Will advice businesses look completely different in 10 years?
The work of advice may remain familiar, but the business supporting it is already being redesigned
A client meeting in 2036 may not feel radically different from one today.
There will still be conversations about family, work, retirement, risk and the future. Clients will still need someone who can understand their circumstances, explain the trade-offs and help them make decisions with confidence.
What happens around that meeting could look very different.
Information may be organised before the conversation begins. Notes could be drafted automatically, tasks may move between teams more smoothly and clients could receive clearer updates.
Much of this transformation is not ten years away. It has already started.
The better question is whether the current operating model is ready to benefit from it.
Adviser capacity will force operating models to improve
Australia had 15,059 financial advisers as at 9 April 2026, down from almost 29,000 at the beginning of 2019. Investment Trends also estimates that 15.9 million Australians have unmet advice needs, with 1.3 million planning to see an adviser within the next two years.
Demand is likely to increase as more Australians move towards retirement. ASIC expects nearly three million Australians to become eligible to access their superannuation over the coming decade, with more than $750 billion expected to move from accumulation into retirement.
That is also an opportunity for firms that can serve clients efficiently without weakening the experience.
The profession cannot close the gap simply by asking advisers to take on more clients while keeping the same processes and service model. Firms will need to increase the amount of client value each adviser can deliver.
For some, that may mean clearer service tiers. For others, it may involve more specialised advice, better use of support teams or greater discipline around which clients the business is equipped to serve.
The goal is not to fit more clients into one model. It is to create services that suit different levels of need and can be delivered consistently.
What firms can do now: Review where advisers spend their time. Identify what genuinely requires professional judgement, then examine what could be simplified, delegated, automated or removed.
Technology will become embedded rather than added on
AI is often discussed as though it is a future event. In reality, adoption is already underway.
Investment Trends reported that 61 per cent of Australian advisers were using AI in 2025, mainly through third-party tools for relatively simple tasks. Advisers were also looking for more integrated uses, particularly in strategy development and meeting preparation.
The next stage will not be about collecting more tools. It will be about embedding the right tools into the advice process.
A meeting transcription platform may save time, but the real value comes when its output moves into the correct client record, creates accurate follow-up tasks and is reviewed through a defined approval process.
Technology becomes useful when it reduces friction across the whole workflow, not when it solves one step while creating extra work elsewhere.
Governance will matter too. Firms need to know what information a tool can access, where client data is stored, who reviews the output and how errors are identified. AI should support professional judgement, not create another layer of risk that nobody owns.
The firms that gain the most may be those with the clearest processes and strongest understanding of where technology belongs.
What firms can do now: Choose one recurring process, such as meeting preparation, file notes or client follow-ups, and map it from beginning to end. Fix the process before adding another platform.
Teams and service models will become more flexible
The traditional response to growth has often been to recruit another employee when workloads increase.
That will remain appropriate for roles centred on client relationships, leadership or specialist knowledge.
However, advice businesses are already becoming more flexible in how they build capability.
A firm may retain advisers, relationship managers and key decision-makers internally while using an extended team for administration, implementation, paraplanning, marketing, technology or project work.
This is not simply a cost decision. The real question is where each type of work can be completed most effectively, with clear standards, communication and accountability.
What matters most is how well the internal and extended teams operate together.
Firms may also become more deliberate about the services they offer. Some clients will continue to need comprehensive, ongoing advice. Others may need help with one decision, one stage of life or one area of their finances.
Clearer entry points and focused services could help firms serve people who do not yet require a full ongoing relationship.
The strongest businesses will understand where they create the most value and build the right support around it
What firms can do now: List the capabilities the business will need over the next two years. Decide which must remain close to the client, which require specialist expertise and which could be accessed through a trusted external team.
Financial advice from an adviser will become more valuable at the moments that matter
Clients increasingly expect digital forms, online access, faster responses and clearer visibility over what happens next.
Those expectations will shape the advice experience, but they do not mean clients want the adviser removed from it.
The FAAA’s 2025 Value of Advice research found that 50 per cent of consumers preferred human-led advice and another 44 per cent preferred a combination of human and digital advice. Only 6 per cent preferred a fully digital model.
The same research found that most consumers believed personal guidance, experience and judgement, and emotional support and trust could only be provided by a human adviser.
This points to a hybrid model in which technology removes friction while advisers remain present for conversations that require judgement, reassurance and accountability.
Clients may be comfortable entering information digitally, signing documents online and receiving automated updates. But when markets fall, retirement approaches or a family situation changes, access to a trusted adviser becomes more important, not less.
What firms can do now: Identify the moments in the client journey where human contact creates the most value. Protect those moments, then reduce unnecessary manual work around them.
Different behind the scenes, familiar where it matters
Advice businesses may look quite different in ten years, particularly to the people working inside them.
Teams may be more distributed. Technology could handle more preparation and administration. Clients may move between digital and personal service more easily, and firms may offer several pathways into advice rather than one standard model.
The commercial outlook is not all about pressure. Investment Trends found that 52 per cent of advisers reported increased practice earnings in 2025, while only 11 per cent reported a decline. The better-performing firms combined appropriate pricing with leaner cost structures and more consistent delivery.
That points to a positive future for firms willing to strengthen the business behind the advice.
Clients will still need help understanding their options, managing uncertainty and making decisions that affect the lives they want to build. Trust, judgement and professional accountability will remain central.
Preparing for the next decade does not require a complete redesign today. It can begin with one recurring source of friction, one process that relies too heavily on an adviser or one part of the client experience that has become difficult to deliver consistently.
At Levera, we help advice businesses create stronger operational foundations and flexible support structures around their advisers.
The goal is not to predict exactly what an advice business will look like in ten years. It is to build one that can keep adapting without losing the quality, consistency and human connection that make advice valuable.
