Peter McCarthy

Wealth management platform myprosperity has seen record quantities of debt recorded on its platform, up nearly 200% since the start of the year to $12 billion. There’s also been an estimated 80% increase in credit card accounts added to the platform since late 2019.

The myprosperity portal is used by advisers and households to track assets and liabilities so that better decisions can be made regarding a person’s entire wealth situation. The platform is used by more than 35,000 households in Australia.

“As Australia copes with this recession, many are turning to their accountant or financial adviser to find a way through these challenging times. The increase in liabilities recorded on the myprosperity platform, combined with climbing usage figures, demonstrates that there’s growing concern over managing debt. People are seeing the need to keep on top of their money during these tough times,” myprosperity founder Peter McCarthy said.

“For households, we’ve seen a significant spike in requests around assistance in financial management, retirement and estate planning, highlighting the increase in concern around financial health. These troubling times suggest people are looking for advice to help stem the loss and shore up their financial future.”

Tim Munro, Founder of Change Accountants said, “We support many business owners across varying sectors of the economy including the hospitality industry which has been smashed by the lockdowns. When COVID-19 hit, like many advisers, we were inundated with requests from clients seeking help with their finances, from applying for Jobkeeper and Jobseeker to drawing up weekly or monthly cashflows to help them get through. It’s been a really busy and challenging time. Technology has played a vital role in enabling us to engage with, and undertake reviews of many more clients than would otherwise have been possible in the traditional face-to-face world.”

As Australia headed into its first lockdown earlier this year, myprosperity experienced soaring usage of its platform as more advisers and accountants moved to work remotely.

myprosperity has again seen the usage of its platform increase as many Australians move to manage their wealth more closely and many advisers continue to work remotely. The use of online forms – or digital fact finds, tax checklists and onboarding forms – which help advisers digitise the engagement process by eradicating paper to streamline data collection, has increased by over 500% since December 2019.

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Peter McCarthy

Australian executives spanning technology, venture capital, private banking, accounting and financial planning have joined forces to drive much-needed change in the advisory sector, launching WOWCON 2020.

The Whole of Wealth (WoW) summit, which will be held at Crown Casino in Melbourne on June 3-4 aims to reboot the financial advice and accounting sectors after what has been a harrowing time over the past two years in the wake of the Hayne Royal Commission.

“Demand for great advice is unprecedented. With record low-interest rates affecting investors, record household debt, an increasingly complex tax system to navigate and continued changes to superannuation it’s no surprise household financial stress is at an all-time high. Basically, more households need help than ever before,” WOWCON 2020 organiser, myprosperity founder Peter McCarthy said.

“However, on the supply side, the number of advisers is shrinking fast. In particular, the big brands are exiting advice at an unprecedented rate and a large percentage of firms are drowning in changes to compliance and the need to restructure their offering to fall into line with a post-Royal Commission world. When you have a market with high demand but shrinking supply it is one of those once in a generation opportunities most only realise with hindsight. And while the smart firms are cutting through the noise and growing fast, there are still many that need a helping hand.

“The Royal Commission is behind us. It’s time to rebuild, to rethink the way we work as accountants and advisers, to reboot our industry so we can thrive over the decades to come.

“WOWCON is a Whole of Wealth summit designed for, and built by, the advice sector. It brings together professionals from all walks of financial life to take a multidisciplinary approach to building the future of Australia’s advice industry. WOWCON is a celebration of advice. It’s the only industry event that brings together an array of industry experts, thought-leaders and innovators to have a conversation and share ideas on what this industry can be in the future.”

Macquarie Bank, Xero, myprosperity, LivePreso Wealth and BGL – among others – are sponsoring the event to bring together several hundred financial advisors and accountants and establish a new wave of momentum in what is one of Australia’s most important industries. Keynotes will include Xero Australia MD Trent Innes, Boost Juice Founder Janine Allis, The Practice Founding Partner Jason Cunningham and mentor to the world’s best athletes Ben Crowe.

“To think differently, we need to get out of our everyday grind. Hear from business leaders, entrepreneurs, tech founders and sporting personalities on how they overcome adversity, problem solve, spot opportunities and ultimately succeed,” WOWCON co-organiser, tech investor and former Xero Managing Director Chris Ridd said.

