4th February 2025
Since partnering with Dynamic Planner, the UK's leading digital financial planning and advice platform, CEO Ben Goss and his team have driven significant transformation - investing in technology, expanding its offerings, and positioning itself as a critical platform for financial advisers in an evolving industry. In this Q&A, Ben discusses Dynamic Planner’s journey, the impact of FPE’s partnership, and the drivers shaping the company’s future.
Q: How did Dynamic Planner come about?
Ben: The idea started with online financial advice. I talked to some senior clients who were running wealth management at big banks, and they all thought it wouldn’t work and if it did it would be a flash in the pan! But a friend and I decided to go for it anyway, and we launched a business delivering online financial advice. Today, you might call it a robo-advisor. It was quite successful; we were advising over a thousand people daily. Eventually, we sold that company to an American firm.
One key thing I learned from that experience was that most people getting advice from us were taking it to their financial advisors afterwards to confirm or check it. That made me realise the value of human connection in financial advice. People want a trusted advisor to help with big decisions. So, when I started Dynamic Planner, I focused on supporting financial advisors - those helping the majority of retail investors in the UK.
Q: So, Dynamic Planner was born - can you tell us more about what it does?
Ben: Dynamic Planner makes the complex financial advice process simpler and faster. With increased regulatory demands, advisers need to meticulously match clients with suitable portfolios, which is time-intensive. Our platform transforms hours of work into moments, allowing advisers to quickly and accurately match clients with the right portfolios. This frees them to focus on building relationships and delivering personalised, trust-based advice.
Recently, we rebuilt Dynamic Planner on Azure, giving it a new frontend that enhances client engagement. Now, advisers can model clients’ financial futures and create plans aligned with each client’s risk tolerance and goals. Ultimately, we help advisers deliver compliant, high-quality advice in a way clients feel adds real value.
Q: Does Dynamic Planner take on tasks that advisers would typically handle themselves?
Ben: Yes, our platform handles the heavy, time-consuming work, freeing advisers—whether independent or part of a larger firm—to focus on building trusted client relationships. Dynamic Planner eliminates much of the administrative burden, allowing advisers to serve more clients efficiently. For example, an adviser who might normally manage around 100 clients can double or even triple that number with our platform, all while maintaining the same quality of service.
Q: How has Dynamic Planner evolved over the past two years since FPE’s investment?
Ben: It’s been transformative—almost everything has changed. As mentioned, we have completely rebuilt our platform on Azure. We upgraded our CRM and finance systems, brought in new talent, including a CFO, and built an enterprise sales team. It’s been like changing engines mid-flight, but these changes have made us more efficient and ready to serve larger enterprise clients.
This evolution is part of scaling up; we needed to shift our focus toward stronger processes to support our growth. Now, with our upgraded finance and CRM systems integrated with our platform, we can track the client journey end-to-end, something that wasn’t possible even a year ago.
Our growth has been significant—our pipeline is now 12 times larger than it was a year ago, and we’re seeing those opportunities turn into real wins. A key development has been the launch of TRAM, our highly configurable, white-label app for iOS and Android. TRAM allows advisers to offer a branded experience to their clients without the need for costly, custom-built apps, enabling firms to deliver client engagement quickly and affordably.
This approach has captured the industry’s imagination because it not only reduces costs but also expands our market reach. Currently, 4 million people in the UK receive financial advice, but another 12 million could benefit and often find it inaccessible. By lowering the cost to serve, TRAM helps make financial advice accessible to a broader audience, positioning us to grow beyond our current 56,000 users to potentially millions.
Q: How has Dynamic Planner positioned itself to serve the enterprise market?
Ben: With large firms growing and mid-sized firms consolidating, we recognised this trend and built a team specifically to target these bigger accounts. Success in this market requires more than a strong team; it needs a robust platform with features like audit trails, governance, and enhanced security, so we invested in these areas, achieving ISO 27001 certification for data security.
We’ve aligned our capabilities - both in people and technology - with where the market is heading. We hired a leader to head up our enterprise team, built pre-sales capabilities, and enhanced our platform to deliver the governance, hierarchy, and security that larger firms demand. This focus is paying off—our enterprise user base has grown significantly, our largest account has seen strong revenue growth, and our pipeline has expanded more than tenfold. We’ve put in the work, and it’s delivering results.
Q: Has it been challenging to grow in the current macroeconomic environment?
Ben: Post-Covid, our clients are dealing with rising costs and lower market-driven revenues, which makes our solutions more essential than ever. Despite the challenges, we’ve continued to grow, as firms - especially those backed by private equity - are investing in technology to expand their operating margins. This focus is crucial for growth in recurring revenue businesses, which all of our clients, like us, operate. To improve these margins, tech investment is key, and Dynamic Planner has become a fundamental part of the architecture for firms aiming to boost efficiency and scalability in today’s environment.
Q: How has the partnership with FPE been for Dynamic Planner?
Ben: It’s been great. We chose FPE because they share our values, especially around client focus and building value by delivering value. They’ve been supportive yet challenging, pushing us to move faster and think bigger. The FPE portfolio includes companies on similar journeys, often facing comparable challenges, and being able to connect with them as needed has been invaluable for me and the team. Overall, it’s been a very positive experience.
Q: What’s driving your confidence moving forward?
Ben: Ben Goss: We’re very confident, and that confidence comes from three major drivers: regulation, technology, and the demand for efficiency. Regulation is a big one - new rules like the Consumer Duty require that clients’ goals and outcomes are prioritised. Our latest app directly supports this by putting the financial plan in the client’s hands. It’s unique in the market, allowing clients to agree on a plan with their adviser and track it daily against valuations, risk, and personal goals. The response has been phenomenal.
Technology is another big driver, as clients and advisers increasingly expect to operate digitally. Many advisers aren’t there yet, which presents a huge opportunity for us to enable mobile-first advisory services. Lastly, demographic changes are fuelling demand. The ageing population has growing wealth and complex needs, making the UK one of the world’s largest wealth management markets. Advisers need the right technology to meet these clients’ needs, and we’re positioned to support that. Altogether, these factors make us very optimistic about the future.