The record stops travelling.
Household details, scope, modelling inputs and review history stay attached to the client instead of being reconstructed in the next tool.
PRODUCT
The advice work, in the order you do it.
Fourteen chapters, one household. Each step is shown as the adviser meets it for a client: what they ask, what Aether holds, and what stays on the record afterwards. Everything stays connected to the same client file, for solo and micro-practice Australian advisers.
- IThe durable client record
- IIModelling, comparison and decisioning
- IIIDocuments, practice control and delivery
ACTI
The durable client record
Chapters 01–05Client record
Every piece of work starts from the same household.
Household, members and entities in one record. A fact entered once stays attached to the household, its entities and its history.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
Sofia and Marco Torres arrive with a studio company between them. The household, both clients and Torres Creative Studio Pty Ltd go in once.
Evidence kept
Household · 2 clients · 1 company · onboarded date · adviser of record
Household, clients and the company are one record; every later step reads from it.
Illustrative figures · not adviceFact find
Capture the facts once. Carry them everywhere.
Structured intake that flows into scope, modelling and advice without re-keying. What the client tells you becomes the working record.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
Sofia’s studio turned over $340k on $118k profit. Marco is on a principal’s salary. Their home loan has an offset with $138,000 of savings sitting beside it.
Evidence kept
Income · assets · liabilities · super · insurance · source and date of each fact
The loan, its offset and its owner are captured once, with source and readiness visible.
Illustrative figures · not adviceGoals & objectives
Goals the numbers can actually answer.
Goals carry dates and dollar values, linked to the projections that test them and the advice that serves them.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
Sofia wants to step back from the studio to two days a week by 2041 without selling the house. That becomes a dated, priced goal the projection can pass or fail.
Evidence kept
Goal · target date · amount · priority · linked projection · linked recommendation
A goal carries a date and a dollar value, so a projection can pass or fail it.
Illustrative figures · not adviceScope of advice
Say what the advice covers before anything is recommended.
Ten advice areas classified in, out or incidental, each exclusion with a written reason. The rules engine stays locked until scope is complete.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
Seven areas in scope, two incidental, Centrelink out with the reason recorded. Debt management leads, because the offset question is why Sofia came in. Ten of ten classified; the engine unlocks.
Evidence kept
10 areas classified · exclusion reasons · scope completeness · unlock event
What the advice covers is decided, and written down, before anything is recommended.
Illustrative figures · not adviceRisk profile
A risk profile you can defend, not a number you assigned.
Twelve answered questions produce a scored profile; the adviser’s override, if any, is recorded beside the score with its reason.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
Sofia’s answers on the drawdown question are kept with her score, so the profile can be explained a year from now, not just quoted.
Evidence kept
12 responses · score · derived profile · override + reason · completed date
The answers stay with the score, so the profile can be explained later, not just quoted.
Illustrative figures · not adviceACTII
Modelling, comparison and decisioning
Chapters 06–10Projections
Model the decision before you make it.
Forward cashflow, super, tax and goal projections with auditable assumptions. Scenarios show the consequence of a strategy on the client’s own facts.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
Sofia asks whether to salary-sacrifice or keep paying down the offset. Two scenarios run on the household’s own figures; the warning line notes where SG alone exceeds the concessional cap.
Evidence kept
Inputs · assumptions · scenario deltas · warnings · dated regulatory pack
The assumptions and their projected consequence are reviewed together, warnings included.
Illustrative figures · not adviceResearch
Research becomes part of the decision.
Super funds, platforms and portfolios compared on fees, features and performance, with the comparison kept beside the recommendation it informed.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
Super funds compared for Sofia on fees at her balance, insurance inside super and the investment menu. The comparison stays attached to whichever fund is recommended.
Evidence kept
Research set · criteria · fee at balance · comparison table · date of data
The comparison is kept beside the recommendation it informed.
Illustrative figures · not advicePortfolio
From current holdings to an implementable portfolio.
Holdings arrive as CSV, PDF or screenshot and become a current-versus-proposed ledger: allocation, CGT, brokerage and implementation notes.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
Sofia’s holdings are imported and the proposed allocation is corrected by hand; the cost of the positions to sell shows before anyone commits.
Evidence kept
Imported holdings · proposed weights · CGT estimate · brokerage · implementation notes
Holdings become a current-and-proposed comparison the adviser can correct before anyone commits.
Illustrative figures · not adviceInsurance
Cover, gap and premium on one page.
