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Have you ever properly fixed a problem in your business, put the time in, changed the system, rewrote the process only to find yourself having the exact same conversation 12 months later? That's the loop. And in this episode, Danni Le Grande is joined by two people who each see a completely different version of it: Selin Ertac, Director and Principal Consultant at Tangelo Advice Consulting, and Nicole Smith, Founder and CEO of Socialisd. Selin's lens is process, compliance and governance and her diagnosis is blunt: most firms throw solutions at problems they never actually identified. Nicole's lens is marketing and positioning, where the fix that never holds is usually a new website or a logo refresh when the real issue is clarity. And Danni brings the technology and AI view, along with four years of Finura's Tech Health Check benchmarking data that makes for uncomfortable listening. The numbers tell the story. 73% of firms have designed workflows, but only 54% actually automate them. Advice production remains the lowest-scoring area at 30%, flat for four years. And despite every AI tool under the sun, SOA production time has gone up  from 11.3 hours in 2023 to 14.2 hours today. As Selin puts it, "we've just sped up a really crappy process."Along the way: why back and middle office teams end up as the scapegoat, the missing KPIs in a modern advice business, founders accidentally becoming full-time tech developers, knowing your hourly rate and when to hand off, the advice firms still without a "book a call" button, and why people cry in discovery sessions. They finish with a rapid-fire round on the most expensive thing firms keep re-buying, the phrases that tell you a fix won't stick, and one thing you could do this quarter that would actually hold. In this episode: Symptom versus root cause and the "five whys" that get you there Why documented processes end up sitting unused in SharePoint The missing KPIs and accountability in modern advice businesses Founders becoming the gatekeeper of the tech they built The clarity problem hiding behind most marketing "fixes" Four years of Tech Health Check data on where firms are really stuck Rapid fire: checklists, "I don't have time," and shiny new toys

Code and Capital at 100: PowerPoint, conferences, Harvey AI, and the risks of AI speedDanni is joined by Peter Worn, co-host of World Tech Insider and the writer behind Code and Capital, which just hit its 100th edition. The episode looks at the ideas Peter has returned to most often in his newsletter and why they matter for advice firms, tech vendors, and anyone working in a heavily process-driven industry.We discuss how newsletter writing has become a way to sharpen opinions before speaking, why PowerPoint often obscures more than it clarifies, and why conferences can be both valuable and wildly inefficient. The back half turns to AI hype and AI risk, including Harvey AI, medical transcription errors, and the danger of moving too fast from file note to advice.Key topics:Peter reflects on reaching 100 editions of Code and Capital and why writing has become a useful way to process industry issues before speaking publicly.In this episode, Peter explains why he sees content creation as a labor of love rather than something to do only for output or growth.Peter makes the case that PowerPoint is often overused, especially when a Word document or a better visual format would be clearer.He argues that PowerPoint works best as a storytelling tool when used with strong data, benchmarking, and cleaner design rather than text-heavy slides.We examine the “conference industrial complex” and Peter’s view that the industry spends too much time and money on events, sponsorships, travel, and merchandise.Danny shares a waste estimate for a three-day conference, prompting a broader discussion about landfill, carbon impact, and whether the sector is doing enough to justify the footprint.Peter revisits his Harvey AI commentary and explains why he was sceptical of the company’s valuation, marketing spend, and the way it signals adoption to buyers.We discuss why landing pages that lead with funding totals and user metrics may impress buyers, but also suggest the real purchaser is the CTO or CEO, not the end user.Peter’s “magic mushies” story explores a real-world AI transcription error in healthcare and how a mistaken note contributed to a rejected workers’ comp claim.The episode closes on the broader risk of AI making lazy people lazier, especially in compliance-heavy workflows where a small error can cascade into a bad advice outcome.Peter previews a new presentation, Beware the AI speed trap, built around the need for checks, human review, and consistent firm-wide processes before automating advice generation.Chapters00:00 - Welcome back and Peter’s Code and Capital milestone00:55 - Writing 100 editions and why it became a habit02:07 - Writing to sharpen opinions before speaking03:40 - Internal Slack, shared values, and industry banter05:15 - Why PowerPoint often becomes “death by deck”06:27 - When PowerPoint works and when a Word doc would be better08:33 - The conference industrial complex and who pays09:59 - Too many events, too little time in the office11:35 - Counting the hidden cost of sponsorship and attendance12:02 - Conference waste, landfill, and carbon impact14:08 - Better merch choices and what not to give away15:28 - Revisiting Harvey AI and the valuation hype19:14 - Why leading with funding figures feels odd20:12 - Product usage dashboards as a signal to buyers21:49 - Why Grow still stands out as a prediction22:21 - Super administration, outsourcing, and death benefit delays25:19 - Why squeezed suppliers eventually fail26:29 - Introducing the “magic mushies” AI transcription story27:05 - How a medical note got hallucinated into a false claim29:02 - Why convincing AI outputs can make people stop checking30:11 - AI amplifies both the best and worst traits in users31:07 - The danger of AI transcription feeding straight into advice32:29 - Beware the AI speed trap and the need for QA33:08 - Code and Capital continues

