Produced By: Ensombl
Tucked under the iconic Story Bridge in Brisbane, a meeting took place that encapsulates the spirit of modern financial advice: a conversation about ethics, empathy, and business strategy. In this setting, host Andrew “Roxy” Rocks sat down with Angus “Gus” Cooper, founder of Accrue Wealth, to explore Angus’s path from unfulfilled accountant to dynamic financial planner, business owner, husband, and father. The result is a tapestry of professional insights, family ties, and broad reflections on what it means to build a business that genuinely cares for clients—and for the people who work within it.
Over the course of an engaging conversation, Gus shared how he arrived at Brisbane and later the Sunshine Coast, the mentors and family support systems that shaped his decisions, and the central role of ethics in day-to-day business. He also delved into the structural choices that underpin his firm—ranging from cybersecurity investments to in-depth training programs for aspiring advisors—and how each aspect ties back to a steadfast belief in trust, transparency, and genuine, long-term client care.
Below is an exploration of the key themes that arose from that conversation, woven into a narrative that highlights Angus’s journey and the principles that continue to guide Accrue Wealth.
Angus Cooper’s early years were spent in the leafy environs of Mosman in Sydney. Though he jokingly refers to his upbringing there as the “ghettos of Mosman,” anyone familiar with that part of the world knows it is anything but. Still, Angus’s move away from Sydney in his late 20s or early 30s would prove pivotal. He and his wife, Carly, decided that if they were going to make a life change—purchasing property, forming a family—they might do better to do so in Queensland.
Indeed, rising property prices in Sydney, combined with the possibility of new professional horizons, made Brisbane an attractive prospect. Angus describes the shift as that moment when one moves from youthful exploration into the more grounded, adult phase of life. Getting a dog, buying a home, getting married, and ultimately starting a family all became more manageable with the greater affordability and more relaxed pace that Brisbane offered.
After laying roots in the city, Angus eventually saw another layer of opportunity and lifestyle in the Sunshine Coast, where he currently resides and runs Accrue Wealth. He points out that although the Sunshine Coast is often seen as a retiree destination, it has proven to be an incredibly entrepreneurial place, brimming with professionals seeking sophisticated advice. The region’s appeal for Angus was both lifestyle-oriented and professional. Being close to beaches, enjoying a more laid-back atmosphere, and, at the same time, having the chance to build an ambitious advice firm all combined into an alluring vision of the future.
If there is a hallmark of Angus’s character, it is his ability to blend the worlds of rigorous analysis and heartfelt empathy. Remarkably, that comes naturally to him. His father, Gordon Cooper, was an authority on capital gains tax, noted for writing numerous books and effectively spearheading thought leadership on that area of Australian taxation. Meanwhile, his mother was a psychiatrist—an expert in understanding what makes people tick.
In that light, it becomes less surprising that Angus, in his formative years, studied both commerce and arts—a dual major in finance and communications. This mix was, on the one hand, a practical route toward stable professional employment, and on the other, a nod to his true passion for communication, people, and stories. He credits his parents’ complementary influences as shaping his approach to problem-solving in business. From his father, he learned the intricacies of financial regulations and the power of humor and storytelling in explaining them; from his mother, he inherited a keen sense of empathy and a gift for deep conversation.
At the dinner table, Angus recalls an environment where communication flowed freely, and interesting inquiries were always encouraged. Friends and peers also discovered that his mother was exceptionally easy to talk to and wondered whether her psychiatric insights shaped Angus’s worldview. While he jokes that his mother “did her psychiatry stuff” on him, in reality it instilled in him a willingness to truly listen—crucial in a field dedicated to understanding clients’ values and goals.
Those who look at Angus’s professional background might assume he shifted swiftly from studying finance to becoming a financial planner, but the path was winding. Early on, Angus worked for Baskin Clark, an accounting firm in Bondi Junction, Sydney. He began as a high school work experience student and stayed throughout university vacations and beyond, accumulating approximately five years of post-graduation experience. Although he found the firm supportive and the team camaraderie excellent, Angus gradually felt that his strengths lay elsewhere. Tax returns and financial statements did not spark the level of excitement he believed possible in a career.
With encouragement from colleagues, mentors, and his wife Carly, Angus decided to make a change. He joined the Horizons Academy, known for recruiting professionals with a certain spark and molding them into comprehensive financial advisors. This training program, once operated by a major financial institution, is well-known in the industry. It has produced numerous successful planners over the years—though it also had a reputation for funneling advisors toward in-house products.
