What we do

Yeates & Co Advisory provides services to sophisticated and professional investors for personal investment and superannuation to individuals, their superannuation accounts, couples, family trusts, companies and self-managed superannuation funds.

The advice we provide aligns with the goals and outcomes you want and includes:

Strategic advice
Investment advice
Cash-flow advice
Legacy advice
Investment management

We are qualified in other advice areas by request and need. Your experience at Yeates & Co is appetite driven and not menu driven..

Strategic, Investment and legacy advice

Financial, Social and Personal

Financial Social, and Personal outcomes are the foundations of your advice and management strategy:

Social: What is the purpose?
Personal: How do I want to live?
Financial: What $ outcomes do I need?

How we deliver advice: Strategic Investment Legacy

Strategic advice

Strategy defines priorities: what is important today and in the next days, weeks and years into perpetuity. A strategy describes what matters to you, the client. A personal or family strategy speaks to the broad set of objectives that are grouped into personal, social, financial and familial.

Advice defines actions as well as outcomes, based on anticipated needs and aligns with the direction that has been set. There are personal considerations, structures and decisions to be made, together with timelines, dates and deadlines. As well, there are issues you need to think about and what distractions are best avoided: what structure for tax and investment should you consider? How should you invest? How do you avoid making mistakes? The list goes on.

These days we are bombarded by opinions and information; however, what really matters is understanding what you want.

From our experience we understand that this is the most valuable conversation we can have. Once we are on the same page, the detailed advice journey can begin.

This advice becomes the framework of your investments, assets and income, balancing needs with risk to shape the possible.

Happiness, health, stability and cash flow are all common wants in our lives. Take those things away and ask yourself; above all else, what do I want? What will make me truly content?

A strategy is the direction; the more simply that is expressed, the more powerful this becomes.

Imagining outcomes often clarifies what you truly want ®.

Investment advice

This is the most visible and actionable part of what we do; active, regular and ongoing, investment advice is the primary identifiable need.

Investment advice at its simplest is the set of actions and recommendations that create the financial returns to deliver on your strategy today, tomorrow and into the future.

Advice reflects what our clients ask us to do:

Design, decide and manage portfolios to generate consistent returns, growth and income
Understand your genuine comfort level for returns, risk and outcomes
Engage our resources such as research, contacts and market intelligence to identify which assets are right for you to invest in
Allocate funds to different types of assets that balance risk and return
Make proactive recommendations to achieve target returns and outcomes
Guide you as work, family or business changes
Consider the impact of an inheritance or bequest and what that entails
Report to you with updates on how you are tracking towards your financial goals
Respond to the matrix of economies, politics, markets, sentiments, governments, regulation, events, confidence, rates, trends, inflation, chatter and liquidity

The ever-shifting global paradigm is one none of us can control, yet it creates the circumstances that influence ongoing and active advice and how we adapt to the conditions.

Our test of success is simple; the sleep at night test* – your sleep not ours ®.*

Investment management

Investment management is a long and comprehensive list of tasks, tactics, research and administration that happens behind the scenes.

Tasks are performed on a platform appropriate to the assets. Different platforms have different functionality and fit-for-purpose is part of that choice based on asset mix and investments overlaid by your style, focused on the outcomes you want.

Platforms we use include Praemium, Dash, Macquarie, Netwealth and Hub.

Reporting and functionality are critical requirements as this information forms the basis of decision-making that in turn is framed through after-tax outcomes.

To assist us we work closely with your board of advisers such as your accountant, solicitors, estate planners, insurance providers and all whose input is part of your decision-making framework.

How much cash you need and how you will react to events around you is under your control. Our advice guides you through these changes®

Legacy advice

We are living longer and we are wealthier.

An increasing number of us face challenges in addressing legacy issues when an out dated concept of family and inheritance may not be appropriate.

Relationships are viewed more broadly than the nuclear family of husband, wife and kids. Families are not as conventionally defined; they are more like a vine than a tree. Our descendants may not necessarily share our lives, have similar values or even be of the next generation. Increasingly, we see those who mean the most to us are relationships outside of the definition of a nuclear family.

Some may view their role in society as their legacy, as their stamp of existence with their presence more enduring than leaving cash to the kids.

Estates used to be what we left behind; they are more than a Royal Doulton tea service. ®

Times have changed; we embrace changing social and family structures and position our advice to reflect that.

