How Yellowtail halved its headcount (and doubled its AUM)
When Dennis Hall founded Yellowtail Financial in 2006, he built the firm around a simple philosophy: fee‑only advice, passive investing, and what he calls “our one best idea”. What he didn’t expect was how much time the business would eventually spend wrestling with a platform that no longer fit the way they worked. Two decades on, Yellowtail is operating with half the staff it had five years ago, managing nearly double the assets, and charging clients less. All because they fixed a problem that had quietly become structural.
The problem: Technology that slowed everything down
For 17 years, Yellowtail relied on a platform that simply wasn’t built for a passive, buy‑and‑hold firm. Its commercial model depended on trading activity; Yellowtail generated almost none. Despite managing over £120m, they were effectively an unprofitable client.
The operational drag was enormous. Two administrators were employed purely for CGT calculations. An adviser spent three months a year doing the same task. The platform didn’t own its technology, development was glacial, and even basic actions required multiple logins. Hall eventually stopped using it in client meetings altogether.
The search for something better
Hall watched the market for years, hoping for a platform that matched his philosophy of simplicity. A recommendation to look at Fundment initially met with scepticism; he’d been disappointed before. But this time, something was different.
I just thought ‘this is refreshing’. You go on and look at the dashboard and I'm thinking ‘oh, this is easy’.
It reminded him of the direct‑to‑consumer platform he’d been using personally. “I need something that is as easy to use as an adviser,” he thought.
Making the switch, and what changed
Yellowtail’s approach was all‑in: one platform, one ecosystem, no half measures. The impact was immediate and profound.
“We don't have an administrator in the business anymore,” Hall says. The two people previously dedicated to CGT? No longer needed. The adviser who spent a quarter of the year on calculations? Now focused entirely on clients.
“My advisers, me and my team, we do our admin. We all go in. I do whatever I need to do with clients on Fundment. Want something sorted out? I'll do it now while we're here. It's that intuitive.”
In terms of headcount, Yellowtail is now half the size it was five years ago, while managing nearly double the AUM.
What actually matters: proprietary technology
Hall is clear that the real difference isn’t a single feature; it’s the fact Fundment owns its technology.
“Until you've experienced it, you don't know how important it is,” he says. “You don't know what you don't know.”
The contrast with legacy development cycles was stark.
“The moment [I came to Fundment] I said ‘hey, I just spoke to them about this a month ago and here's a fix. Oh, that's all right, isn't it!? None of this 'it's going to go on the committee' or 'it's not going to get done for two years.’”
One login, one ecosystem
For Hall, simplicity is a philosophy, and Fundment’s design is a practical expression of it.
“Fundment gives me one login to see everything I need to see on a platform,” he says. “I don't need to go into a separate trading screen, I don't need to go into a separate something else.”
He’s blunt about why this matters: many platforms are built for the “lowest common denominator”, assuming advisers need to be protected from themselves. He disagrees.
“If you've got platforms that are going direct to consumer and consumers can pick that up, why don't B2B platforms have the same level of simplicity?”
Beyond features: a genuine partnership
When asked what he values most, Hall doesn’t mention CGT tools or auto‑rebalancing.
“Relationships,” he says. “We have always positioned Fundment as a partner and feel that we are respected as a partner.”
The bigger picture
The right platform didn’t just make Yellowtail faster. It changed the nature of the service they could deliver. Hall now offers what he calls a “full service from touchy feely, deep conversation to execution, just in one ecosystem”. The technology fades into the background, allowing the firm to focus on purpose, values, and long‑term planning rather than annual portfolio reviews.
Advice for other advisers
When advisers ask whether they should switch, Hall’s answer is pragmatic.
“If you get this right, you can bring your costs down,” he says. “How many people are you employing just to keep your existing platform working and delivering?”
For Yellowtail, that number was 2.25 full‑time equivalents, all now redeployed to more valuable work.
Twenty years after founding the firm, Hall has found a platform partner that matches his philosophy. The result is a business that’s smaller, more profitable, and charging clients less than ever.
“We're proud of staying ahead of the curve and staying true to mission,” Hall says.