For Angus, Horizons was a catapult into the realm he knew he belonged in: client-facing advice. The revelation was that he could fuse his fluency in financial math, tax, and strategic analysis with his more creative and empathetic side. In that environment, Angus thrived, even winning the Benjamin Short Award, partly based on peer feedback—an indication that he had found not just a skill set but a real calling.
After Horizons, Angus joined Templeton’s and then Bravin, a Canberra-based firm that maintained a satellite office in Brisbane. There, he was steeped in the Bill Bachrach philosophy of values-based financial planning, which highlights that understanding a client’s values is a critical step before even articulating their goals. From Angus’s perspective, this bridged his background in human empathy with the demands of technical financial advice. Rather than a prescriptive, top-down approach, values-based planning advocates an in-depth conversation about motivations, family priorities, and deeply held beliefs—aligning every strategic recommendation with what truly matters to clients.
It was here, too, that Angus truly honed the skill of making complex strategies and regulations sound simple and achievable. He realized that trust in the advisor-client relationship does not solely spring from the advisor’s credibility or track record. Instead, it’s about whether the client feels understood, respected, and guided toward a more confident financial future.
Having spent years refining his craft, Angus launched Accrue Wealth on the Sunshine Coast. This was not his first foray into running or co-running a practice, as he had previously tried a multidisciplinary approach that included accounting. Although he sees enormous synergy between accounting and financial advice, he admits that synergy on paper doesn’t always translate into operational efficiency. Without a collaborative attitude, the accountants and advisors can end up operating in silos, denying clients the holistic solutions they came seeking.
Accrue Wealth, by design, is freed from the baggage of misaligned partnerships. It focuses on comprehensive financial advice, including everything from retirement strategies to insurance to ethical investing. While the business continues to build relationships with allied accountants and lawyers, the firm’s guiding principle is that each professional discipline stays excellent in its own right, while working in concert to deliver client solutions.
Today, Accrue Wealth is structured around a simple proposition: “We are built by people who want genuine engagement, for people who want genuine engagement.” As Angus explains on the firm’s website, they “know their stuff,” but also understand it is just as important to communicate well and truly listen to clients. Their process includes what they call a “Smile Workshop”—a fun label for the all-important stage in which the strategy comes together and is presented to the client. This interactive step is designed to confirm that each recommendation aligns with the client’s deeper motivations and that any trade-offs have been openly discussed.
Central to Accrue Wealth’s model is the recognition that trust allows for greater efficiency and impact. When a client trusts the advice process, they do not force a re-litigation of every strategic recommendation. Instead, there is space for collaboration, for constructing new ideas, and for dealing with unforeseen developments in a timely manner.
A key part of fostering trust is having a solid and thoroughly trained team. Angus has carefully assembled a blend of local staff on the Sunshine Coast, remote professionals in Melbourne, and valued team members in the Philippines. Despite being geographically dispersed, everyone works cohesively through shared technology platforms and consistent processes. Importantly, Angus treats each team member as part of the Accrue “crew,” rather than as resources to be “used.”
This ethos of mutual respect extends to the client experience. When clients dial Accrue Wealth, the phone system seamlessly connects them to whomever is best suited to their query, whether that person is in Melbourne, Queensland, or overseas. The internal processes are set up to ensure that any staff member can easily pick up the thread of a client conversation and continue delivering solutions.
Ethical conduct is about more than just heartfelt interactions. In an increasingly digital world, cybersecurity stands out as a cornerstone of professional responsibility. Accrue Wealth has allocated significant resources to a robust cybersecurity infrastructure—far beyond the bare minimum. Angus recognizes the severity of data breaches that have rocked industries across the globe. For him, client confidentiality and data protection are integral to running an ethical practice. That investment in advanced digital security does more than protect information; it reassures clients that Accrue Wealth cares about every detail of their financial well-being.
To streamline workflow and maintain transparency, Angus selected platforms that encourage collaboration. He emphasizes the importance of a central source of truth—whether for documents, tasks, or client records—so that all team members can track where each piece of advice stands. Additionally, leveraging tools like AstuteWheel for client-facing engagement and Microsoft 365 for deeper organizational structure ensures that no matter where staff are located, they can uphold the same high standards.
One of Angus’s proudest achievements is building an environment where new and aspiring advisors, often referred to as Associate Advisors, can learn the ropes without fear. For Gus, it is imperative to show them that being a financial advisor entails far more than number crunching—it is about empathy, integrity, and thoughtful decision-making.
He points out that many large institutions once had robust graduate programs—like the Horizons Academy—that produced legions of advisors. With many such programs fading away or changing beyond recognition, Angus is keen to foster Accrue Wealth as a site of professional development. Aspiring advisors in his firm are not loaded down with mere administrative chores; they are integrated into client conversations, planning sessions, and even strategic decision-making for the business. According to Gus, the objective is to ensure that “they have real client engagement and build up an experienced, empathetic skill set.”
