Produced By: Ensombl
The world of financial advice is changing at a rapid pace. With advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and new platforms designed to streamline professional advice, practitioners are continually seeking ways to enhance not just how they prepare advice, but how they present it to clients. On the Ensemble Podcast, host Patrick Gardner recently sat down with guests from Finura Group—namely, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Aron Satchell and Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder Dipal (Dipal) Khatri—to discuss a new solution called “Advice Designer.” This innovative product aims to address the complexities of preparing, delivering, and maintaining Statements of Advice (SOAs) in an industry that values both efficiency and adherence to high professional and ethical standards.
Financial advisors have long faced the painstaking process of producing advice documents via time-consuming manual workflows. The friction extends to maintaining currency in advice templates, ensuring compliance with emerging regulations, and finding tools that allow both efficiency for advisors and clarity for clients. Equally important are data security, privacy, and the assurance that professional ethics guide every step. Advice Designer was conceived to solve these issues by offering a streamlined digital approach to advice creation, paired with a visually engaging presentation layer that ensures clients better understand the recommendations they receive.
In the conversation that follows, we explore how a technology solution like Advice Designer can bridge the gap between the traditional PDF-based SOA and the new demands of a digitally savvy client base. Alongside these technological insights, the dialogue highlights the unwavering importance of professionalism, ethical responsibilities, data security, and client trust—core principles that underpin the advice profession.
When Patrick Gardner opens the discussion, he provides a snapshot of the challenge: more than 70% of financial advisors in Australia still email SOAs to clients, while many find themselves juggling outdated workflows or partial solutions that complicate the entire advice process. As technology continues to evolve, so do client expectations regarding transparency and user-friendly design.
Aron Satchell and Dipal Khatri represent Finura Group, a firm that began as a consulting business but evolved to include its own suite of applications—most notably, Advice Designer. Aron outlines the core mission of Finura:
From this vantage point, Finura noticed a common pain point: building and maintaining advice templates in popular software platforms such as Iress Xplan could be prohibitively expensive, time-consuming, and difficult to update. Meanwhile, the quest for digital presentation formats that meet client expectations often led advisors to makeshift solutions like PowerPoint or Google Slides—effective as stopgaps, but cumbersome in the long run. Recognizing these trends, Finura set out to develop a specialized, web-based application dedicated to making the advice production and delivery process more coherent and secure.
Dipal Khatri then delves into the specifics of Advice Designer. She emphasizes two primary goals:
The workflow begins with the data already collected in a practice’s central system—often Iress Xplan. After paraplanners or advisors finalize their research and modeling within the core platform (for instance, running projections in Xtools+ or analyzing strategies in WealthSolver), they move seamlessly into Advice Designer. Here, the solution imports the relevant data and guides the user through a structured “plan creation” process.
Advice Designer ships with an extensive content library—135 strategies, 51 educational flyers, and a collection of generic videos—curated and periodically updated by Finura. This ensures that once a practice sets up its workspace, the paraplanner or advisor can quickly select from existing strategy templates, all of which reflect the latest legislative changes and best-practice advice wording. Crucially, the software also offers the freedom to customize these elements to fit the licensee’s requirements or the client’s unique circumstances.
While the end product still includes a Word-based SOA (for those who require or prefer a traditional format), Advice Designer simultaneously generates an interactive HTML document. This digital presentation can be shared securely with the client via a single-use token—no cumbersome portals or multiple login processes required. The emphasis lies on offering a polished, brand-aligned experience that obviates the need for time-consuming “afterthought” tasks, like copying and pasting diagrams into a PowerPoint deck.
Patrick Gardner observes that many advisors resort to last-minute slides or PDFs to help clients visually grasp the recommendations. The impetus behind Advice Designer, however, is to collapse those extra steps into the plan creation phase itself.
According to Aron, a key benefit is that “practices can brand the documents and the look and feel right down to the smallest detail. We offer a library of images for those who don’t have custom brand visuals, but if they do, they can simply upload them.” From logos and color schemes to disclaimers and disclaimers’ placement, everything is configurable so that the final presentation remains consistent with the advisor’s brand identity.
This attention to aesthetic detail ties back to a deeper professional imperative: the advice document must reflect the seriousness and rigor of professional practice. In a digital setting, how you present yourself—through color palettes, language, and even interactive charts—speaks volumes about the professional care and diligence behind the scenes. Thus, the user interface is not merely about “making things look pretty,” but about reinforcing the trust that underpins every client-advisor relationship.
A central tenet of any professional financial service is safeguarding client information. A staggering statistic from Finura’s own Tech Health Check shows that 71% of practices still email their final advice document. Sending personal financial information and recommendations via unsecured channels creates vulnerabilities that can undermine client trust. With cybersecurity threats on the rise, it becomes an ethical duty—as well as a regulatory obligation—for advisors to minimize these risks.