Microsoft and Apple just made one thing clear: the future of AI is built into the devices people already carry, and that changes everything for advisers, firms, and anyone handling sensitive conversations. Danni Le Grande and Peter Worn break down two fast-moving releases that could reshape how meetings get recorded, summarised, and stored. From Copilot’s new ability to record in-person conversations inside the Microsoft work environment to Apple’s push into on-device transcription with the Apple Watch and a new foldable iPhone, this episode is a sharp look at where AI hardware is heading next. You'll discover: Why Copilot’s new “record the room” feature is such a big deal for advisers, accountants, and other client-facing professionalsHow Microsoft is handling speaker detection, summaries, and work-based governanceWhy Apple’s new recording features may push AI out of apps and into everyday hardwareWhat a $3,500 to $5,899 foldable iPhone says about the next wave of device upgradesWhy privacy, consent, and workplace policy are about to become much harder to ignorePeter explains how Microsoft is quietly closing the gap on the note-taking tools people already use in meetings, while Danni pushes on the practical questions that matter most: who was recorded, where the files live, and whether firms can actually govern this stuff once it leaves the laptop and lives on a phone or watch.Then the conversation shifts to Apple’s latest hardware play, including a foldable iPhone, financing on premium devices, and a new Apple Watch feature that can record and summarise conversations directly on device. That opens the door to a bigger debate about convenience versus consent, and what happens when recording becomes so easy people stop thinking about it. If you work in wealth, advice, law, accounting, or any business where meetings matter, this episode is essential listening. AI transcription is no longer just a software question—it is becoming a hardware, privacy, and policy issue, and the big platforms may be about to crush the startups built around single-purpose recording tools. Perfect for anyone trying to stay ahead of AI in the workplace without getting caught off guard by the privacy and governance fallout.

The financial landscape is shifting, and in this episode, Danni Le Grande and Peter Worn dissect a landmark acquisition that could reshape the wealth tech industry. Vanguard’s recent $4 billion acquisition of Altruist is not just a transaction; it’s a bold statement about the future of wealth tech. Danni and Peter dive deep into the strategic motivations behind Vanguard’s entry back into the RIA space, exploring how Altruist has successfully carved out a niche in a market dominated by giants like Fidelity and Schwab. You'll discover: how Altruist’s innovative tech solutions, including their AI-powered tools, are transforming traditional advisory services into a seamless, tech-driven experience. The conversation takes a fascinating turn as they break down adviser reactions and the potential backlash against this acquisition. With Vanguard now positioned as a competitor in the advisory space, what does this mean for the independent firms that have relied on Altruist’s services? Peter shares insights on the cultural impact this acquisition may have on advisor-client relationships and the broader implications for the market. The stakes are high. Ignoring these developments could leave advisors vulnerable in a rapidly evolving industry. As technology and advisory services converge, understanding this shift is critical for anyone in the financial sector. #Vanguard #Altruist #FinanceNews #AdvisorTech #wealthtech

