What advisers must deliver 

For much of the past two decades, the value of financial advice has been measured by outcomes on paper. Returns relative to benchmarks. Projections extending neatly into the future. Strategies optimised to the decimal point.

By 2026, that scorecard has been rewritten.

Today’s clients are asking a different, more human question:

• How confident can I be in the decisions I’m making right now?

• When can I spend with confidence?

• How much of my plan can I rely on?

• What happens if markets fall or my circumstances change?

These concerns reflect a deeper shift in expectations. In a world where uncertainty feels persistent, confidence and clarity are replacing performance as the real measures of advice value.

The adviser’s role is evolving accordingly. Less about chasing perfect optimisation, more about helping clients understand what can be  dependable, what is flexible, what they can act on with confidence, and help forward think even when the future is unclear.

If performance is no longer the sole scorecard, the challenge for advisers heading into 2026 is clear: what does confidence-led advice actually look like, and how can it be delivered consistently?

What adviser data tells us about expectations in 2026

The advice profession has endured a difficult few years of inquiries and debates. Post-Hayne structural reform, regulatory pressure and adviser exits are well documented. What’s more revealing heading into 2026 is what’s changing beneath the surface.

Retirement confidence among Australians has weakened, with only half of Australians feeling confident about retirement - signalling growing concern about savings stretching far enough.

The advice profession recorded one of its strongest quarters of growth in recent years. In Q3 2025 alone, more that 196 new advisers entered the profession. Despite this momentum, adviser number are struggling to keep up with Australia’s growing retiree population, declining from 28,900 in late 2018 to about 15,145 today.

Many Australians feel priced out of advice or question whether it’s worth the cost, particularly as retirement decisions become more complex and harder to reverse. This places greater opportunity for advisers to demonstrate their true value by helping clients navigate policy volatility, changes to superannuation and tax settings, and restoring confidence in retirement outcomes. Clients are seeking advisers who help them commit to decisions; good financial advice gives clients confidence they will achieve their goals. Meaning good financial advisers empower clients to spend or retire with less  fear of getting it wrong. Advice that holds up when markets move or plans change. Advice that reduces second-guessing rather than feeding it.

Looking ahead, adviser shortages are likely to remain a structural challenge, even as numbers slowly recover. While government initiatives such as skilled migration pathways and technology-enabled advice models may help address capacity constraints over time, the current environment makes one thing clear: money doesn’t calm nerves, charts don’t inspire courage - advisers do. In 2026, where uncertainty is the only constant for many, their real value is giving Australians the confidence to live boldly.

What the industry is learning about client confidence

One of the most important lessons emerging across the industry is that reassurance and confidence are not the same thing.

For years, advisers tried to deliver confidence through reassurance. More modelling. More scenarios. More explanation. The assumption was that information creates certainty. In practice, more information often creates paralysis. Behavioural science shows that more scenarios and modelling can overwhelm clients rather than reassure them - a lesson advisers are starting to apply.

Confidence shows up differently. It’s booking a holiday without reopening the spreadsheet. Spending without revisiting the plan. Retiring without asking for one more projection. Passing on wealth knowing it will reach the right people at the right time.

Confidence isn’t about eliminating uncertainty. It’s about knowing what can be relied on, what is flexible, and where boundaries sit. By 2026, advice will be judged less on whether a plan is perfectly optimised, and more on whether clients feel secure acting on it.

Managing rising retirement complexity without transferring it to clients

Behind the scenes, advisers are managing more complexity than ever: longer retirements, accelerating intergenerational wealth transfers, complex Centrelink and aged-care interactions, and more blended family structures. Each raises both the stakes and the margin for error. Add longevity risk, and retirement planning now stretches across decades rather than years.

When too much complexity enters the advice conversation, even good strategies can feel fragile. Confidence erodes, not because the plan is wrong, but because it’s too hard to trust. This creates the defining design challenge for 2026: simplifying outcomes without dumbing down the strategy. The most effective advisers are increasingly structuring plans like an engineer designing a building. Some elements are load-bearing, others are deliberately flexible.

Advisers use a variety of tools to build confidence for their clients. Within this mix, they may combine income guaranteed for life solutions, flexible tax-effective wealth accumulation vehicles, drawdown sequencing, insurance strategies and purpose-driven structures.

For example, investment-linked income streams and annuities provide income-for-life certainty, giving clients the freedom to spend without anxiety and retire with peace of mind. Investment bonds can deliver the outcomes that matter most, such as ensuring loved ones are provided for, enabling future generations to get ahead, and passing on both wealth and the values behind it to the next generation with confidence and without the fear of disputes that can fracture family unity. They can also support goals like education funding or pre- and post-retirement non-super savings, offering flexibility while maintaining clarity of purpose.

Solutions are only truly purpose-driven when they're embedded within a holistic, human-led strategy. Together, these examples show how advisers layer structures to reduce uncertainty, maintain flexibility, and give clients confidence to act on their plans without being overwhelmed.

This approach reshapes how advice conversations are framed. Decisions are sequenced: what matters now, what matters later, and what only matters if circumstances change. Outcomes are discussed in ranges clients can rely on, rather than single-point forecasts, with agreed responses to market movements or life events.

Demand for this advice is rising. According to the 2025 Adviser Ratings Report, demand for retirement planning increased from 52.2% in 2024 to 58.8% in 2025. Signalling that Australians are perhaps not just seeking better outcomes; they’re seeking more dependable ones.

Why confidence-led advice is built to scale

We expect the most resilient advice practices heading into 2026 will not be built on bespoke complexity or individual adviser heroics. They will be the ones that ‘systemise’ certainty.

With demand continuing to outstrip supply, practices that can consistently deliver clarity and confidence - through repeatable structures and dependable outcomes - will be better positioned to scale, retain clients, and support families across generations.

Confidence-led advice doesn’t just improve client outcomes. It builds more resilient businesses. Clients who feel confident - stay longer, refer more and are less reactive during periods of volatility.

In that sense, confidence is not just a client outcome. Heading into 2026, it is one of the most powerful - and defensible - scalability levers advisers have.