Advice Designer addresses this risk by creating a secure link that expires, requiring the client to input a single-use token. The platform is ISO 27001 certified, a rigorous global standard covering every aspect of data security—from cloud-based application security to physical office safeguards. Achieving this certification demanded extensive audits and a commitment to maintaining internal practices, an effort that spanned more than a year.
The ethical dimension here is paramount. An advisor’s professional obligations include acting in the client’s best interest, not only in terms of financial recommendations but also in protecting the client’s sensitive information. By providing an end-to-end digital solution that maintains high security standards, Advice Designer helps advisors fulfill this obligation in a tangible and transparent way.
No discussion of professionalism in financial advice is complete without addressing compliance. Patrick Gardner notes that a “compliant” solution is not just about meeting the letter of the law, but also fostering a sense of accountability and clarity. To reinforce the compliance framework, Finura partnered with a specialist group, TenEighty (colloquially referred to as TenJell or 10 Jell in the transcript), to review the advice framework embedded within Advice Designer.
By aligning with recognized compliance experts, Finura ensured that the technical strategy content, disclaimers, and methodological approach in Advice Designer would meet exacting professional standards. This partnership extends to instances where a practice chooses to go self-licensed; TenEighty can guide them through the broader licensing obligations and regulatory frameworks. By weaving compliance checks throughout the software, the final output not only looks professional, but also meets the ethical and legal benchmarks required of any advice document.
Advances in generative AI and large language models have led to numerous software vendors branding their products “AI-powered.” Pete Warn, another voice from Finura not present in this particular interview, has a pithy statement: “AI is a feature, not a product.” When asked why Advice Designer does not currently incorporate AI in an obvious way, Dipal notes that the team chose not to chase AI hype for its own sake. Instead, they focused on building a stable, predictable, and robust advice framework.
That said, Finura recognizes that many advisors already use AI-based tools such as ChatGPT or Microsoft’s Copilot in auxiliary capacities—for grammar checks, summarizations, or even partial content generation. Because Advice Designer is a web-based platform with flexible text fields, an advisor or paraplanner can copy content into their preferred AI tool, refine it, and bring it back. The future might see integrated AI for tasks like auto-populating certain common fields or validating consistency between client file notes and the final advice document. But for now, the strategic choice was to ensure the system is fundamentally sound, with AI remaining an option for those who want it, rather than a forced component.
While the Statement of Advice is often the most substantial document a financial advisor provides to a client, ongoing reviews and periodic check-ins are equally vital. The Finura team has already mapped out how Advice Designer can evolve to support reviews, annual checkups, and other recurrent advice needs.
Integrating with external platforms, such as MyProsperity, is a critical next step. MyProsperity already serves as a sophisticated client portal with features like digital document signing, shared “rooms” for file management, and robust collaboration tools. By integrating Advice Designer’s visually engaging plan interface into MyProsperity, advisors gain the benefits of a client portal (and the security, collaboration, and advanced features it offers) without duplicating efforts or requiring clients to master multiple platforms.
Beyond initial advice preparation, Finura envisions a future in which data from past SOAs flows automatically into the next round of advice, populating relevant fields and highlighting any changes in client circumstances. This means less repetitive data entry for paraplanners, and fewer chances for human error—both of which directly contribute to more ethical, professional client engagements. The entire ecosystem thus becomes more responsive, allowing advisors to focus more on the client’s needs and less on back-office administration.
To operate ethically in the financial services domain, innovation cannot outpace regulatory considerations. Australia’s advice landscape is shaped by strict consumer protections, licensing rules, and principles-based obligations that require advisers to “know your client” and “act in the client’s best interest.” While technology can reduce friction, professional ethics demand that no shortcuts be taken in verifying data, evaluating product suitability, or providing adequate disclosures.
Advice Designer accommodates these requirements by maintaining thorough disclaimers, storing the entire recommendation set in a central workspace, and facilitating easy reviews by compliance officers. Its synergy with Xplan or other third-party CRMs ensures that the paraplanner never has to manually reconcile different versions of client information—a common source of error in more piecemeal workflows.
By emphasizing robust record-keeping and version control, Finura’s technology helps advisors remain accountable throughout the advice journey. The net effect is not simply compliance for compliance’s sake, but a deeper ethical consistency that underscores the trustworthiness of the advice itself.
Though the platform’s functionality might seem technology-driven, the resulting time savings are deeply tied to the ethical and professional obligations of advisors. Aaron and Dipal explain that by freeing up administrative resources, staff can devote more energy to critical thinking about the client’s needs. Rather than wrestling with formatting issues in Microsoft Word or double-checking for the correct product codes, a paraplanner can focus on verifying the appropriateness of each strategy.
Moreover, cutting down the waiting period between initial fact-finding and final advice presentation means clients receive help faster—aligning with the broader principle of client-centric service. Speed, however, must never compromise thoroughness. Built-in checks within Advice Designer safeguard that all relevant strategies, disclaimers, and risk factors are properly addressed. This balance of efficiency and due diligence exemplifies how technology can support, rather than supplant, ethical decision-making in financial planning.