What happens when a firm that's brilliant at the art of advice decides to get serious about the science? In this episode, Danni Le Grande sits down with Matt Hale, Managing Director of Rising Tide Financial Services, for an honest conversation about the AI journey his practice has been on, not over a few months, but a few years. Matt shares how Rising Tide moved from anecdotal, "in-my-head" processes to a documented advice methodology, and how AI Agents now sit inside that journey with one clear job each: file notes, intro-call coaching, implementation, and reviewing advice documents against the firm's philosophies and "Bible." Along the way, Matt and Danni get into the stuff that actually makes or breaks a tech rollout: knowing your own gaps ("I'm the best person to get something from zero to 80%, and the worst to get it from 80 to 99"), running an internal innovation month with a cash prize to build the habit, and the very real challenge of change fatigue. Matt explains why "humans dealing with humans is a recipe for drift," why AI feedback lands differently than feedback from a person ("AI doesn't wake up on the wrong side of the bed, and the camera doesn't lie"), and how he separates his Copilot Agents from his more philosophical "Projects." In this episode: The "science and art" of advice, and why most firms lean one wayUsing DISC and honest self-audits to understand your leadership gapsRunning an innovation month to make AI a daily habitGiving agents one clear task, not ten jobsAgents vs. projects: where each one fitsCoaching that doesn't sting, objective feedback from transcriptsReviewing advice documents against your philosophy with a traffic-light systemNavigating change fatigue and AI fatigue with your teamWhat to look for (and avoid) when working with consultants

How are our 2026 Wealth Tech Predictions actually tracking? Six months after dropping our 2026 predictions, Danni Le Grande and Peter Worn sit down for a mid-year report card marking their own homework on all eight calls, no cherry-picking. In this episode: The AI governance reckoning : ASIC's shot across the bow, the FPSB's new global CFP guidelines, and looming Privacy Act changes. Platform oligopoly why firms are going 95/5 with a single platform, and what "ecosystem construction" really meansDigital advice finds its audience the MUFG/Investream deal, the shift to chat interfaces, and why client-portal adoption is still stuck at a third of firms. Managed account players moving into licensee territory Evidentia, Encore and the rise of the "CIO" for adviceThe pricing "Australia tax" SaaS inflation, consumption-based billing, and the firm that burned a month's Cowork budget in four days.The global AI-first influx (the one they might've got wrong) BYO AI & on-device LLMs and Technology of the Year: Claude / Cowork. Plus honest talk on token costs, the coming AI bubble, and why your BS radar still beats the bots. Take the Finura Technology Health Check here: https://technologyhealth.scoreapp.com/ #wealthtech #technology #predictions #ai

What if you tried to design the worst possible advice industry on purpose? Pete Worn and Danni Le Grande run Charlie Munger's inversion trick over Australian advice, working through the six rules from Pete's latest Code & Capital: Make sure nobody agrees who the customer isInsert as many ticket-clippers as the law allowsRegulate the supply until it collapsesMake the living pay for the deadAppoint a dozen umpires who don't agreeDemand Ferrari software at Datsun pricesThe catch? Every rule is real, and none of it was built by a villain. We close on the only move left — subtraction — and what advice firms can actually take away to get better.