Existing policies inside and outside super against a needs analysis, so the gap and the cost of closing it are visible before the recommendation.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
Sofia’s cover crosses from the fact find with insurer, structure and sum insured: $1.25m life, $900k TPD, trauma and income protection, all held outside super. Insurance is in scope, and what the engine returns are reviews of ownership, premium structure and business expense cover rather than a change to any sum insured.
Evidence kept
Policies · owner · inside/outside super · needs analysis · gap · premium
Cover, gap and premium on one page before any recommendation.
Illustrative figures · not adviceStrategy
The recommendation arrives with its reasoning attached.
The advice engine brings agreed scope, client facts and dated regulatory inputs to each strategy, checks eligibility, and returns a proposal with rationale, alternatives and cautions. It stays in adviser review until a person decides what moves forward.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
Moving $138,000 into the offset saves about $8,142 a year in interest while the funds stay accessible. The engine proposes it, names the cheaper option and the do-nothing case, and waits.
Evidence kept
Eligibility check · rationale · strategy basis · alternatives considered · cautions · status: pending
Eligibility and reasoning are visible before the adviser decides what proceeds.
Illustrative figures · not adviceAdvice engine
The engine evaluates structured advice logic.
It brings agreed scope, client facts and dated regulatory inputs to each strategy, checks eligibility, and returns a proposal with its rationale, assumptions, alternatives and cautions attached.
The proposal stays in adviser review until a person decides what reaches the document. Vesper is the assistant used to work with Aether's records and proposals; the engine evaluates the strategy logic underneath them.
ACTIII
Documents, practice control and delivery
Chapters 11–14Documents
From approved recommendation to document.
White-labelled SOAs, FSGs and engagement letters drafted from the live record, with every section traceable to the facts and decisions behind it.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
The accepted offset recommendation, the projection that supports it and the two alternatives land in Section 4 of Sofia’s draft SOA. The draft is reviewable, not final.
Evidence kept
Draft version · section → source map · assumptions listed · adviser sign-off state
The draft is reviewable, not final: finalising and publishing are separate, explicit steps.
Illustrative figures · not adviceAdviser review & release
The adviser remains the decision-maker.
Recommendations and documents are held behind clear review and release gates, and each client’s next-review cadence is tracked so the obligation is visible before it is due.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
The Torres draft sits at adviser review. Sofia’s adviser modifies the caution on variable rates, approves, and releases. The release event is the audit row.
Evidence kept
Review state · modify/approve/decline · release actor · timestamp · document version
Review cadence stays visible across the practice instead of living in a separate reminder list.
Illustrative figures · not adviceWorkflows & reviews
The busywork keeps moving between meetings.
Tasks, review cadences and implementation steps tracked against the household, so the next action is visible without reconstructing the file.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
The Torres fee consent is inside its expiry window and the next review is already pinned. Both sit on the register before either is due.
Evidence kept
Fee consent expiry · next review · open tasks · implementation steps · who owns each
The next action is visible without reconstructing the file.
Illustrative figures · not advicePractice
The practice’s own defaults, applied everywhere.
Adviser, support and licensee roles with per-firm boundaries; fee plans, branding and templates configured once and applied to every document and workflow.
Live scenarioTorres Family Showcase · Sofia & Marco · synthetic
A support staff member prepares the Torres file but cannot release it. The firm’s fee plan and letterhead are already on every draft.
Evidence kept
Roles · firm boundary · fee plans · branding · templates · audit trail
Roles and firm defaults are set once and apply to every file.
Illustrative figures · not advicePRACTICE CONTROL
Keep every advice obligation in view.
Aether consolidates the due dates, review status and document history an adviser needs to keep moving, without pretending the system completes regulated actions on its own.
- Fee-consent renewals
- Annual reviews
- SOA and ROA history
- Risk-profile reviews
- Due dates and outstanding controls
BEYOND THE CHAPTERS
The client record carries the useful work between modules.
- Trace
Trace and react
Inspect the inputs, formula steps and dated regulatory source behind a number, then flag advice when facts, dates or packs change.
- Propose
Meeting to reviewed record
Turn a transcript into proposed fact-find updates, a file note, and tasks, each held behind adviser confirmation.
- Package
Audit in a box
Package the client record, advice evidence, calculation traces, and version history into one review-ready bundle.
The practical difference
What changes when the work shares one record.
The explanation stays with the decision.
A recommendation carries its rationale, alternatives, assumptions and cautions into adviser review and document production.
The practice keeps a practical way out.
Aether publishes its gaps, uses month-to-month terms and provides a complete export in an open format if the fit changes.