“The future of accounting, financial planning and advisory will have a heavy tech influence. We all get bogged down in the day-to-day. It can be monotonous and after the past two years for many of us, financial planning and advisory have become something we do because we have to – not because we want to. We want to fall in love again, kick some fiscal goals and get firing!”

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myprosperity has launched Kwidz.

A leading wealth portal, myprosperity has launched Kwidz, a financial literacy app geared to help advisers bridge the generational gap that currently exists in household finances. The app introduces children, aged eight and up, to the key concepts of personal finance, helping them set savings goals, view spendings and track success.

“We are excited to launch Kwidz as part of myprosperity’s platform to help teach children the fundamentals of finance. Kwidz helps children learn to manage their finances – including pocket money, savings and spendings – understand the value of money and take a team approach to reach their financial goals,” myprosperity CEO, Stephen Jäckel said.

The Kwidz app provides advisers with a tool to attract, educate and retain the next generation of clients as they take a whole of wealth approach to each household they service.

“By taking a multi-generational view of household finances, advisers are able to foster strong wealth management habits early on in a child’s financial life and help set them up for a brighter future,” Jäckel said, adding: “Kwidz is a great tool to engage Boomer, Gen X or millennial clients and demonstrate the value of advisory services and money across generations.”

Kwidz is quick and easy to use, kids can sync their bank account, track transactions, playfully customise their profile pic savings goals via the wealth management portal so managing the finances can become a family affair.

“Australian households are under mounting financial pressure with the climbing costs of living and slow wage growth. By teaching our children the value of money and strong money management skills early on, we can start to improve the prospects of the entire economy. Encouraging families to work with financial advisors and start to be proactive with their wealth position can also help set us up for future economic growth and enable advisors to expand their practices,” Jäckel said.

Working with some of Australia’s leading accounting firms and financial institutions, myprosperity has seen interest in its platform step up post the Royal Commission’s inquiry into the banking and financial services sector as the industry looks for technology solutions to improve compliance and client engagement.

“The insights from the recent Royal Commission are forcing an inflection point in Australia’s financial services sector and establishing a need for more advisers to take a whole of wealth approach with clients to boost transparency. With more than $45 billion in assets and $7.5 billion in liabilities registered on the platform, myprosperity is quickly evolving into a platform which has a solid grasp on the financial stability of a household’s entire financial position,” Jäckel said.

Over the past 2.5 years, myprosperity has quadrupled revenues, grown its partner base from 180 to over 650, expanded the team from 12 to more than 40 and made significant advancements in product development. From its inception in 2011, myprosperity has raised $12.5million in capital primarily from high net worth investors including former PwC global board member, Michael Happel and Xero board member Craig Winkler.

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Chris Ridd

myprosperity, Australia’s leading personal wealth portal, is partnering with Australian estate planning firm, View Legal to provide free, standard wills.

A personal wealth portal, myprosperity is a white-label desktop and mobile app that advisers and accountants can enable for their clients. The platform provides a consolidated, real-time view of a client’s entire financial world, thanks to live integrations with leading financial services providers.

When enabled by an adviser, myprosperity’s estate planning functionality will allow a client to generate a standard View Legal will and automatically populate the relevant data from their personal wealth portal, including all their assets and liabilities. This legally binding will is then stored on myprosperity, delivering greater utility through the portal.

Chris Ridd, CEO of myprosperity, said of the partnership “It’s estimated that nearly 50% of Australians will die without a will, and our own data shows that over 70% of myprosperity clients do not have an up-to-date will. Yet predictions say $2.4 trillion in wealth will be passed on over the next three decades.”

Ridd continued “View Legal are recognised experts in estate planning and their standard will is miles ahead of any equivalent that can be found commercially. By leveraging their expertise to provide a standard, pre-populated will, we’re helping our clients to achieve peace of mind and taking our first step towards redefining estate planning.”

Matthew Burgess, Founder of View Legal, said “Estate planning and wills especially haven’t changed much in the last hundred years. View Legal has a history of leveraging technology to solve complex legal issues like estate planning. Together with our technology partner, NowInfinity we’ve designed a technology solution that will break down some of the traditional barriers of entry that have resulted in so many Australians not having a valid will. To be able to share this journey with myprosperity is exceptionally exciting for us.”

