According to Iress and Deloitte’s The Big Lift report, despite decades of reforms, rising wealth, and an increasingly sophisticated advice profession, financial capability remains stubbornly low – a gap that advisers are uniquely positioned to close.
The benefits of improving financial literacy are huge, with economic modelling developed for the report estimating that if all Australians were to reach an advanced financial capability level, it could represent an “increase to aggregate household wealth of $1.2 trillion”.
“This equates to $122,950 per household, the same gain achieved through the superannuation guarantee increase from 9.5 per cent to 12 per cent for a 30-year-old earning a salary of $100,000,” the report found.
For Inspired Money founder Conrad Francis, the problem is more behavioural than technical, and the advice profession must take greater responsibility for lifting capability across the country.
Francis noted that if six in 10 Australians still have low financial capability, “we haven’t educated well enough”, adding that the industry has, unintentionally, allowed regulation and commercial realities to shift the focus too far away from foundational money skills.
“I’ve been in the industry since the early ’90s,” he said.
“I think that number speaks volumes to where people are at versus where the industry is trying to get to and through no fault of our own – regulation probably being the biggest – we’ve missed the boat in being able to have a major impact.”
But he argues that advisers still hold the key to solving the capability gap, if they’re willing to rethink how they engage the public.
One of the most striking findings from The Big Lift is that high financial capability Australians are twice as likely to seek advice.
To Francis, the correlation makes perfect sense, pointing out that many Australians, even high-income earners, struggle with basic money management.
“Your money isn’t a maths problem, it’s a behavioural problem,” he said.
“It’s not unusual for me to sit across from a couple earning four or five hundred thousand a year, living pay cheque to pay cheque. It’s mind-blowing, but it’s real.”
The report shows that a significant proportion of Australians feel overwhelmed by finances, don’t understand financial concepts, and struggle to access help. Francis believes advisers have a role to play before advice even begins.
“There’s an education phase there that people and advice teams need to get their heads around as a precursor to advice and allowing it to land,” he said.
“If you can’t help the behavioural aspect, then I think the advice in itself is never really going to be sustainable.”
Education: The missing first stage of advice
At Inspired Money, Francis has restructured his business so he can focus on what he calls the “triaging of advice”.
“Call it money coaching, call it what you want, but when you triage your advice in the early stages, the soil is prepared for the advice to sink into and the fruits of your labour, both for clients and adviser, can come to fruition,” he said.
“I’ve stepped out of giving financial advice so I can do more of the concierge of the advice piece. I still think that’s where the biggest value to the client sits, and this research typifies that.”
Using digital onboarding, cash flow analysis and behavioural coaching, his firm determines whether clients are ready for advice or need education first.
“More information up front gives you the ability to diagnose and treat the situation,” Francis says. “I know I sound like a medical practitioner, but I think that’s the only way to understand it – if we can diagnose, we can treat.”
This approach mirrors The Big Lift’s recommendation that advisers focus on early education, holistic engagement and the behavioural drivers that underpin financial wellbeing.
Francis has seen the model work firsthand. He points to clients who began in crisis at “rock bottom” but transformed their finances through foundational coaching.
“One client wasn’t in a position to afford advice, but we knew we could get some quick wins in relation to fixing his cash flow,” he explained.
“I managed to rearrange the way we charge to accommodate a deferred fee payment basis. But I’d only do it if he was going to take on the measure of doing what needed to be done so that he could afford to work with us going forward.
“He’s now been with me for four years … he’s got a tonne more money than he’s ever had, both in his bank account and his investments.”
Advisers need to show up where people are — not wait for them to walk in.
The Big Lift highlights workplace programs as a powerful channel for lifting financial capability. Francis agrees but said advisers shouldn’t rely solely on formal partnerships.
“We’ve done the employer conversations, we’ve done group conversations where we’ve been invited to talk to groups of people,” he said. “Can we be doing more? One hundred per cent. You’re also asking the employer to invest the time in their staff, which I think they’re becoming more open to.”
But advisers shouldn’t be waiting for employers to call them, they need to be educating anyway, Francis said.
He sees education as an ecosystem: workplaces, community groups, schools, social media, and advice firms all playing complementary roles.
“I still think social media is a place where you can reach people very, very quickly with bite-sized information and open conversations. We could wait for employers and we could wait for community groups, but we can be having impacts on a daily basis,” he said.
“How do you do that? One bite at a time. How do you influence a person? One social media post at a time, one conversation, one DM.”
This lines up with one of the report’s clearest messages, which is that Australians want financial information delivered through channels they already use, including workplaces, digital platforms and social media.
Francis believes advisers should embrace this, though acknowledged the challenge of balancing visibility with compliance.
“If we show up online, we have to be prepared to answer questions online but not necessarily give advice. It’s a fine line,” he said.
“But with technology like AI and bots, we’ve got all of these things, which I’ve built for my team now. You can snap a client’s question, put it into a compliance bot and spit out a generic response. It doesn’t complicate the matter.”
Technology is non-negotiable for the next era of accessible advice
One of Francis’ strongest views mirrors a key theme from The Big Lift: technology is essential for scaling access and affordability.
“Embracing digital tools can also help financial advisers to guide their clients in identifying financial products that are most aligned with their needs, particularly as AI plays an increasing role,” the report said.
“This includes how financial advice is delivered, what content and topics financial advisers provide advice on and who advisers engage with across different consumer segments.”
Francis added that advisers have more tools available than ever before.
“Why limit ourselves to what the past told us we could do?” he said.
“That’s why we onboard clients the way we do – we introduce the technology straight away, because unless we do, we can’t deliver advice at the most affordable price point.
“If you’re not using technology well enough to drive efficiency and create better, deeper client engagement you’re way behind the eight ball.”
When asked how advisers should interpret the confronting capability statistics, Francis was clear that the profession as a whole needs to step up.
“Are we good? Can we get better? Is there potential for us to be great?
“If these are where the financial numbers are, and we say we’re financial advisers, are we really advising?
“If we truly accept the responsibility of being who we are in the lives of our clients, we are educators first and foremost and we have to be that. And if these are the numbers, we haven’t educated well enough.”
The way forward
The combined message from The Big Lift report and Francis’ experience is clear: Australia doesn’t just need more advice; it needs more advisers who educate.
If advisers embrace early-stage education, behavioural coaching, digital engagement and community outreach, financial capability can rise and with it, the advice profession’s reach and relevance.
The Big Lift is a call to action to Australia’s financial advisers, with the report wanting them to explore delivering financial advice in “new and innovative ways to meet changing demand”.
Read the full report and find out how Iress can support you here.
