How Much Should Personalised Financial Advice Cost

maxyzee on 05/06/2025 - 09:24
Last edited 05/06/2025 - 09:45

So I was wondering has anyone here used a personal financial advisor and what kind of price range I should expect.

We’re doing ok (house paid off, both earn 6 figures have investments outside of super etc.) but feel like we’re sort of floundering with no real purpose so I’m think having a financial advisor in our corner would help in shaping our goals and tightening up some leaks.

The advisor does seem pretty comprehensive and takes into account all of our personal finances and will give us a plan and projections based on all usual factors. The quote is around the 7k mark and I have no reference point so no idea whether this is about right or is it too cheap or expensive?

Anyway just curious if anyone on ozbargain have any experience?

Financial

Comments

  • jv on 05/06/2025 - 09:33
    -3

    $25 (cash only…)

    • cannedhams on 09/06/2025 - 12:07
      +1

      i thought it was one of your better efforts, got a chuckle from me anyway

  • mrtin on 05/06/2025 - 09:34
    +5

    $8k for the financial plan? Or 8k for financial plan and estimated ongoing cost for the 1st year? Includes insurance commissions if applicable? Please advise exactly what the 8k is for.

    • maxyzee on 05/06/2025 - 09:44

      Sorry 7k and this is the scope of work

      Cash Flow
      Debt Management
      Estate Planning
      Investment Plan
      Superannuation
      Wealth Protection (Which I assume includes insurance)

      • p1 ama on 05/06/2025 - 12:13
        +39

        Sounds like you're getting ripped.

        These are all things that you should be able to do with an Excel spreadsheet over a weekend.

        Ultimately, unless you are top 1% wealthy, or have very specific financial needs (e.g. specific cash flow requirements, hedging certain exposures / business risk, complex legal / tax structures, your income is highly tied to complex bonus structures or carry…etc.), there's nothing a financial advisor can tell you that is not already common knowledge.

        If you are investing for long-term growth, you won't "beat the market" in the long run, so just dump your money into a selection of ETFs, and don't look at the balance too regularly. For things like superannuation, there's nothing that a "small-time" financial advisor can do to get you better returns than the major super funds, so just leave that alone in a high growth / balanced option and don't touch it until you retire.

        Also worth being weary of how the "financial advice" sector works. (e.g. see https://www.reddit.com/r/AusFinance/comments/y2jkps/the_wors…), there are plenty of unscrupulous individuals who will make you worse off - it's very easy to sign onto long-term agreements and/or investment plans with exorbitant fees, or potentially be recommended certain products because of kickbacks that they get.

        • dtc on 05/06/2025 - 13:58
          +8

          $7k is pretty much standard because of the DD and background assessments

          I agree that most financial advisers do not do much and a person can learn 90% of it within a week or two and reading relevant websites and books. However DIY is not the same as hire someone to do it for you

          • TilacVIP on 06/06/2025 - 08:26
            +1

            @dtc: Like the above poster said, its a rip-off, unless you score an adviser who is actually worth it and those are as rare as hens' teeth.

          • SlickMick on 06/06/2025 - 08:29

            @dtc: I'd never be able to let a hireling look after my wealth. I could pay for advice if I could trust the person, (I don't know if that will ever happen), but I'd only be considering that advice against everything else I've learned to make an informed decision.

            Unless you live under a rock, I reckon all the information is freely available, if you have the inclination to DIY. (And I reckon those without the inclination probably aren't generating any wealth to need managing.)

        • blindwilly on 06/06/2025 - 18:10
          +3

          I would agree with you if your needs are simple but what you are talking about is gathering information and knowledge compared with implementing it.

          Estate planning can be as simple as writing a will and working out where the money goes but gets more complex with adult children and second marriages.

          Superannuation can also be simple - get the SG contribution and off you go till 65 but what about making additional contributions (both concessional and non-concessional), bring forwards, rollovers from other funds, spouse and govt co-contributions - all doable if you have the time and energy to figure out what to do when.

