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What does it take for financial advice to be experienced as a profession, rather than a product-driven sales process?

In this episode of PROpulsion LIVE, I speak with Jeff Paul about what needs to change if financial advisers want to build client-centred, professional and intergenerational advice practices.

Jeff has spent almost three decades in financial advice, leadership and adviser development. His career has taken him from financial adviser to senior leadership roles within Liberty, Managing Director of EQ-FIN, and now co-founder of Curated Wealth powered by Adviceworx.

We explore:

- Why some clients still question whether advice is driven by their needs or by products
- What client-centred financial planning looks like in practice
- How advisers can move from a financial plan to an intergenerational life-map
- The impact of incentives, product structures and business models on advice
- What professionalism demands beyond qualifications
- Why lifelong learning matters
- The role technology and AI should play in the advice process
- What advisers can start changing in their own practices

The big question guiding the conversation is:

**What needs to change for financial advice to be experienced by clients as a profession, rather than a product-driven sales process?**

PROpulsion LIVE helps financial planners and advice businesses move from knowing to doing, with practical conversations about building better financial planning businesses.

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Is your technology making your business simpler, or are you changing the way your business works just to fit your technology?

In this episode of PROpulsion LIVE, I speak with Pieter Teessen of Teessen Consulting about how financial services businesses can use technology to reduce operational friction, connect information and give their people more time to focus on clients.

We explore an important question: How do you use technology to simplify your business rather than forcing your business to fit the technology?

Our conversation covers:
- Why businesses can end up adapting their processes around generic systems
- How to tell the difference between a technology problem and a process problem
- The cost of having client information spread across multiple systems
- Where automation and AI can reduce repetitive administration
- How better internal processes can improve the client experience
- What to consider when choosing a technology partner
- Where to start if your current technology environment has become too complicated

Pieter brings more than 25 years of experience working with financial services businesses through Teessen Consulting. Their work includes technology platforms such as InsureSuite, InsureCRM, CommSplit and InsurePortal, alongside consulting focused on business processes and operations.

If you work in a financial planning, advice, insurance or brokerage business, this conversation will help you think differently about the relationship between your processes and the technology supporting them.

The goal is not more technology. It is technology that helps the business work better.

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What changes when financial planning starts with the person, rather than the product?

In this episode of PROpulsion LIVE, Francois du Toit speaks with Russell Ho, CFP®, one of the 2026 FPI Financial Planner of the Year finalists, about the human-first approach he has built into his financial planning practice.

Russell works through what he calls his Three Hats.

First, he approaches the conversation as a financial therapist and behaviour coach, seeking to understand the client’s money story, fears, beliefs and behaviour.

Second, he steps into the role of lifestyle financial planner, helping the client build a roadmap around the life they want to live.

Only then does he put on the third hat, financial adviser, where technical advice, products and solutions enter the conversation.

We unpack what this looks like in practice, including:

Why understanding the person comes before analysing the numbers
What happens in Russell’s first conversation with a prospective client
How therapeutic listening can help planners get beyond surface-level answers
Why vulnerability plays a role in his client process
How he structures a personalised first-year client journey
Where AI may change the technical side of financial planning
Which human skills planners may need to develop further
What Russell has learnt from becoming a 2026 FPI Financial Planner of the Year finalist
Practical changes planners can make in their own client conversations

The bigger question behind the conversation is:

What does a human-first financial planning process look like in practice, and why does it matter more as AI gets better at the technical work?

If you are a financial planner, adviser or practice owner thinking about the future of advice, client relationships and where human advisers continue to add value, this conversation will give you plenty to think about and apply.

Subscribe to PROpulsion for weekly conversations about building and running better financial planning businesses.

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