UncommonCents

If you could make a client’s $100,000 tax bill disappear, what would that be worth?Dean Holmes and Craig Kouimanis unpack value creation versus value capture for financial advice business owners and advisers.Learn why “everyone” isn’t a target market, how to make invisible value visible, why every client must be profitable, why you need a fee menu, and why fees belong in conversation, not the SOA. The rule: forget high or low; ask whether the fee is fair.

Why don’t more advisers love Xplan, often the most expensive tool in the office? And what can your practice fix before Christmas to get more out of it?Host Dean Holmes is joined by Xplan specialist Courtney Youngblutt from Iress for a practical chat aimed at advice practices running Xplan. They cover cleaning up your data, setting up template access levels, reviewing who’s paying for which modules, and using Scheduler to automate workflows and run exception reports that find the “needles in the haystack”. Courtney also previews the Microsoft Teams integration, an AI meeting assist tool and the new Roadmap Hub. The big rule: AI is only as good as the data underneath it.

You’ve got the degree and passed the exam. So why is financial planning still an apprenticeship?In this solo episode, Dean Holmes answers quick-fire questions for PY candidates and admin staff moving into advice. He covers whether to start in admin, why remote work can slow your learning, how to talk about fees with confidence, and why you should practice your pitch before you use it with clients. He also explains his 80/20 rule: fit your current work into 80% of your time so you have room to learn.

Thinking about buying a book, funding an acquisition, planning for succession, or bringing in new shareholders?Dean Holmes sits down with lending specialist Connor Brennan to explore how lenders assess advice businesses, structure deals, and fund growth. From valuations and gearing to equity buy-ins and bank expectations, this episode offers practical insights for advice firm owners at every stage.

How do you show clients the true value of financial advice? Dean Holmes sits down with Neil Rogan from Russell Investments to explore the latest Value of Advice research, why reassurance is the number one reason clients seek advice, and how advisers can better communicate their impact. 💡 Russell’s A-B-C-E-T framework estimates advice adds 5.5% of value each year, helping advisers quantify their value, strengthen fee conversations, and build deeper clientrelationships.