‘Adviser co-pilot’: Could digital advice make PY advisers more profitable?

Though digital advice tools are largely being employed in superannuation funds of late, Finura joint managing director Peter Worn said this technology will soon become an “adviser co-pilot” for professional year (PY) advisers, acting as a support while they learn the ropes of the industry.

“I remember my first job as a paraplanner and I was learning the ropes. If you’re a young adviser in a small office in regional Australia, you’ve got no one to talk to,” Worn told ifa following an industry event in Sydney last month.

“I think things like that will be really good, like, ‘Here’s my client’s information, am I missing anything?’ I think most advisers are terrified that they’re missing a piece of the puzzle, and those things are really good for that.”

He explained that such tools could be used in combination with guidance from senior advisers as a way to develop the skills of new entrants in a practical setting while also reducing some of the burden on teaching from senior staff.

“The experienced advisers, they’re really good at coaching the young advisers on asking great questions for the client, building trust and all those things that are harder to learn,” Worn said.

“But those technical skills, there’s experienced advisers with knowledge gaps. You’re not an expert on everything. It’s impossible.”

Otivo founder and chief executive Paul Feeney suggested that this is a very real possibility, with digital advice platforms like his acting as a companion tool for young advisers to assist in their learning.

“I think what Peter is alluding to is that, when you get into the Otivo platform, the advice is automatically generated, the PY adviser is really assisting someone to navigate the platform and understand what they’re consuming,” Feeney told ifa.

“So, you don’t have to be worried about the PY adviser going off and giving different advice. It’s really helping them, and as the PY adviser has more of those clients, they see more scenarios.”

In addition to its implications within advice firms, Feeney said he is also open to working with universities, allowing students to utilise Otivo as an educational tool, helping them transfer their theoretical knowledge to practical skills.

“It can be used as that training tool for them to be able to input information and learn on their own and learn at their own pace as well,” he said.

“For us, we want to go and talk to universities and other places that provide the education and so start utilising a TV to help provide the advice and that as a sounding board for what they’re learning.”

Making PYs a more viable option

One of the primary issues within the advice profession is the lack of firms willing to take on PY advisers due to the fear that once they have put in the money and effort of training them, they will leave for a higher-paying firm.

As a means of addressing this, in its 2025-26 pre-budget submission, the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) petitioned the government for $10 million in funding for PYs to incentivise advice practices and subsidise the cost of the financial adviser exam.

“We propose that the government make a payment of $10,000 to each financial advice practice that appoints a PY candidate,” the submission said.

Though Worn suggested that, based on past treatment of the profession from both sides of government, there is very little hope that this will occur.

With the majority of advice practices being small businesses, the burden of having an employee that is generating little to no revenue while also taking up the time of senior advisers who are notoriously time-poor is a significant deterrent.

However, Feeney explained that, in addition to being a potential educational tool, digital advice platforms could be used to help advisers in the early stages of their career to engage with their own clients, building up a future client pool and generating income for the business.

“Imagine if all of a sudden, there’s 100 digital advice clients and … Say it’s $500 a year multiplied by 100, you’ve got $50,000 of income that comes through,” he said.

“That’s going a long way to paying for the costs around a PY adviser while also giving the tools to accelerate the learning and becoming an adviser that you can put out into the field, so to speak.”

With the new class of advisers (NCAs) set to make their debut once tranche two of Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms comes around, he said that PY advisers, with the support of digital advice tools, could become the middle ground between NCAs and professional advisers, providing less complex, holistic advice.