The forces shaping financial advice in 2026

In summary

• A recent professional development day offers a clear read on the priorities shaping financial advice in 2026.
• Retirement and intergenerational wealth transfer remain the core drivers of advice demand.
• Artificial intelligence and regulation shape the rest of the picture, including managed account arrangements under best interest duty and the limits on AI-written advice documents.
• Across every theme, human judgement and rigorous preparation hold their value. That is where quality paraplanning continues to matter.

A recent professional development day I attended landed at a moment of real change for financial advice. The themes it put front and centre offer a useful read on where the profession is heading. This year, the priorities were clear, and they reach well beyond any single licensee.

Retirement and intergenerational wealth transfer sat at the centre. Around them, two forces shaped almost every session: artificial intelligence and regulation. Together, they describe the terrain advisers are working across this year.

The core demand has not changed

Retirement planning remains the engine of advice demand. A large cohort of Australians is moving from building wealth to drawing it down, and the decisions involved are dense. Income strategy, tax, aged care, estate planning and Centrelink all interact, and small choices compound over decades.

Intergenerational wealth transfer runs alongside it. The country is entering one of the largest transfers of wealth between generations in its history, and families increasingly want advice that spans parents and adult children together. This is complex, relationship-heavy work, and it is exactly the kind of advice people are willing to pay for.

The human element held its ground

The value of an adviser and the role of human judgement drew particular attention, set against what many now call the agentic age. The point was consistent throughout. Technology can gather data, model scenarios and draft documents. It cannot read a client across a table, sense hesitation, or weigh a family’s unspoken dynamics. One presenter summed it up in a line that stuck. AI does not care, he said, while people care how others feel.

Good advice still turns on trust and judgement. An experienced adviser brings a feel for a client’s situation that no model reproduces. That human instinct for what a client actually needs remains the part of the relationship clients value most.

One adviser I met had flown in from Adelaide to see a handful of clients face to face. Among them was a man he had looked after for twenty years, now in hospital and not doing well. He made the trip anyway. No system books that flight or sits at that bedside. Across those two decades he had also earned the trust of the client’s adult children, and the relationship will carry on through them. In time they become clients in their own right, and that continuity grows from a presence no machine can offer.

Best interest duty is back in focus

Regulation took up much of the remaining agenda, and managed account arrangements were a clear priority, separately managed accounts in particular. Managed accounts have grown quickly, with the sector approaching $300 billion in funds under management. That growth has drawn regulator attention. ASIC has been issuing notices to licensees and SMA providers, seeking detail on sales targets, inducements and the benefits attached to recommending these products.

The concern sits squarely within best interest duty. A recommendation to use an SMA has to serve the client, and the reasoning has to be clean. The choice must rest on client suitability, and any benefit flowing to the adviser from the provider has to stay out of that decision. Licensee risk teams are working through these arrangements now, ahead of any regulator action, and clear documentation is central to demonstrating the duty has been met.

AI can assist, and licensees are drawing careful lines

The other regulatory thread was AI, and the tone was cautious. Adoption is high. Industry research suggests around three-quarters of advice practices now use AI in some form, yet far fewer have formal policies for using it compliantly. ASIC’s position is that existing obligations apply regardless of how a document is produced. If AI drafts advice, the adviser and the licensee still own it.

On AI-written Statements of Advice, the message was clear. Before any AI tool can draft advice, a licensee has to approve it in full, with data security a primary concern. Even then, the compliance requirements built into a Statement of Advice mean the profession is not ready to hand that document to a machine. AI can support the work around the edges. The advice itself still comes from people.

Where quality paraplanning fits

A single theme ran through every topic, whether retirement, wealth transfer, managed accounts or AI. Good advice depends on the quality of the work behind it.

Complex retirement and intergenerational strategies have to be researched, modelled and documented with care. Managed account recommendations have to be justified and recorded against best interest duty. AI can speed up parts of the process, yet a person still has to check the output, apply judgement and make sure the file holds up.

This is the ground paraplanning occupies. Quality paraplanning turns an adviser’s strategy into clear, compliant and defensible advice. As the work grows more complex and the regulator looks more closely, that discipline grows in value.

The tools and the rules keep shifting, while the foundation of good advice stays the same. Sound strategy, careful preparation and clean documentation still carry the client relationship.

At Mutual Plans, that foundation is our work. Whatever sits on the agenda next year, quality paraplanning will still stand behind advice that serves clients well and holds up under review.

Frequently asked questions

What is driving demand for financial advice right now?

Retirement and intergenerational wealth transfer. A large cohort of Australians is moving into the drawdown phase, and a substantial transfer of wealth between generations is underway. Both call for complex, high-value advice.

Can AI write a compliant Statement of Advice yet?

Not in most licensee environments. The licensee has to approve the tool in full, data security is a primary concern, and the adviser remains accountable for the advice. Human review and sign-off are still required.

Why are managed accounts under scrutiny?

ASIC is reviewing how licensees and advisers recommend managed accounts, with a focus on conflicts, inducements and whether recommendations meet best interest duty. Documentation that justifies each recommendation is central to managing that risk.

Glossary

Intergenerational wealth transfer: The passing of assets from older generations to their children and grandchildren through inheritances and gifts.

Best interest duty: The legal obligation on advisers to act in the best interests of their clients when providing personal advice, set out in section 961B of the Corporations Act.

Separately managed account (SMA): A professionally managed investment portfolio held in the client’s name, where the underlying assets are managed to a set model.

Statement of Advice (SoA): The document that sets out the personal advice given to a client, including the strategy and the reasons behind it.

Agentic AI: AI systems that can carry out multi-step tasks with a degree of autonomy, rather than simply answering a single prompt.

Paraplanning: The research, modelling, analysis and documentation that sits behind financial advice before it reaches the client.