          Life Insurance is also more complex than most people think - yes, you can buy the stuff you see on TV ads but they underwrite at time of claim and not at time of taking the policy out so if you have a condition they don't cover they can deny it at claim time.

          Life insurance via an adviser will be underwritten at the start so any conditions that are excluded are disclosed up front so you can find another insurer who does cover it or pay a higher premium to have it covered.

          And then there's life insurance via super which also has limits on the conditions covered and the default cover provided (unless you choose to pay more) and can change when the super fund trustee tenders out the group insurance policy to a new provider.

          What it comes down to is you can do all this work yourself but what's your time worth? I used to fix my own car when it was simple (4 cylinders and an old school carburetor) and I could probably fix my modern car with its computers and electronics but my time is worth more than learning how to be a mechanic, and a really good one of those is 5 minutes away.

      • bcarp on 06/06/2025 - 18:17
        +1

        If you've found a good person, this sounds about right.

      • mrvaluepack on 08/06/2025 - 15:35
        +1

        You can do all of this yourself with a spreadsheet and asking the correct questions on chatgpt.

      • mrtin on 09/06/2025 - 08:35
        +1

        Value is difficult to ascertain from this list alone.

        You'll have to think about each item. What will they do for you in each of these areas?
        Most advisers will break down a concept very simply for ppl to understand.

        Once you understand each area, you'll then have to think about how each of those areas are interconnected. One thing you haven't mentioned is tax, as I think thry will want to do things in a tax effective manner too.

        If you can do all those things, then diy. If you can't, and you don't know how you are tracking to meet your goals, go ahead and pay (or shop around for someone cheaper).

  • Danstar on 05/06/2025 - 10:05
    +4

    I'll do it for $6,999

    • tenpercent on 05/06/2025 - 10:40
      +6

      I'll do it for $6942.0

      • Danstar on 05/06/2025 - 10:47
        -3

        $6941.00!

        • JIMB0 on 05/06/2025 - 11:14
          +6

          Woosh. You killed it, all for $1. Not nice.

  • dantrax77 on 05/06/2025 - 10:54

    $5000 flat in cash and i'll sort you out with advice.

    • Protractor on 05/06/2025 - 11:34
      +1

      $4999, call me

  • soan papdi on 05/06/2025 - 11:04
    +7

    Decide what you want to achieve first. Retire early? Need help with the stock market? Buy another house? etc.Plenty of material to read on before spending 7K. IMO not worth it especially if the adviser is going to get trailing commissions from their recommendations.

    Simple is usually the best. Read https://passiveinvestingaustralia.com/ and see how you go

  • JIMB0 on 05/06/2025 - 11:16

    Look for someone who is offering advise, it's often cheaper.

    • Protractor on 05/06/2025 - 11:33
      +2

      Great advise,right there.

      I'm all ears.

      • Eeples on 07/06/2025 - 19:11
        +2

        Good luck OP finding a good advicor.

  • AussieDaddy on 05/06/2025 - 11:26
    +3

    If you paid off the house, you and your SO are on well paying jobs, and you have investments outside super, you're doing fantastic. Instead of financial advisor, get a good tax agent/accountant if you haven't already.

    • netjock on 05/06/2025 - 11:33
      +1

      OP probably already got one.

      Problem with most tax agents / accountants is they only look at this year and next year. Then they chase deductions to get you to spend things on stuff you don't need.

      I had one guy who told me his tax agent / accountant told them to buy a house for negative gearing and after 3 years he sold it at a loss (Melbourne).

      Most accountants in public practice are bottom of the barrel graduates out of uni and threaten you with ATO compliance that is why you need to stay with them. If you have a business they will tell you to buy a car to get a deduction. Good for the accountant stats as a $40k car will net you a $10k deduction (company tax rate 25%) unfortunately that is $40k of profits and real cash for an ATO credit of $10k and the new car smell. Would you like $30k of cash plus $10k of franking credits or a car that continues to lose value.