At Yeates & Co, legacy is a sophisticated concept.

We consider legacy as the driver of personal advice and an important consideration that has long been overlooked. While the concept of legacy is at risk of becoming hollow sales spiel on a PowerPoint slide, we believe legacy will, in time, be accepted as the driver of good advice by those who genuinely place clients in the centre of their work.

Understanding a person’s legacy requires method, skill – and a touch of magic.

Moreover, when you have a view of what your legacy is, we are able to develop a focused strategy and investment direction to deliver what you need now and to achieve your legacy objectives, whether they be social, familial, personal or financial.

What do you see as your stamp of existence?

Once a certain set of needs is met, humans choose to pursue what satisfies them, what provides pleasure and happiness and often, accomplishment and recognition.

As we are having this conversation, you may already have the resources to feed, clothe and house yourself and be secure from wild animals. We are talking about how you think of yourself, your achievements and most importantly, the imprint you want to leave on this world.

Maslow’s needs hierarchy has been manipulated over the last century but no one has better described how we think and respond as our needs are met. In reading this we assume you are towards the apex of motivation of human behaviour.

Recognition is the outcome of purpose. ®

Recognition is not to be confused with fame. Recognition is the value others see in you. All of us are recognised for what we bring to the human existence. Fame is a totally different beast altogether and not something we are concerned about.

Recognition is how we wish to be acknowledged in our lives. This may come from our partners, family, friends, work or social groups that acknowledge who we are and the difference we make.

Consider: does your legacy align with how you want to be recognised?

Recognition is our way of marking territory and our time. ®

Why does this matter to your financial adviser?

If you have a clear notion of legacy, your strategy and its consistent set of actions create focus and priorities for your goals in life.

Why is it important now if it did not matter in the past?

The answer is health and wealth.

Australians living today enjoy a healthy, active and engaged lifestyle and future generations will even more so. Therefore, it follows that the social, personal, financial and familial aspects of wealth are in parallel and take on meaning.  Our lives are more sophisticated yet affluent and complex.
Most of us will achieve a lifestyle our grandparents or even parents could not imagine.

If you are 80 years old in Australia, a male can expect to live for another 9.02 years on average, while a female can expect to live for another 10.49 years.

This is longer than life expectancy at birth, as 80-year-olds have already survived the accidents and illness of earlier decades. The older we are, the longer we can expect to be around. With improved healthcare and diet, we can also expect to live a more active and productive life at a much older age.

Australian adults are the second wealthiest in the world, with a median wealth of US$268,424 ($413,300) UBS GWR p18 *footnote. Yeates & Co thinks this may be on the low side and closer to mean or average wealth  that UBS measures at US$516,640 ($795,000).

If we are to understand the significance of both the opportunity and the challenges it brings the  key data is Australia in 2025 has the second highest median  wealth after Luxembourg and fourth highest average wealth after Luxembourg Hong Kong, USA and Switzerland.

The USA and several microstates have an enormous concentration of wealth usually in very few hands. In Australia that wealth is in many hands  The richest people may live elsewhere; however, people in Australia are richer than in any other country. This is a notion that often does not sit easily with Australians’ egalitarian view of ourselves.

Advisers, marketers, government and most of us have not been bold enough to consider both the personal and broader societal impacts.  Both a challenge and a unique opportunity to create a lasting change that will have an impact on every part of our social structure. The conversation has only just started.

Here is why the conversation matters.

Australia’s estimated intergenerational wealth transfer, the Great Wealth Transfer (GWT), is projected to be between $3.5 trillion and $5.4 trillion over the next 20 years as Baby Boomers and early Gen X pass on assets.  This massive shift in wealth is driven by increased property values, personal wealth accumulation and superannuation balances.  It represents a significant event in Australian history, with implications for the economy, housing and investment market, and individual family legacies.  Yeates & Co estimates the magnitude of intergenerational wealth transfer at $5 trillion for the period 2030 – 2050, affecting about eight million beneficiaries directly or indirectly.

For more:
At $5 trillion, assuming the average wealth transfer is $3 million, the number of estates could be as many as 1,700,000.  If we assume there are three direct and five indirect beneficiaries to each estate, the population of people with an interest is 8,300,000 million people.  That is a ratio of 1:4 for every Australian man woman, non-binary and child.