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Chris Ridd

myprosperity, Australia’s leading personal wealth platform for advisors today announced an integration with Macquarie Wealth to allow its customers secure, real-time access to the bank’s popular investment and cash management accounts.

Macquarie Wrap is an industry-leading full service investment platform with more than $A85b in funds on platform, and its Cash Management Accounts (CMAs) the chosen cash hub for one in three SMSFs. By integrating with Macquarie’s open banking platform, myprosperity empowers its rapidly growing base of advisers to give clients a complete view of their entire financial world.

Established in 2011 and headed up by former Xero Australia Managing Director Chris Ridd, myprosperity is Australia’s leading personal wealth platform. Available on desktop and via mobile app as a white-label portal, accountants and financial planners grant access to their clients on a subscription basis. Clients connect their financial affairs via a suite of automated data feeds to gain a real-time, consolidated view of their financial position.

To date, myprosperity has over 530 advisers and 23,000 active users, and is tracking more than $33B in assets and $6B in liabilities. In March, myprosperity was awarded Financial Advice Innovator of the Year at the Australian Fintech Business Awards.

Speaking about the integration, Chief Executive Officer of myprosperity Chris Ridd said, “We are thrilled to provide our clients with secure, direct access to Macquarie’s comprehensive Wrap platform and its popular cash management accounts. Ultimately consumers will – and should – control their own data. With this integration, myprosperity clients can integrate yet another important component of their personal wealth.”

Ridd continued “Like us, Macquarie cares about creating great experiences for its clients and is setting the standard for the rest of the industry to follow when it comes to open banking.”

Cameron Garrett, Head of Wealth Product and Technology for Macquarie Wealth, said: “We want to create the best possible experience for our advisers and clients and seamlessly integrating with third parties is an important part of that.

Macquarie’s platform brings together market leading technology and innovation, with scale and security to support advisers and clients in reaching their goals. Our focus is on increased flexibility and personalisation through our innovative digital banking and wealth solutions, and Macquarie’s open platform facilitates this, enabling approved third-party providers to connect to offer new services and experiences.”

Stuart Stoyan, Chair of Fintech Australia commented “This is an important collaboration between a fintech startup and a major and established industry player. Collaborations such as these are most welcome and important to drive better customer outcomes and financial services innovation.”

“Our recent EY FinTech Australia Census identified that Australian fintech firms are keen to take advantage of an open data framework, and to collaborate with banks. It is good to see that this partnership ticks both of these boxes.”

This functionality is now live for myprosperity clients.

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Chris Ridd

myprosperity, the market leading financial collaboration platform for accountants and advisers, is proud to announce it has completed integration with BGL’s Simple Fund 360, the market leading cloud SMSF solution, to provide a holistic view of a client’s financial world.

myprosperity and BGL Simple Fund 360 clients will now benefit from the ability to see their entire financial world in real time and on any device. This means clients have just one platform, provided by their trusted adviser, to view everything from their property, motor vehicles, bank accounts, credit cards and their SMSF.

Accountants and advisers can seamlessly link their client’s Simple Fund 360 ledgers and myprosperity accounts within seconds harnessing the power of the cloud.

Chris Ridd, CEO of myprosperity explains, “we are passionate about providing a single platform for clients and their trusted adviser to collaborate and manage their entire financial world. With the SMSF sector representing over $650 billion in assets, integrating with Simple Fund 360 is an important step for myprosperity to deliver huge benefits to accountants, advisers and their clients.”

Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director said, “we are excited to add myprosperity as an integration partner to provide our mutual clients with the benefit of live feeds from our cloud based Simple Fund 360 product. Clients will be able to view their SMSF balances, holdings and transactions within the myprosperity platform giving them a comprehensive view of their super and non-super assets.”

myprosperity continues to rapidly grow its number of integration partners, delivering significant benefits to accountants, planners and their clients. Between 29 May 2017 and 16 June 2017, myprosperity undertook its first national roadshow, visiting 12 cities and engaging with more than 1,100 existing and potential accounting, financial planning and bookkeeping partners.

Myprosperity will add integration with BGL’s cloud based ASIC company compliance solution, CAS 360, over the coming months.

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