      • [Deactivated] on 06/06/2025 - 19:56
        +7

        I had an accountant recommend I pay off my HECS debt to lower my income tax.

        I do my own taxes now.

        • Some Guy on 14/06/2025 - 01:08

          It's not that bad advice. Will help your serviceability when applying for credit/mortgage too.

  • samyall on 05/06/2025 - 11:31
    +4

    Like others have said, before you even think about seeking out and advisor, think about your goals and what you want to get out of it. It sounds like you want to pay someone to do this step for you, which is fine but then you should be clear when you speak to them that your goal is for them to walk you though all the different ways your money can work for you and how that effect your life/retirement/kids/grandkids etc.

    If your answer is "more money" then you shouldn't go speak to them because the best thing you can do save your money and do nothing.

    • SlickMick on 06/06/2025 - 08:49

      I'm not sure about the last sentence. If OPs goal is simply maximise wealth, I suspect that an adviser would suggest that they max out super and max capital value of PPOR rather than hold investments outside super.

      "Save your money and do nothing" would not achieve that.

      • samyall on 06/06/2025 - 15:49
        +1

        It would net them $7k.

        • SlickMick on 06/06/2025 - 15:54

          ?

          Or $7K is is small investment to retire with 100s of $1000s more.

  • netjock on 05/06/2025 - 11:36
    +3

    We’re doing ok (house paid off, both earn 6 figures have investments outside of super etc.) but feel like we’re sort of floundering with no real purpose so I’m think having a financial advisor in our corner would help in shaping our goals and tightening up some leaks.

    I ask clients all the time what is the outcomes you want?

    If you have $5m of property (say 5) and you want to travel the world in retirement do you want your property agent calling you up and telling you about minor maintenance issues and over quote tradies.

    Or $5m in shares and you got top flight people managing the company.

    Okay you can sell the property then what you going to do with the cash? Flip it into shares and give ATO a massive cut?

    • paulojr on 08/06/2025 - 20:22

      OP doesn't want to have to tell the advisor the goals, OP wants someone that can shape them, which isn't what a financial advisors do. The OP is probably looking for something that no one can do for them.

      My advise to OP, your goals are really your own.. need to figure where you want to be in 5,10, 15 years etc and work backwards from that.

      fyi. I would strong encourage spending some time reading this website, its called Mr Mustache, a very good advisor once told me about it and advisors wouldn't have jobs if people took the time to understand the basic principles of this site.

      https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/

      Once you read that, if you want then to get quotes from advisors to "do work" that's fine, but don't ask them to set your goals, just ask them to help set things up and for goodness sake don't let them take a trailing commission or charge a account based fee on anything as those that do this leech off their clients even when they are losing money for their clients. Also you can always ask to paid by the hour, see one for a few hours for a couple hundred then decide if they offered any useful advise.

      BTW read carefully about index based funds with low basis point costs, most advisors will sell you insurance (e.g. costing you money by scaring you how much you'll loose if you get sick) they usually skip over how hard it is to actually claim on those insurance policies, then next move onto trying to get you into an advisor only wealth platform so you need them to do any transactions, then sell you "active" managed funds that cost more and perform about the same as passive funds when you consider the management costs. Not saying all advisors do this, but most are about this as its a sickness of the industry.

      A good advisor will ensure you have a choice where you manage your money, will leverage index based funds, will be aware that negative gearing will cost you a LOT of personal time instead of money, (if your on 6 figures you don't want to waste time with tenant nightmares especially with the new laws that have come in)

      They might include insurance but that won't be the motivation of a good advisor and they'll instead make it clear how difficult most of these policies are to get paid on.

      Anyway, sounds like your already half way there, if you do want to waste money on advisors, start with the question, what can they commit to in writing in terms of benefits they can get you for the money. See if any have the courage to provide evidence they can actually provide advise that adds to your life. If they can, awesome, let us know about them.

