David Stephen

National financial advice firm, Invest Blue has entered a strategic partnership with advice and client engagement platform Lumiant to build a cloud-based platform that boosts client engagement, satisfaction and well-being.

Under the deal, Invest Blue will provide $2 million in seed capital, play a key role in developing Lumiant’s digital platform, and roll out the solution to its 100+ financial advisers across 30 locations.

Invest Blue Managing Director David Stephen will also join the Lumiant board.

“Our mission is to become Australia’s trusted home of great advice and we believe a platform that facilitates more meaningful client conversations and generates deeper client insights will help build trust,” he said.

“Technology enables the efficient, consistent and scalable delivery of high quality advice, and we are excited about partnering with Lumiant to develop the platform and embed it in our business.”

According to Santi Burridge, Founder and CEO of Lumiant, the platform’s client-centric design helps advisers bring to life a client’s financial position, goals and values.

“Our advice delivery modules support advisers in visualising their advice and engaging clients around important trade-off conversations that increase their comprehension and motivation,” he said.

“It brings everything that is important to the client together in one place, enabling advisers to deliver a tailored experience.”

Invest Blue’s investment in Lumiant follows its strategic partnership with outsourcing company, Virtual Business Partners in August 2022.

“We are a fast growing company with ambitious goals and our strategic partnerships give us a competitive advantage,” Stephen said.

“Our investment in key components of the advice process will help ensure that Invest Blue can deliver advice at scale. With the banks out of personal advice, we want to help fill the void, not only in terms of making advice affordable and accessible to more Australians but in terms of employing and training the next generation of advice professionals.”

“Our strategic partnerships signal to the market that Invest Blue is an innovative and progressive firm. We believe people are attracted to progressive, client-focused businesses.”

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Kasey Patterson

Financial Advice firm, Invest Blue, has adopted a nine day fortnight pilot, which would give all full time employees an extra 26 days off a year at a cost of roughly $1.9 million per annum, in a bid to foster employee wellbeing and drive productivity gains.

This follows the group’s recent inclusion in the list of Australia’s Best Workplaces for Women, an initiative of global people and culture organisation, Great Place to Work.

Kasey Patterson, Invest Blue Head of People and Culture, said the group strongly backed the philosophy “if we look after our people, they will look after our clients”.

“Our vision is to be Australia’s trusted home of great advice. Our mission is to have a recognisable presence across the country, which depends on our ability to attract, develop and retain advice professionals who are able to consistently deliver excellent advice and service to our clients,” she said.

“A critical element of our recruitment strategy is to ensure we remain a great place to work and initiatives like the nine day fortnight demonstrate our commitment to employee health and wellbeing.”

With 194 employees spread around the country and a large team offshore, Invest Blue’s size and scale puts it in a strong position to offer unique benefits while ensuring minimal impact on day-today operations and no disruption to clients, according to Lexi Glover, Invest Blue Chief Operating Officer.

“We have the right technology and infrastructure to support our people but most importantly we have the right culture,” Glover said.

“Geographically, our people are spread out in many different locations so trust and transparency are critical. It is not uncommon to have teams that work together operating from different offices or from home. We have established operational rhythms, data analytics tools and clear communications including daily team huddles, which can be done physically or virtually.”

Glover added that “business growth should never come at the cost of employee wellbeing”.

“Everyone is busy here and there’s plenty of work to do so, intuitively, it doesn’t make sense to compress the week and give people every second Friday off but research shows that this approach can lift productivity while increasing employee satisfaction,” she said.

With a rich history dating back to 1954, Invest Blue is a holistic financial advisory firm with 25 offices including rural, coastal and city locations. The firm provides financial advice, wealth management, lending and life insurance services and advice.

Since 2017, Invest Blue has achieved certification from Great Places to Work.

The group’s inclusion in the inaugural 2022 Best Workplaces for Women List, signifies an organisation that is fostering equity in the workplace and ensuring women employees feel safe, heard, challenged and valued.

To be eligible for consideration, Australian companies must have at least 100 employees of which at least half are women. They must also already be Great Place to Work certified.

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David Stephen

Invest Blue has partnered with BT, in conjunction with Ironbark and Russell Investment Management, to develop a managed account solution for the advice firm’s 4000-strong client base.

The new suite of five managed portfolios, administered on BT Panorama, has been developed exclusively for Invest Blue. The separately managed accounts are issued by Ironbark as the responsible entity, and with Russell Investment Management as investment manager.

Chris Mather, Head of Distribution, BT, said: “With the Invest Blue investment committee, Russell Investments and Ironbark all working in sync on a contemporary platform, BT Panorama, we’ve been able to deliver a tailored solution for Invest Blue’s advisers and clients.”

Invest Blue’s objective was to find a wealth management solution that provided excellent options and experience at a more competitive cost for their clients. Invest Blue CEO David Stephen has endorsed BT’s ongoing implementation of the managed account solution, highlighting how BT worked with the Invest Blue team to manage operational changes in order to embed the managed account solution across its advice practices.

Mr Mather added: “BT’s focus on continually improving the digital features on the platform helps advice businesses realise the full extent of the benefits of managed accounts, in terms of efficiency and ease of use for their advisers and clients. Simultaneously, at BT we have invested heavily in our team’s capability to support change and implementation as part of our commitment to advisers, and we’re pleased that advisers are responding positively to the support that we offer.”

Funds under administration in BT’s managed portfolios increased by 52% in the year to 31 December 2020 ($3.4b to $5.2b); and managed portfolios comprise 15% of Panorama’s total FUA (excluding Tailored Portfolios and Adviser Portfolios). Within a 12-month period BT added 41 new managed portfolios across 10 arrangements with either new investment managers or through new additions to existing managers, bringing the total number of managed portfolios to over 160.

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