Recognising the appetite of younger clients for financial education, and the power of online communities, Adele Martin of Firefly Wealth (Firefly Wealth Pty Ltd, ABN 30 818 437 055) has built an offering built around education and general advice only called My Money Buddy. Where clients need personal advice, she refers them on.

Described by the Australian Financial Review as “the F45 equivalent for financial advice, charting a middle course between the DIY and the premium route of one-on-one”¹⁸, My Money Buddy is a subscription-based program of tools, support, and community.

This approach has proven especially popular with younger Australians.

“While many people talk about the younger generations as the clients of the future, what we are seeing is a significant and widespread appetite for education on financial matters right now,” Martin says.

Delivered live online (with recordings available on demand), the My Money Buddy program comprises six modules delivered over a six-week period:

• Defining goals and success
• Savings systems and spending plan design
• Superannuation
• Pros and cons of shares and property
• Debt
• Money psychology and money habits

Among the practical tools Martin offers through the program are a series of negotiation scripts, which her clients can use to negotiate everything from a salary increase (one of her most popular) to a cheaper power bill.

The community of program participants is also central to its success. Within a closed Facebook group, members share their goals and success stories. So powerful are her negotiation scripts and savings tips that most members usually achieve significant savings in a short period of time.

“This gives them the enthusiasm and momentum to keep going and many go on to seek one on one advice”, says Martin.

Martin also offers an online personal money coaching program as well as a free podcast with its own community: The Savings Squad.

Using the Kajabi e-learning platform, Martin finds that online and video-based resources are not only more convenient and more aligned to the way younger clients want to engage, but they also bring significant efficiency savings, allowing her to sustainably offer her services at an affordable price. Her My Money Buddy program, for example, costs participants as little as $1,500.

“My programs are getting a younger generation ‘advice ready’, allowing them to gain confidence and trust in the process and outcomes of expert help,” says Martin. “This improves the client onboarding experience as clients can set their own goals, create a budget, and learn about concepts such as risk profiling at a time convenient to them. Instead of an adviser explaining everything over and over, a concept like this could be used in a traditional advice business to save advisers time and give younger clients the experience they’re after.”

Martin says she’s been signing between one and four clients a week to the program – even while on maternity leave and during COVID lockdowns, and with very little marketing. And while $1,500 per participant is well below the $5,000 to $7,000 she would charge clients for comprehensive advice; her overheads are far reduced for things like administration and paraplanning.

“At its scaled model, this is profitable,” she said.

Not only does the My Money Buddy program support clients in their early stages of the advice process, it has also had benefited Martin herself after the industry challenges of recent years.

“I think what’s it done more than anything is let me breathe and enjoy advice again,” Martin said.