  • p1 ama on 05/06/2025 - 12:07
    +5

    We’re doing ok (house paid off, both earn 6 figures have investments outside of super etc.) but feel like we’re sort of floundering with no real purpose so I’m think having a financial advisor in our corner would help in shaping our goals and tightening up some leaks.

    Money will not give you purpose, it will only give you a means of attaining your purpose. Similarly, a financial advisor cannot advise you on what your purpose is.

    You need to figure out what you want in life first, then (if needed) see a financial advisor to work out the details of how to make that a reality with the finances you currently have right now.

  • ytthr on 05/06/2025 - 14:08
    +7

    I used a financial advisor many years ago, was about $2000. A waste of money - perhaps I choose the wrong one.
    He was too focused on insurance, and to make matters worse when they did the cholesterol test it was high, so they wanted a 100% loading on the policy. I decided then to walk away, suddenly the loading was removed. I still walked away and arranged insurance direct.
    Sadly, I don't know anyone who can strongly recommend a financial advisor, but I know many clever folk that make brilliant suggestions, so some of my investments have worked out. That said, I also also had some losses.

  • dtc on 05/06/2025 - 14:26
    +2

    I suspect when you say you have no real purpose that you arent talking about purpose in life, which everyone has jumped on; but financial purpose.

    You pretty much have three things to consider:

    1. emergency fund for sudden large expenses or job losses. Keep this in cash. Up to you how much you want, some people say 3 months, some say 2 years.

    2. money you want to use within the next 5 years or so. Major purchase, house reno or new house, holiday house, perhaps school fees whatever. Again, best to keep this in cash (cash meaning Term deposit or high interest savings account)

    3. money you dont want to use within the next 5 years. For this you should invest the money. Are you a property person or a shares person or a bit of both? If shares then a low cost diversified ETF or 2 or 3 (google '3 ETF portfolio Australia') and just regularly invest (dollar cost averaging) into those ETFs. Hold onto them until you retire. Thats all you need.

    For property things are more complex but you know how to buy a house.

    Also consider adding more to super, however your inside vs outside super will depend on whether you want to access the money before age 60 (ie early retirement). Make sure you are in a low cost super fund - the default funds are not the cheapest and some super companies charge much higher fees than others.

    Get tax advice and potentially investment structuring advice (trusts or companies etc); but thats about it. You dont need other advice; you just need to think about things yourself and then implement your decisions.

    Obviously your financial growth depends on the gap between spending and income; so its always worth doing a budget and seeing if you can increase that gap without causing yourself too much hardship

    Apart from, possibly, tax, its really not that complicated. Super advice can be useful closer to retirement.

    If you feel that you need help or guidance, by all means use a financial adviser. It will cost you around $7k, thats pretty standard. You will get a long document of advice. If it doesnt say something similar to the above, then you have gone to the wrong adviser.

    • maxyzee on 05/06/2025 - 15:02
      +1

      Yeah thanks for the comment.

      The things you mentioned above I’ve already done, so I’ve got a bunch of cash in an offset that’s offsetting home loan for the investment property, the ETFs I also have and chucking in 2k month to that and my super contributions with my income it’s starting to hit the concessional cap.

      I guess what I’m after is someone to do the grunt work and yes I could whip up an excel spreadsheet but I guess it’s sorta like hiring painters. I could do it myself but how much is my time worth sorta thing.

      What I’m hoping for in the future is upgrade to another house and hopefully buy it in cash rather than going into debt for it and want to see what my trajectory is like to meet that goal.

      If 7k is about right then I’m happy to proceed I just hadn’t had a point of reference.

      • tenpercent on 05/06/2025 - 16:14
        +1

        If 7k is about right then I’m happy to proceed I just hadn’t had a point of reference.

        If you just want to know what the going rate is just ask around for minimum of 3 quotes.

