Capital Conversations S2 episode 1: Constructing social capital with Charlie Viola

Charlie Viola left a successful, award-winning career at Commonwealth Bank at 23 to join Moore Stephens' wealth management arm and turned up to a desk, a phone, and virtually no clients. What followed was years of cold-calling accountants and lawyers to find "centres of influence" who could refer him work, including a chance meeting that led to a flood of Macquarie executive director clients - a group that still makes up around a third of his client base today. It took six or seven years to reach his first million dollars in revenue; the business now turns over $10–11 million. Eighteen months ago, Charlie joined Sean Ward and Andrew Levi to found Viola Private Wealth, now managing just over $3 billion.

In this episode, Charlie joins Steve Robertson to trace that journey, from the anxiety of a cold-calling desk to growing the business nearly 50% through the GFC by staying in constant contact with clients when other advisers went dark. He shares why he believes financial advice is a humanities job, not a maths job, and why "energy and normalcy" are the real art forms behind every technically sound portfolio.

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