical Considerations

Lucy indicates that Wealth Maximizer already has an ambitious roadmap ahead:

1. Product-Specific Recommendations
   Since launch, some users have indicated they want to go beyond broad guidance (like “add to savings” or “contribute extra to super”). They prefer explicit recommendations on which product to use. While the original impetus was to avoid conflicts of interest, the team has come to see the value in letting clients opt in for more product-level specificity. The challenge is maintaining the same ethical guardrails so that these recommendations are made for the client’s benefit alone.
2. Action Tracking Dashboard
   Recognizing that the best plan is useless if it’s not followed, the Wealth Maximizer team is rolling out a comprehensive dashboard for clients. This dashboard displays each quarter’s tasks, enabling users to check off completed items and see a progress meter. Such visual cues reinforce good behavior and help clients stay the course.
3. Refining the Questionnaire
   User feedback is key. As Lucy puts it, every few weeks the questionnaire is adjusted to clarify certain questions or incorporate new categories. This constant evolution ensures the system evolves with the customers’ real-world experiences.
4. Building a Community of Partners
   Beyond refining the technology, Wealth Maximizer seeks to partner with employers, associations, and advisor networks. For employers, financial stress can harm productivity, so financial well-being solutions are increasingly seen as an important employee benefit. For licensing and advisory firms, partnerships could unlock business models that serve more demographics without sacrificing quality.

Each planned enhancement must also clear rigorous ethical hurdles. If product recommendations are integrated, how will the system confirm that each recommendation is truly in the best interest of that client’s unique circumstances? If usage data is stored in a new dashboard, how will the platform ensure confidentiality is never breached? These kinds of questions require thoughtful processes, compliance oversight, and a willingness to invest in robust checks and balances.

9. Lessons for the Broader Industry

Wealth Maximizer’s early success offers key lessons for any professional or firm hoping to modernize their advice offering while maintaining high ethical standards:

1. Center the Client Journey
   By building the platform from a user-experience perspective—eliminating unnecessary jargon, focusing on goals first, and employing an empathetic tone—the entire process feels more approachable. This user-centric design helps gain trust in a field too often perceived as confusing or exclusive.
2. Adopt a Transparent Fee Model
   Moving away from sales- or commission-based revenue can assuage client fears about conflicts of interest. Flat-fee or fee-for-service structures, in combination with robust disclosures, reinforce the notion that the client’s best interest is the sole driver of decision-making.
3. Leverage Technology for Data Collection and Engagement
   Fact-finds, progress trackers, reminders, and scenario modeling can all be automated, freeing up advisors to engage in high-value conversations. The result is a more cost-effective, efficient operation that allows for reduced fees and broader access—crucial for bridging the advice gap.
4. Retain the Human Element Where It Matters Most
   Empathy, judgment, reassurance, and personalized insight remain the bedrock of ethical advice. Technology cannot fully replicate the trust and rapport built through interpersonal connection. A hybrid model capitalizes on the strengths of both human empathy and algorithmic efficiency.
5. Ensure Top-Tier Data Security
   As the financial industry grapples with heightened cyber threats, every step of platform development must prioritize client protection. Strict adherence to APRA standards (in Australia), routine penetration testing, and strong internal governance are non-negotiable.
6. Approach Expanding Offerings with Caution
   Introducing product-specific recommendations, advanced analytics, or additional lines of business can strengthen an offering—but each addition must be scrutinized through an ethical lens. The product’s evolution should reinforce trust, not erode it.

10. Conclusion: Charting a Path Toward Inclusive, Ethical Financial Advice

Wealth Maximizer exemplifies how to serve underrepresented or hesitant consumers without compromising on quality or professional rigor. It does so by uniting human warmth with digital convenience, offering a blueprint for how the financial advice industry might evolve:

• Professionalism is embedded in the use of licensed wealth coaches, fee-for-service structures, detailed compliance procedures, and thorough data protection.
• Ethics is upheld by a client-first mindset, conflict-of-interest barriers, transparent fee disclosure, and an actionable approach that truly tries to help clients succeed at each step.
• Innovation thrives in the way the platform rethinks goal setting, priorities, and tasks. Customers come away with not just a statement of advice but a live, trackable roadmap that guides them through the next twelve months and beyond.

As consumer expectations shift further toward digital solutions, the hybrid approach answers a pressing question: “How can we scale empathic, unbiased advice to more people without sacrificing the professional standards so crucial to this industry?” Wealth Maximizer shows that this delicate balance can indeed be struck—and that consumers are eager for the clarity and empowerment it provides.

Moreover, there is a noteworthy opportunity for financial advisors and licensees. By partnering with platforms like Wealth Maximizer, they can serve a broader range of clients while maintaining the ethical obligations central to the profession. Advisors can focus on delivering insight rather than collecting data, dedicating their time to building genuine relationships and shaping more strategic, impactful decisions.

Ultimately, Wealth Maximizer’s journey is just beginning. As Lucy and her team continue refining the platform, building partnerships, and responding to user feedback, the evolution of hybrid advice may well redefine how Australians—and potentially clients worldwide—access the support they need to secure their financial futures. In a field that all too often leaves people overwhelmed or underserved, this approach may herald a more inclusive and responsibly innovative era of financial advice.

Accreditation Points Allocation:

0.20 Technical Competence

0.10 Client Care and Practice

0.10 Regulatory Compliance and Consumer Protection

0.40 Total CPD Points