Two commencement speakers got booed off stage for telling rooms full of graduates that AI was an exciting opportunity. Danni and Pete start there — Gloria Caulfield, then Eric Schmidt — and ask the more useful question: what happens when the people most certain AI is inevitable are the ones who carry none of the downside? The downside lands somewhere else. On the graduate. On the PY advisers now vibe-coding their way to relevance out of pure job insecurity. On the associate half-joking that the file-note agent has already replaced them. Danni and Pete translate the backlash into what it means for advice firms: why "token maxing" measures inputs instead of outcomes, why the boss's behaviour sets the whole firm's relationship with AI, and what Finura's Tech Health Check data reveals — that the firms rating their tech change "very successful" have the weakest integration and advice-production scores underneath. Leaders declare victory; the plumbing tells another story. The takeaway isn't anti-AI. It's that you can be better than big tech: reinvest the efficiency in your people, not just the bottom line — and tread gently, because rolling out an agent is the same change-management problem as any big tech project. There are still real people behind the scenes. #wealthtech #technology #peterworn #dannilegrande

APRA's late-April letter on AI was addressed to Banks, Insurers and Super Trustees. It wasn't addressed to AFSLs — and Pete Worn reckons that distinction will matter for about six months. In this episode, Danni and Pete unpack Pete's latest Code & Capital on what APRA's AI letter signals for the broader advice industry, and what ASIC is almost certainly preparing in the background. They cover: Why AI isn't "just another technology" — and why deterministic thinking gets you into trouble fastThe four areas APRA put on notice: cyber, governance, supplier risk, change managementWhy boards are flying blind on AI literacy, and why the vendor lunch-and-learn is now a regulatory red flagThe fourth layer of due diligence no one was doing before — and why it changes everythingFresh data from Finura's latest Tech Health Check: only 57% of licensee-aligned practices run due diligence on tech providers, and 48.6% of practices admit they can't explain every app in their own stackClaude Code in production, frontier AI vendors that can't answer DD questions, and the systemic risks no one is mappingAustralia's surprisingly low AI trust scores, UHNW clients refusing meeting recordings, and what Scott Galloway calls "the biggest brand problem of any technology in human history"A practical, sometimes uncomfortable look at the gap between how fast advice firms are adopting AI and how slowly governance is catching up. #finuragroup #dannilegrande #peterworn #ai #technology

Pete's latest Code & Capital landed in inboxes the week after the federal budget — and his frustration was raw. In this episode, he and Danni unpack what the proposed capital gains changes mean for Australian software founders, and why the advice tech sector is uniquely exposed. CGT effectively doubling to 33–47% (versus 20% in the US, 14% in the UK, zero in New Zealand). A $5M exit going from a $1.18M tax bill to $2.35M. 27% of our labour force in the public sector — the highest in the G7. Pete declares his self-interest upfront: he's one of the founders this is aimed at. But the conversation is bigger than any one company — it's about who'll bother to build for Australia's 15,000 advisers when Silicon Valley won't, and when Singapore and the UAE are rolling out the red carpet. Plus: why the practice owners listening should think twice before haggling their software vendors on price, what offshore PE ownership of super admin tells us about the future, and Pete's wife Catherine's surprise cameo. A productive rant — with a constructive ending.#wealthtech #technology #federalbudget2026

Canceling Adobe shouldn't feel like escaping a hostage situation — but it does. Fitness First, Foxtel, gym memberships, subscription perfume (yes, really), and a lot of advice tech vendors share the same playbook: make it easy to sign up, and brutally hard to leave. In this episode, Danni and Pete sit down in person (a rare one) to unpack the latest Code & Capital newsletter — Breaking Up Is Hard to Do — and ask why so many software companies still prey on apathy instead of earning loyalty. They draw on 37signals' "easy on, easy off" philosophy, Basecamp's pause-and-price-lock approach, and David Heinemeier Hansson's idea that every business is a referral business — and cancellation is the moment that decides whether you get a promoter, a boomerang, or a detractor. They ground the conversation in Finura's Technology Health Check Scorecard data (n=279+ Australian advice practices): 73% of firms aren't fully happy with their current advice CRM81% don't run an RFP when choosing tech37% skip due diligence on new vendors49% don't have a comprehensive understanding of their own tech stack33% have zero integrationsThey also look at what AI-driven MCPs will do to vendors whose entire retention strategy is "hoard the data," why transparent pricing beats coupon-code chaos, and what practice owners should take from all of this — because if you're running an Advice business, your clients are judging you on exactly the same things. Pete's tip: design your cancellation experience like a marketing exercise. Danni's tip: audit your vendor contracts before you need to leave — check the exit terms, not just the onboarding pitch. https://finuragroup.com/ #technology #financialadvice #wealthtech