Despite its laid-back tone and easy rapport with clients, Accrue Wealth has very clear criteria for the people it serves. Angus enumerates five “ideal client” attributes:
With this framework, Angus ensures that his firm’s time is spent creating material impact on clients who truly want a partnership. It also underscores his unwavering commitment to a professional experience that fosters mutual trust and respect.
A crucial yet challenging area in financial planning is insurance. The Royal Commission and subsequent regulatory changes have transformed how insurance is delivered, how commissions are handled, and how compliance is managed. Angus is candid about how labor-intensive an insurance application can be. He advocates a fee-for-service model rather than relying solely on commission, ensuring clients receive objective advice whether or not a policy is eventually approved.
His rationale is straightforward: The time and expertise required to design a proper protection strategy are significant. If an insurer rejects the application or places an exclusion, the client might pivot to “self-insurance”—building wealth and managing debt in a way that offers a buffer against calamity. Angus believes his ethical obligation is to ensure that, whether or not a product sale happens, the client’s best interests are fully served.
Where does Angus want Accrue Wealth to be in three or five years? The short answer: intentional growth with a human touch. He envisions three or more financial advisors besides himself, each supported by a robust infrastructure of paraplanners, client service professionals, and technology platforms. In total, such a team could serve 400+ client groups—all with comprehensive reviews, ongoing strategy updates, and a personal relationship cultivated over many years.
The growth plan is about more than just “more clients.” Angus wants to ensure each new advisor, or each new client, upholds the same high standard that currently defines Accrue Wealth. With the possibility of employee share schemes (ESOPs), he also hopes to align staff loyalty and performance more deeply with the success of the firm. Employee ownership can foster a stronger internal culture in which every person feels a sense of stewardship and sees their efforts rewarded.
One of Angus’s greatest lessons from past ventures is that synergy among financial advisors, accountants, and lawyers does not just happen automatically. It takes open-minded professionals willing to share knowledge. For accountants and law firms, partnering with Accrue Wealth could mean an extended suite of offerings to their clients—while reducing the burden on their in-house teams to wade into advisory territory that stretches outside their usual expertise.
Angus is actively looking for smaller accounting or legal practices that share his belief in building client relationships on the bedrock of empathy, ethics, and robust financial technique. A synergy that leads to true integration can deliver outcomes far beyond siloed transactions. Yet, he emphasizes that any such collaboration must be grounded in respect, candor, and a joint mission.
At the core of every business decision stands Accrue Wealth’s long-range commitment to do right by clients. From adopting advanced cybersecurity measures to being fully transparent about fees and commissions, the firm never shies away from upholding an ethical stance. Angus sees no paradox in running a profitable, successful business that also invests heavily in its people, software security, and regulatory compliance. On the contrary, he asserts that “if you treat people well, the business side tends to work itself out.”
In an industry once tarnished by conflicts of interest, Angus’s approach highlights the possibility of forging a culture that is both trustworthy and results-driven. It might require more deliberate hiring, deeper investments in staff training, and consistent reevaluation of processes and systems—but the payoff, according to Angus, is a firm that clients can rely on for decades.
What overarching lessons does Angus’s story offer?
The story of Accrue Wealth and its founder, Angus Cooper, illuminates the interplay between hard-nosed financial expertise and genuine human connection. That a business can excel not just because of systematic processes and advanced technology, but because it places client well-being and staff development at the heart of its mission, speaks volumes to the evolving face of financial services.
By weaving in professional structures—like employee share schemes, a comprehensive CRM system, and carefully articulated value propositions—Accrue Wealth has scaled ethically and sustainably. This has allowed Angus to shift from “unfulfilled accountant” to a dynamic advisor who invests as much in the smiles of his clients as he does in the technical intricacies of wealth-building strategies.
For anyone considering how to combine personal empathy with professional rigor, Angus’s model is a compelling case study. He has shown that it is possible to lead with ethics, maintain robust compliance, and still turn a healthy profit. In sharing his experiences, Angus hopes to inspire others—whether they are longtime practitioners, budding associates, or even prospective clients—to see the power of good advice in shaping a better financial future.
In the end, the meeting under the Story Bridge was a testament to fresh thinking and collaboration. It underscored how sincerity and “rolling up your sleeves” can cultivate real relationships in a field sometimes perceived as purely transactional. At Accrue Wealth, every conversation begins and ends with people and what really matters to them. If professionalism and ethics are the bedrock, the result is a firm that offers a refreshing alternative: a place where real finance meets real life, with a smile at every step of the journey.
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