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General

General Advice – One Of The Fastest-Growing Service Models

August 18, 2026

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General Advice has moved from a niche compliance category to one of the fastest-growing service models in Australian life insurance

More advisers are transitioning into it, more established practices are running it alongside their existing advice business, and more new entrants are choosing it as their way into the industry. Driving much of that growth is Consilium Advice Australia, one of the few licensees in Australia built exclusively around the General Advice model.

What’s actually growing

General Advice is financial product advice that helps a client understand life insurance without taking their personal objectives, financial situation or needs into account. In practice, that means an adviser is providing education to clients so they can reach their own informed decisions.

This model allows advisers to spend their time in front of clients rather than producing advice documents. Consumers get a compliant, consistent way to understand their options. And the industry gets a channel that can reach far more Australians who need cover.

Consilium Advice Australia has backed this model for more than a decade, building the compliance framework, training program and supervision structure that allow advisers to deliver it properly. That groundwork is a large part of why the model is now gaining the traction it is.

Three ways advisers are getting there

Momentum shows up differently depending on where an adviser is starting from.

Experienced advisers who specialise in risk insurance are making a full move from Personal Advice, drawn by a model that is far more efficient and streamlined. Established wealth and risk practices are adding General Advice as a second offering that runs in parallel under a separate licensee whose entire framework is built around General Advice. This allows the existing advice business to carry on untouched while the new offering runs on its own dedicated structure. Many of these practices are training their own staff to become accredited General Advice specialists rather than hiring externally, turning existing team members into specialists for that second arm of the business.

New entrants to life insurance advice for the first time, or those returning after years away, are choosing General Advice as a genuine, well-supervised entry point, completing the educational requirements for the model and moving through structured in-house training designed to produce real specialists.

Why the licensee is the deciding factor

That distinction is what determines whether the model actually works. Running both advice models under the one licensee has its benefits as well as its challenges, the biggest of which is managing clients’ perceptions of the service they are receiving while also managing exposure to risk.

With a specialised General Advice licensee, every policy, process and document is designed solely for General Advice. The training, education and compliance framework are all built specifically for General Advice, which is why advisers get clarity instead of restriction, and clients receive a consistent, streamlined service.

“The licensee’s main function is to support its authorised representatives in being compliant, while also ensuring they have all the resources, tools and support they need to run and grow their businesses,” a spokesperson for Consilium Advice Australia said.

“We have built this model specifically for advisers. We support advisers at every stage of their business to be both compliant and profitable, while ensuring we do not restrict their business in any way. Compliance is paramount for the licensee as well as for every practice, ensuring everyone has a business for the next 20-plus years.”

The opportunity, and the invitation

The underlying trend is clear: General Advice is no longer a workaround; it’s becoming a genuine specialisation, and the licensees built for it are the ones setting the pace.

For advisers weighing up a transition, a practice considering a second offering, or someone deciding where to start or restart a career in life insurance advice, the model is worth a serious look.

Consilium Advice Australia welcomes enquiries from advisers, practices and new entrants who want to understand what General Advice could look like for them. Reach out to start the conversation.