Yeah, you read that right \u2013 someone under 30, advising mostly 50+ year olds on how to manage their money. I get it, you might hesitate before sitting down with me (or any so-called \u201cyoung\u201d financial adviser). But here\u2019s the thing: age isn\u2019t the golden ticket to being good at this job. These days, financial advice is less about old-school handshakes and connections, and more about rigorous education, technical skill, and the ability to cut through complexity. The cowboy finance days are over \u2013 this is a profession built on brains, not bravado.<\/p>\n
Before I get too stuck into things, let us take a moment to define what a great financial adviser is. What would you, not only expect, but dream to have in a financial adviser?<\/p>\n
I\u2019d argue a few likely inclusions might be:<\/p>\n
Honest and transparent in their communication
\nGreat understanding of strategies and concepts relevant to the clients they serve\u00a0
\nNot only an expert in understanding financial markets, but in cutting through the noise and delivering back to you the information that is truly relevant and impactful
\nCommitted to continuous learning to stay on top of the constantly changing legislative environment
\nProactive, driven, kind, and genuinely care about getting you to the best outcomes \u2013 whatever that looks like for you<\/p>\n
If we look at the above in isolation \u2013 I\u2019d say none of these traits are age dependent. Although, obviously, I might be a little biased\u2026 So, let\u2019s break them down one at a time. I\u2019m going to try my darnedest to argue that each of the above are in fact exclusive to the gen. that\u2019s come before me.<\/p>\n
Honest and transparent in their communication<\/p>\n
Advisers that have been in the industry longer have typically built a strong reputation that they don\u2019t want to risk losing. If they weren\u2019t honest, they probably wouldn\u2019t still be standing. They\u2019ve seen regulatory shake ups, market ups and downs (hello GFC) and survived. That endurance is often interpreted as a badge of integrity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sure \u2013 older advisers may have stuck around long enough to prove they\u2019re honest \u2013 but you could also argue that new advisers have no choice but to be transparent. The industry has been scrubbed clean of the old school sales-first, advice-later era. New entrants have been inducted into the space on stringent education standards, compliance, and consumer first obligations. Honesty isn\u2019t a nice-to-have anymore \u2013 it\u2019s baked into the job.<\/p>\n
Great understanding of strategies and concepts relevant to the clients they serve\u00a0<\/p>\n
A more mature adviser has walked the financial journey their clients are on. They\u2019ve started a family, taken out a mortgage, managed their super, maybe even retired once (or helped a partner do it). They\u2019ve not only read the textbooks and completed the degree (or have they\u2026) \u2013 they\u2019ve lived it! Clients might feel that they \u2018just get me because they\u2019ve lived it\u2019. <\/p>\n
This could also be a blind spot \u2013 just because your strategy worked 15 years ago, heck, let alone 5 years ago, doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the best solution in today\u2019s tax, super and investment landscape. Younger advisers don\u2019t solely rely on lived experience. We rely on technical training, modelling and a clear view of today\u2019s rules. I guess you could say \u2013 advice grounded on fact rather than nostalgia.<\/p>\n
Not only an expert in understanding financial markets, but in cutting through the noise and delivering back to you the information that is truly relevant and impactful<\/p>\n
Older advisers have lived through multiple cycles: the dot com bubble, the GFC, the Covid crash. This lived market memory helps them keep a cool head during market volatility. They can reference previous scars to reassure clients that ups and downs in the market are not new. They can show you patterns that only decades of observation reveal (though, to be fair, any index chart will tell you the same thing). <\/p>\n
Although older advisers may have the battle scars \u2013 the new generation of advisers have grown up in a 24\/7 news cycle. Every wobble in the market is over analysed and every earnings season report sees disproportionate shocks to a share price. Cutting through the noise is second nature to younger advisers because we\u2019ve never known a world without noise. We\u2019re fluent in filtering the hype, the clickbait, and the misinformation \u2013 skills that are arguably more relevant to clients today than remembering where they were when the State Bank of Victoria collapsed.<\/p>\n
Committed to continuous learning to stay on top of the constantly changing legislative environment<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve been threatened with the end of their careers if they didn\u2019t adapt and get back to the books. They\u2019ve re-sat exams, navigated the shift from cowboy commissions to fees, and adjusted to new compliance standards. To be still in the game after all that, they must be committed. <\/p>\n
On the flip side \u2013 new entrants have only been able to breach into the profession after years of study, exams and formal education, plus a supervised year, that never existed for previous generations. For new advisers, staying sharp isn\u2019t an edge, it\u2019s a bare minimum requirement.<\/p>\n
Proactive, driven, kind, and genuinely care about getting you to the best outcomes \u2013 whatever that looks like for you<\/p>\n
Having seen hundreds of families\u2019 financial lives up close, they often have deep pools of empathy and stories to draw from. Clients may feel an older adviser has a kind of \u201cfinancial bedside manner\u201d that only time and experience can bring. <\/p>\n
But here I\u2019ll suggest that kindness and drive aren\u2019t about age \u2013 they\u2019re about character. In fact, younger advisers often go above and beyond to prove themselves, because we know we don\u2019t have instant credibility. That hunger translates into being more proactive, more responsive, and more deeply invested in client outcomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Takeaway\u00a0<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t need your mechanic to own the same car as you to trust they know how to fix it. You don\u2019t need your doctor to have battled the same illness to believe they can treat you. It\u2019s the same with financial advice. What matters is whether your adviser has the tools, discipline and perspective to diagnose the problem, cut through the noise, and guide you toward the right solution for your goals.<\/p>\n
So my key ask of you today \u2013 when you\u2019re sitting down to interview potential advisers, rather than asking yourself \u201cdoes this person reflect the position I want to be in?\u201d, consider \u201cdoes this person have the qualities and intellect to be able to get me to the position I want to be in?\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yeah, you read that right \u2013 someone under 30, advising mostly 50+ year olds on how to manage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-109693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}