Find out about the IFS Trusted Advice Model
More than 200 advisers, advice leaders, super fund representatives, members and industry partners came together at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on 29 October for the IFS Advice Conference. This year’s theme, Delivering Retirement, Not Just Advice, challenged the industry to look beyond activity and process and focus on what ultimately matters: helping members make clearer decisions and achieve stronger retirement outcomes.
Across the day, speakers explored the changing role of advice, advances in technology and AI, retirement income, member experience, hybrid advice and the practical skills advisers need to help members make better decisions.
The conference began with Normalising Longevity in Retirement Advice, introducing IFS's developing approach to understanding members' retirement income preferences.
Rather than beginning with products, the approach starts with education and preference discovery before testing those preferences, developing a retirement persona and connecting the results to potential retirement strategies. The aim is not to produce the same outcome for every member, but to create a more consistent process so differences in advice reflect genuine member preferences rather than differences in adviser familiarity or preference.
The showcase also highlighted an important idea for the industry: retirement decisions are behavioural as well as financial. How longevity, certainty, flexibility and other trade-offs are framed can influence the decisions members make, reinforcing the importance of starting with better retirement conversations.
Technology and the future of advice were explored throughout the day, including the rapidly changing possibilities created by AI.
Futurist Steve Sammartino explored developments spanning artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, bringing technological change to life through practical examples and challenging attendees to consider what these developments could mean for the way organisations and people work. His presentation demonstrated applications ranging from personalised AI to AI-generated video and physical AI, reinforcing just how quickly the boundaries of the technology are moving.
The conversation also looked at what a future superannuation experience could look like if retirement income, rather than account balance, became the starting point. A concept demonstrated how personalised digital nudges could help members take simple actions earlier, while more complex needs could move seamlessly to a specialist. In this model, technology helps scale guidance while advisers focus their time where human expertise adds the most value.
In Shaping the Next Chapter of Advice,the focus moved to the practical evolution of advice and how new tools andapproaches can support advisers as the industry changes.
This was followed by the AdviceGen IQ in Practice showcase, where Karlo Klasan from IFS and Matt Mutter, Head of Advice at Hostplus, took the audience through AdviceGen IQ and its application in a real advice environment, moving the discussion from the possibilities of technology to its practical use in advice.
The afternoon brought the focus back to some of the fundamentals of good advice.
In In Conversation with AFCA, Clarisse Dacion was joined by Dr Jenny Diggle and Shail Singh from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority for a practical conversation about complaints, member expectations and dispute resolution.
The discussion explored common themes in advice-related complaints, the risks associated with scoped advice, the importance of documentation and evidence, early complaint resolution and how emerging technologies such as AI may affect accountability and complaint risk. Another important theme was member understanding, particularly the need to make sure clients understand not simply what they have agreed to, but the consequences of the advice they are implementing.
That focus on understanding continued in Understanding Members, where members themselves were brought into the conversation. The session explored their experiences of seeking advice, preparing for and living in retirement, adapting plans as circumstances changed and the role advice played in their confidence and decision-making.
Bringing member voices directly into theconference provided a valuable opportunity to test industry assumptions againstlived experience and consider how advice can become more accessible,understandable and useful.
The final showcase provided a practical example of how advice models are already evolving.
Michael Young from Vision Super shared the fund's journey from one hybrid advice service to multiple member journeys. Its Retirement Health Check has reached approximately 2,500 members over three years, with around 40% of recipients going on to limited or comprehensive advice, most within two months of their initial meeting.
Vision Super has since expanded the approach to include a Super Health Check and Retirement Options service, creating different pathways based on where members are in their lives and the questions they need answered. A digital advice journey with IFS is also in development, with further opportunities to connect digital and human advice to be explored.
The showcase reinforced a theme carried throughout the conference: technology does not necessarily replace the human conversation. Used well, it can help create more accessible pathways into advice and allow human expertise to be directed to the moments where it matters most.
The conference concluded with a practical session focused on the conversations advisers have every day.
The session explored effective questioning, active listening and techniques for explaining complex concepts more clearly. Advisers were encouraged to explore areas including members' goals, current circumstances, readiness, preferences, fears and the consequences of different choices rather than moving immediately to solutions.
Just as importantly, good advice needs to be understood. Techniques such as communicating one idea at a time, using relatable examples, connecting information back to the member's circumstances and checking understanding can make complex financial concepts more meaningful and actionable.
The conference celebrations continued into the evening with the IFS Advice Excellence Awards, recognising the people and teams across the IFS advice network who continue to make a positive difference for members. Eight award categories recognised excellence across financial advice, paraplanning, advice assurance, support, partnerships and advice teams.
Congratulations to our 2026 award winners:
We congratulate all of this year's winners and nominees and thank them for the care, skill and commitment they bring to supporting super fund members.
While the sessions covered very different areas of advice, a common thread emerged throughout the day: better retirement outcomes require more than simply delivering more advice.
They require a deeper understanding of members, better conversations, thoughtful application of technology and advice models that make support available at the right time and in the right way.
Thank you to all our sponsors, speakers, members, fund partners, advisers, industry partners and guests who contributed to the event. The ideas shared throughout the day give us plenty to build on as we continue working together to make advice more accessible, engaging and effective for super fund members.
.png)