World Mental Health Day | Time, pressure and performance: The hidden mental health challenge in financial advice – Stu Breyer, mallowstreet

As part of our World Mental Health Day coverage, mallowstreet CEO Stu Breyer explores the growing mental health challenge facing financial advisers. In a profession defined by trust, precision and relentless change, the greatest threat may not be regulation or technology — but the silent cost of lost time.

Financial advisers are under more pressure than ever. Consumer Duty, rising client expectations, tighter margins, and the constant flow of regulatory change have all added layers of complexity to an already demanding role. But behind the technical skill and professionalism that define this industry lies a growing, quieter issue: the mental health toll of time pressure.

Ask any adviser what they need more of, and the answer is rarely “more admin” or “more reporting requirements.” Instead, It’s one word – time. Time to think. Time to connect. Time to rest. Yet time is the one thing that feels increasingly scarce. The result is a culture of constant motion — inboxes full, diaries crammed, minds overloaded — where process becomes a proxy for purpose.

Within our industry, mental health is often compromised by the very structure of how we work. Long hours, endless admin, and the emotional load of supporting clients through uncertainty all contribute to burnout. The irony is that advisers — who spend their days helping others plan for the future — often have no space left to plan their own recovery.

We talk a lot about technology and transformation in financial services, but one of the most overlooked benefits of well-designed technology is its ability to reduce cognitive load. At mallowstreet, we built SOFI, an AI tool that listens to and summarises client meetings, to tackle exactly this problem. By automating notetaking and follow-up actions, advisers can focus on what matters most: listening, thinking, and guiding. It’s a small but powerful shift — away from multitasking towards mental clarity.

The impact goes beyond efficiency. When we ease the administrative pressure, we also lower the physiological stress response that fuels fatigue and mistakes. Freed from the constant background noise of to-do lists, advisers are able to engage with clients more deeply and creatively. The quality of thinking improves — and so does wellbeing.

This isn’t about replacing the human element of advice; it’s about protecting it. No technology can replicate empathy, intuition, or trust — but it can give advisers the breathing room to use those qualities well. When AI tools handle the repetitive, time-heavy tasks, advisers regain the space to think strategically, mentor colleagues, or simply finish work on time.

As an industry, we need to start viewing time as a wellbeing issue, not just an operational one. Financial advice depends on sharp judgement, clear thinking and emotional stability — all of which are undermined by chronic time scarcity. Supporting adviser mental health means creating structures that prioritise focus, balance and reflection.

Technology isn’t the whole answer, but it can be part of a much-needed cultural shift: from endurance to sustainability, from pressure to presence. If we want resilient, high-performing advice firms, we must design them around human energy — and the effort it takes to renew it.

By Stu Breyer, CEO of mallowstreet