Passionate about providing innovative and strategic wealth management solutions and creating sustainable relationships with clients, Sebastian Mazza founded Wealth Depot in Stones Corner, Brisbane in 2012.
Wealth Depot is a multi-disciplinary practice that delivers financial planning, accounting, taxation and legal advice. Their holistic approach helps them discover opportunities, investments and strategies to help clients make educated and informed decisions about their wealth and assist them in developing a strategic approach to wealth creation and management.
From day one of Wealth Depot’s conception, technology was key, with the creation of a cloud-based business and more. Sebastian says central to this is his no fear approach when it comes to technology.
“Even in my younger years, technology was of interest. My first piece of technology was a digital camera, and I enjoyed playing FIFA 98 on my very first Playstation. Technology was always existent in my personal life.”
With regards to his career, Sebastian also recognised the value of technology early and knew it was here to stay.
He says: “In terms of my professional life, working and living overseas where I was surrounded by IT people, it made me realise at quite an early stage of my career, that technology was going to be intertwined with business. Working with IT-minded individuals, following their journey and watching them deliver solutions with responsiveness and agility made me realise that technology was not just a fad, it was here to stay.”
According to Sebastian there are many AdviceTech solutions that can be successfully applied in a business and he ensures when he adopts and integrates each, they work well for his business, team and clients.
“I believe that the relationship between advisers and technology is a predominantly positive one, but is yet to develop to its full potential. Most advisers have a handle on something whether it is planning or modelling software. And there is plenty of software out there to help you do things faster."
One of the technologies he has more recently adopted is myprosperity. Sebastian says he wanted to better connect with clients and to reduce the pain points of data collection. Providing clients with a tangible tool to help them manage cash flow and assets was another benefit.
“It is a bit expensive and this does cause resistance from existing clients. We are now including the service to new clients as part of our fee for service.”
Wealth Depot has also started using Practice Ignition as a client on boarding tool. This means his business can send its engagement proposal to clients electronically and they can e-sign to accept. It also handles payments and integrates to Xero.
While these are the businesses new AdviceTech toys, Sebastian says it’s hard to play favourites. “I use a myriad of tech based solutions, all which provide a multitude of benefits for the business.
Netwealth 2017 AdviceTech Report
The report paints a picture of how technology is currently being used in the dynamic and evolving advice industry and provides insights into key areas of focus, must-have, high adoption services, and technologies that are regarded as disruptors, but are not yet being adopted.
Some of the ones we use include Mailchimp, Survey Monkey, Online booking and virtual meetings. However, we don’t use robo. We use IMAs, which I think is the go between because they create more efficiency when managing client portfolios. In addition, I believe that Know Your Customer (KYC) technology is hard. We use MyPlanner for electronic fact finds, but clients don’t seem to respond.”
According to Sebastian, the relationship between advisers and technology is one that is overall positive, but still developing as the market is yet to fully immerse itself and adopt the many adviser tech solutions available.
“I believe that the relationship between advisers and technology is a predominantly positive one, but is yet to develop to its full potential. Most advisers have a handle on something whether it is planning or modelling software. And there is plenty of software out there to help you do things faster. However, a lot of advisers are still relying on programs like Microsoft Excel,” said Sebastian.
When contemplating what the future of advice will look in 2025, Sebastian believes that as the relationship between adviser and technology develops and evolves, so too will the industry.
“To date, it’s been all about the advice piece in my business. However looking into the future, I believe technology will be even more about the advice piece. We, the advisers, will be more like a counsellor or internal financial controller, with technology the component that will make communication more efficient. In regards to how we work, I’m certain that practices themselves will be quite mobile and flexible, giving advisers the capability to work from home.”