One recurring theme in the podcast discussion is that not every practice wants or needs a fully featured client portal. For smaller advisory firms, the overhead of implementing a multifaceted portal can be daunting, both in terms of cost and training requirements. Instead, many prefer a streamlined digital experience that focuses exclusively on sharing the plan documents—and ensuring it looks professional while staying secure.
Advice Designer’s single-use token approach exemplifies such a targeted digital experience. The client receives a link, then uses a personal code to view their documents within a protected environment. They do not need to remember another username or password or navigate complex portal features they rarely use. This “less is more” ethos resonates especially with smaller firms who want a digital solution without overwhelming either staff or clients.
At the same time, for those practices seeking to expand their digital footprint, integrations with robust portals like MyProsperity remain a compelling option. This two-tiered approach underscores a central principle of ethical client service: adaptability. Different clients (and advisors) have different needs, and technology must be flexible enough to offer appropriate choices.
Within Australia, much of today’s regulatory environment is influenced by ongoing discussions related to the Quality of Advice Review (QAR). This review has potentially far-reaching consequences for how financial advice is documented, presented, and even defined. Finura launched Advice Designer with an eye toward these evolving guidelines, recognizing that the traditional 80-page SOA may gradually give way to more concise, digitally interactive advice records.
Whether the final format is called an SOA or simply a “record of advice” could become a matter of semantics if regulators shift toward principles-based requirements that emphasize clarity, brevity, and genuine client engagement. By designing Advice Designer around modular strategies, interactive visuals, and easily updatable content libraries, Finura is positioning firms to adapt quickly if the regulatory benchmarks for what constitutes “compliant advice” change.
This forward-thinking approach illustrates one of the core responsibilities of any professional service provider: to remain informed of and adaptive to changes in the regulatory and ethical landscapes. Advisors who remain static risk falling behind not only in technological competitiveness but in compliance obligations and ethical best practices.
It can be tempting in the modern age to view compliance, cybersecurity, and user experience as separate silos. Yet, as the conversation between Patrick, Aron, and Dipal reveals, they are profoundly interlinked. Ethical practice is not just about fulfilling a duty of care through rigorous advice. It also hinges on how that advice is communicated and safeguarded.
Aron teases upcoming projects that revolve around bridging Advice Designer with platform execution processes. The aim is to pass approved trades and account applications directly to popular platforms, reducing errors and administrative duplications. This logical progression maintains an unbroken chain from recommendations to implementation—a vital aspect of any ethical service model.
He also hints at developing a holistic review process, where year-to-year comparisons are automated within the same interface. This approach lends continuity: the system “remembers” prior advice, notes changes in the client’s situation, and presents updates in a new plan or review. Such seamlessness not only supports ethical thoroughness but also strengthens the advisor-client relationship through more transparent, real-time tracking of financial progress.
For advisors grappling with whether to adopt such technology, the insights from Finura underscore the value of expert consultation. Not every practice has the resources to be on the cutting edge of AI or to manage complex digital transformations in-house. By partnering with specialized consultancies, firms tap into a pool of knowledge that can guide them from roadmap design to post-implementation support. This “technology partner” model is increasingly resonating with advisors, ensuring they can maintain both compliance and a high standard of client care without having to master every technical detail themselves.
Indeed, one ethical principle in professional practice is the recognition of one’s limitations. Advisors excel at strategy, client interaction, and wealth management, but might not have the bandwidth or expertise to delve deeply into user experience design or cybersecurity frameworks. Outsourcing responsibly to consultants who share the same ethical standards can strengthen both the practice and the client experience.
As the conversation wraps up, it is clear that technology like Advice Designer is not simply another gadget to add to an already complex arsenal; rather, it is a response to profound shifts in client expectations, regulatory scrutiny, and ethical standards in financial advice. By centralizing content, automating compliance checks, and giving clients a secure, interactive presentation of their financial futures, tools like Advice Designer elevate the advisory relationship to a higher plane of professionalism.
The pivot toward digital-first advice delivery is well under way. However, the heart of any successful transformation lies in upholding professional obligations—ensuring best-interest duty, data protection, and transparent communication. In bridging the gap between robust compliance and modern client engagement, Finura Group’s Advice Designer demonstrates that technology, when thoughtfully applied, can lead to better outcomes for everyone.
For those interested, the product’s website, AdviceDesigner.com (as cited in the transcript), offers FAQs and interactive demos. Whether one leads a boutique advice firm or operates within a large licensee, the promise is the same: to produce advice more rapidly, more securely, and more intelligibly, all while respecting the profound ethical and professional responsibilities embedded in every client relationship.
Accreditation Points Allocation:
0.10 Technical Competence
0.10 Client Care and Practice
0.10 Regulatory Compliance and Consumer Protection
0.10 Professionalism and Ethics
0.40 Total CPD Points