The average and median wealth of an Australian adult varies depending on the source and methodology, according to a MoneyManagement.com.au report citing the UBS Global Wealth Report 2025 (footnote) they report a mean wealth per adult of around US$620,000 (A$970,000), It is important to note that in the US this figure is skewed by a small number of very wealthy individuals and a larger number of poor.  Median wealth, which represents the typical individual, could be a more representative and informative measure, standing at about US$268,000 (A$415,000). The challenge in relying on some of data is that data is not necessarily fit for purpose and is a derivative of data measuring something different  making it open to misinterpretation.  We are comfortable with our research and how it should be used.    See median v mean average in the FAQ’s (link).

What is important is the message the data is asking us to notice.

It is sufficient to consider that Australians are at the top of the global wealth tree and projected to stay there for some time. Australian wealth is widely dispersed with a low number of super rich. Again the UBS report (p45) records a Gini coefficient of 0.55 (1 = unequal and 0 most equal). The most recent comprehensive Gini coefficient data for Australia is for 2022-23, which showed a coefficient of 0.307 for equivalised disposable household income. A 2025 forecast from Statista estimates the figure will rise to 0.34. Again the message is clear;  Australia ranks 27^th on this scale, this is consistent with other data indicating the breadth of the wealth transfer occurring in Australia.

With the UBS Global Wealth Report 2025 estimating average Australian adult wealth at $970,000 and Yeates & Co estimates  the number of estates in the period 2030 – 2050 at 5,140,000.by including forecast reproduction rates and family size the number of beneficiaries represents a staggering 80 per cent plus of the population, athis is pre-factoring multiple beneficiaries and a rapidly declining fertility rate.

As our mission is personal advice, the magnitude of the social challenge is of concern to us only for its impact on the law and on government policy.

The uniqueness of this is scale.  Nowhere in history has such wealth transferred so broadly without the intervention of the state.  If wealth transfer is managed properly, the implications for Australia could last for the next 200 years – a fascinating consideration but a topic for another time.

Why have we accumulated so much wealth?  What are we going to do with it?

This is where recognition comes in.  We have more than we need to feed, clothe and house ourselves.  We know we can meet all the survival needs of being human with open possibilities for generations to come.  However, our ambitious selves now want to satisfy a set of higher-level wants.

Our reason for being has moved past survival to purpose and recognition. ®

The issues to resolve are how to maintain personal purpose beyond our children after we cease paid work and how to align an investment strategy with reconditioned purpose.

The answer is through recognition and through legacy.

Yes – we are healthy and wealthy. Are we wiser?

Knowing all of this is interesting but has it changed how we think about our future, that of our future generations and beneficiaries, and our legacy?

Over the many years we have been talking about legacy, we have found many clients and their beneficiaries see the privilege as an onerous burden.

At Yeates & Co one of the most usual challenges we see is balancing the desire to provide and make life easier for our children without taking away ambition and capability. Rarely is this simple nor is it easy, especially when the available tool kit reflects times past. Most personal advice suits bygone generations rather than reflecting contemporary family or society, our values and ethos.

Yeates & Co would expect any leading well-respected Australian charity to receive into its coffers in 2025 cash or shares of around $30 – $40 million p.a. in bequests as a minimum. Our estimate for 2035 is for this to increase to $200 – $300 million p.a per charity.. This sum should continue to grow as Gen X dies and average fertility rates go under 1.5. At Yeates & Co our advice and strategies consider the current and future world.

Our ethos is to provide the guidance that will achieve the legacy you want in the way you want, that not only changes future outcomes but also changes the strategy and investment advice you should implement now.

Change we drive nurtures us; change imposed hurts us ®

What is legacy management?

Legacy is both the culmination and continuum of each person’s life and their experiences woven into future society. Consciously or unconsciously, we all have a legacy. How much you guide this is for you to decide. We uncover and implement your decisions about what your legacy is or could be.

Legacy is character, reflecting thought, ideas, ambitions and action.

Legacy starts when you consider what you are known and respected for.

Legacy reflects heart, mind and money.

Legacy is a collection of skills, passions, philosophies and munificence that is the basis for the tangible and measurable results that Yeates & Co helps deliver. Investment strategy should be consistent with your legacy roadmap, traversing objectives, lifestyle and needs along with interests, ambitions and hopes.

Our clients want their legacy to stand for something, their money to do something, their income to mean something and for future generations to achieve something.

It is not how you give your money; rather, when and how money is received that makes a difference ®