In this episode of The Australian Finance Podcast, Owen Rask sits down with Hayden Smith, Co-Founder and CTO of Pearler, to explore how Australians really invest — and where investing, technology and advice are heading next.
From ETFs and core-satellite portfolios to AI, robo-advice and the slow shift away from property-first thinking, this conversation goes deep on what’s working, what’s overrated, and what the “average successful investor” of the future might actually look like.
🧠 What you’ll learn in this episode
🇦🇺 Australia vs 🇺🇸 the US: how investors really differ
- How Australian investor preferences compare with the US
- Why ETFs dominate locally — and whether that’s normal or surprising
- Cultural, behavioural and structural differences between markets
👩💼👨💼 Investing behaviours: men, women & long-term outcomes
- Are there meaningful differences between how men and women invest?
- What the data says versus common stereotypes
- Why behaviour matters more than product choice
🧩 Core & Satellite investing — what it actually looks like
- ETFs vs shares: how real portfolios shake out in practice
- Why “core & satellite” is often misunderstood
- When simplicity beats sophistication
🏠 Is property-first thinking fading in Australia?
- Are Australians really moving away from property as the default wealth strategy?
- What’s changing — and what isn’t
- How housing affordability, flexibility and investing access shape behaviour
📊 What worked that wasn’t obvious
- The things Pearler expected to work — and didn’t
- The unexpected features or behaviours that delivered real results
- Lessons learned from building investing tools at scale
🔮 The successful Australian investor of 2030
- What does an “average but successful” 35-year-old investor look like?
- Habits, mindset and structure — not hype or shortcuts
- Why consistency still wins
🧠 Goals, calculators & investor tension
- Why goals are harder than people think
- The tension between optimisation and behaviour
- Are calculators still useful — or mostly ignored?
🤖 Digital advice, robo-advice & regulation
- How Hayden describes the current crop of “robo-advice”
- What digital advice gets right — and where it falls short
- Whether meaningful progress depends on government and regulatory change
🧠 AI, advice & trust
- Why you can’t (yet) just use ChatGPT or similar tools for investing advice
- Whether people will actually trust AI with financial decisions
- Is AI bigger than the internet — or just the next layer on top?
- Will non-technical users still be amazed by AI in 10 years, like YouTube today?
💻 Technology as a competitive advantage
- Is better software still a moat in fintech?
- Which parts of fintech are most likely to be disrupted
- Which areas are more resilient than people expect
⚡ Quick-fire: Hayden’s takes
- Worst investing advice Australians keep repeating
- One habit that consistently builds wealth
- Most overrated fintech feature
- Best innovation in finance over the past decade
🎧 Why you should listen
If you’re investing in ETFs, thinking about advice, curious about AI in finance, or just want a clearer picture of how Australians actually build wealth — this episode cuts through the noise and focuses on what genuinely works.