Danni went to New Zealand for a week and the AI world lost its mind. Pete catches her up on the news that matters — starting with Anthropic's "Mythos," a model so powerful they refused to release it publicly after it uncovered up to a million vulnerabilities in major software in a matter of days (cue Jurassic Park: "scientists were so obsessed with whether they could, they never stopped to think if they should"). Then the conversation shifts closer to home: Perplexity is now letting US consumers plug their bank accounts, stocks and health data into their own Bloomberg-style dashboards, and OpenAI just quietly acquired Hero — an AI financial planning startup. Pete and Danni unpack what it means when the world's biggest AI companies start muscling into personal financial management, why regulation is the only real moat Australian advice has left, and the uncomfortable question every practice owner needs to answer: if your service is purely digital, what exactly are clients paying you for? #technology #wealthtech #financialadvice #ai https://finuragroup.com/

Mark Zaglas is back. Our most downloaded guest ever returns to go a level deeper on what's changed since last year's "Stagnation to Scale" episode — and a lot has changed. Encore Advisory Group has been acquired by Evidentia, Mark has launched his Big Six Insights series, and the industry is facing an inflection point where the pace of change has doubled but the margin for error has halved. In this episode, we unpack the rise of the COTO (Chief Operating and Technology Officer) — a concept Mark has coined for advice businesses that can no longer treat operations and technology as separate functions. We dig into why so many firms are still running on rusted sales engines, why confidence is the barrier nobody talks about, and what it actually looks like to unrust your growth capability in 2026. We also flip the script — Mark interviews Danni on what she's seeing with AI in advice practices, from foundation models to purpose-built agents, and why the firms winning right now are the ones mapping their processes first and applying AI to the right jobs second. Plus: the client who showed up to a review with their own Claude-generated financial plan, why operations is like an escalator you never get off, and Mark's 5P growth engine audit you can do in 90 minutes this quarter. If you enjoyed Stagnation to Scale, this one picks up exactly where we left off — and goes deeper. Take our free Technology Health Check at finuragroup.com to see where your practice sits. #finuragroup #technology #dannilegrande #encoregroup #financialadvice

Pete's latest Code & Capital sparked a big conversation — why are Advice Practices still tempted to rip out their CRM when the data says it rarely ends well? Danni brings the receipts from Finura's Technology Health Check: only 17% of Practices are actually planning to move, barely half use their CRM as a source of truth, and 80% don't even run an RFP when choosing new tech. We also dig into the real risks of Advisers building SOAs in ChatGPT, why clients are now using AI to check their Adviser's AI, and whether we're breeding a generation of professionals who can't think without a chatbot. Plus: Amdahl's Law, the $30 billion CRM switching industry, and why tidying up your shop beats chasing shiny new tools.#finuragroup #peterworn #dannilegrande #technology

In this episode of The WealthTech Insider, Danni Le Grande and Peter Worn unpack a deceptively simple question that opens a much bigger conversation: why do so many AI tools have human — and overwhelmingly female — names? What starts as a light observation quickly turns into a deeper discussion about trust, subconscious design choices, and the risks of anthropomorphising technology in professional environments. From “Sophie the assistant” to “Colin from compliance”, Danni and Pete explore how naming AI shapes behaviour, lowers scepticism, and may lead us to over-trust systems that are still fallible — particularly in regulated industries like financial advice. This isn’t a culture-war debate or an anti-AI rant. It’s a grounded conversation about awareness: how AI is being designed, why familiarity matters, and what professionals need to keep front-of-mind as human-like software becomes embedded in daily workflows. #finuragroup #technology #ai #dannilegrande #peterworn