If your business is built purely on profit, when the going gets tough, it will struggle. But when it’s built around solving a real problem for real people, that goal becomes your anchor.
There’s a version of financial advice that most Australians never get access to. The kind that is thoughtful, tailored, and feels less like a product and more like a conversation. Steven Cove and Mathew Walters have worked for years within institutions that were able to do so. They just weren’t always prepared for it.
On this week’s Founder Friday, Dynamic Business spoke with the co-CEOs of Pacific Wealth Partners to find out what led two veteran financial services firms to step away from the security of large institutions and build something all their own.
The answer turned out to come down to a shared frustration and a belief that the sector could do better.
“We had all worked in the financial planning and financial services field for more than a decade,” Cove and Walters explained, “and we came together at a previous firm where we realized we were aligned in values and philosophy.”
That alignment sharpened into a clear goal when they took an honest look at the way advice was given across the sector. “On the one hand, traditional financial advice was largely reserved for wealthy clients with larger balances and incomes. On the other hand, ordinary Australians were served, but often without the level of personalisation, care or value we felt they deserved, sometimes at fees that did not stack up for the client.”
It was a hole they couldn’t see. “We believed that high-quality advice did not have to be exclusive,” they say. “The inspiration behind Pacific Wealth Partners was to deliver the best of both worlds: personalized, strategic advice, typically reserved for wealthier clients, made truly attainable for everyday Australians. Our goal was simple: to make working with a financial advisor accessible, valuable and human.”
Cove brings nearly a decade of experience at boutique planning firms and the Commonwealth Bank, where he worked in investment strategies, asset protection and retirement planning. Walters has spent more than twenty years in senior positions at NAB, Westpac and the Royal Bank of Scotland in London, spanning corporate, institutional and private banking. Together they represent the kind of depth that is rarely found in a company that chooses to remain deliberately small.
Grow on their own terms
One of the most important choices we made early on was to be very clear about who we want to serve
Building Pacific Wealth Partners meant making some choices that went against conventional business thinking. Rather than chasing scale or targeting wealthy customers, the founders decided early on to be specific about who they were building for.
“One of the most important choices we made early on was to be very clear about who we want to serve,” they said. “Rather than chasing scale or prestige clients, we focused on individuals, families and business owners who are often overlooked by the industry, people who earn good incomes, are steadily building wealth and want clarity, not complexity.”
That clarity of purpose shaped how they invested in the company. The priorities were not new offices or staffing goals. Instead, they pointed to clear communication and education, building long-term relationships rather than transactional advice, systems and processes that improve the customer experience, and a strong digital and content presence designed to build trust before an initial meeting was even scheduled.
“We’ve grown by being consistent, guided by values, and focused on providing advice that makes sense in real life,” they say.
Their approach to differentiation follows the same logic. For Pacific Wealth Partners, innovation is not about new products or technology per se. It’s about making complexity more navigable. “Our approach is based on plain English, transparency and genuine care for each client’s circumstances, not just their balance sheet,” the founders explained. “For us, innovation isn’t about flashy products. It’s about making complex decisions easier to understand, using technology to enhance rather than replace human advice, and adapting strategies as customers’ lives evolve.”
Trust, built the slow way
Neither founder romanticizes the difficulty of building a business in a heavily regulated industry. The compliance demands of financial services are real, and the cost and time involved in doing business well can slow growth in ways that test patience, especially early on.
“One of the biggest lessons is that it takes longer to do things the right way, but it also takes longer,” they said, looking back on the challenges of the company’s early years. “We have learned the importance of patience, consistency and staying true to our values, even if growth may be slower in the early stages.”
The other lesson they come back to is simpler, but perhaps more difficult to teach. “Trust is everything. You earn it through clarity, honesty and showing up consistently, especially when things are uncertain.”
This emphasis on consistency is deliberate. In an industry where clients often feel like they are being placed between advisors or managed remotely, Pacific Wealth Partners has built its model around the opposite: structured check-ins, regular reviews, and relationships designed to last rather than just transact.
Advice for anyone starting out
For founders in any industry considering the decision to strike out on their own, Cove and Walters offer advice that reflects everything they’ve learned building Pacific Wealth Partners.
“Be clear why you are doing it and who you are doing it for,” they said. “If your company is built purely on profit, it will struggle when the going gets tough. But if it’s built on solving a real problem for real people, that purpose becomes your anchor.”
And when it comes to the people you build with, they are just as direct. “Don’t underestimate the value of surrounding yourself with people who share your values and challenge your thinking. Pacific Wealth Partners exists because we built something together, not alone.”
In a financial services landscape increasingly defined by consolidation, automation and institutional scale, that idea of building something together and keeping it human is both their point of difference and the reason they started in the first place.
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