      • p1 ama on 05/06/2025 - 22:10

        I guess what I’m after is someone to do the grunt work and yes I could whip up an excel spreadsheet but I guess it’s sorta like hiring painters. I could do it myself but how much is my time worth sorta thing.

        I would actually say it's not like hiring painters at all, because that's a one-off job, whereas "financial advise" (so to speak) should be an ongoing relationship.

        You can get painters to come and just paint your house and you won't need to be involved at all, however, if you're bringing in a financial advisor, you still need to be across the details, and you'll still need to be the one to execute on it.

        Instead of comparing it to painting, I would say it's more like hiring an interior designer to give you some ideas about what colours you can paint. You'll still need to end up painting it (or hiring painters).

        Having worked in finance for many years, either you have enough money to engage with a private banker who basically does everything for you (almost like a family office), or you do everything yourself with input from others. Ultimately, six figures means anything from $100k to $999k, so if you're closer to the former than the latter, you'll fall into the latter category.

        If you're just hiring someone to make some spreadsheets for you for $7k, you're getting ripped off - it's just some PV, FV, and PMT functions and some assumptions around the long-run rate of return for various asset markets (property 8%, shares 10%…etc.). This is the sort of thing finance students at university do as an assignment. You can probably just pay some uni kid $50 to make it for you.

      • Hangryuman on 07/06/2025 - 11:50
        +1

        'ETFs I also have and chucking in 2k month to that'

        Be aware that buying lots of small parcels of shares or ETFs leaves you liable to lots of different individual CGT calculations on eventual sale - buying 12 times a year, over 10 years, could be 120 different tax calculations …

        Some might say you can sign up to Sharesight or some share tracker to keep tabs on that, but I DIY my investments - YMMV

  • JIMB0 on 05/06/2025 - 15:39
    +1

    It depends on how comfortable you are with debt and risk. History teaches us to borrow to the max and invest, as long as you can weather any downturns and not sell at a low point.

    But then it's a pretty sweet life to be debt free and cashed up. You get to choose when you want to work and for whom. There's also the sleeping well at night factor to consider.

  • Dollar General on 05/06/2025 - 16:43

    Check the websites of other planners. Their fees will be in their PDS

  • Some Guy on 05/06/2025 - 17:21
    +2

    I had a chat with one about 7 years ago. Fee would have been $8k. I opted to max out super and pay the house down asap. Not much cash to play with after that.

  • surfingedge on 05/06/2025 - 17:40

    I got a few quotes and they were between 5k and 9k, however my situation is a bit more complex as it involves other countries.

    However I found the problem to be that in Australia nobody wants to give you partial advice for only one or two areas (which might cost 1-2k) and they insist that they have to advise on your complete financial affairs, because they are scared that they will miss something in the areas you don't need/want advice about.

    • blindwilly on 06/06/2025 - 17:54
      +3

      Financial advisers can't give limited advice on single issues because under Best Interest Duties they are required to consider anything that would reasonably be regarded as being in the best interests of the client.

      Given the regulators have jumped on anything that an adviser may have overlooked, advisers are reluctant to just look at one area in case it links to another issue and they cause problems there, eg: changing super funds can lead to a loss of life insurance that was accessible in one fund but not in another.

      There are plans to change this but they are not moving fast at the moment and it took the govt three years to get draft proposals released. We may see them introduced into parliament this year.

  • AustriaBargain on 05/06/2025 - 20:38

    If you want them to put the advice in writing and be professionally liable for it, you'd expect it to not be cheap yeah? Like Some Guy says though, if you don't have a lot of wealth to plan for it might not be worth it.

    • Hangryuman on 07/06/2025 - 13:09
      -1

      how are they going to be 'liable for it' ?

      I expect they'd have lots of fine print - 'past performance does not predict future performance' and such, so I'm pretty sure the cases of financial advisors who have actually refunded or paid for damages would be almost none

      except cases like where CBA financial advisors forged retired people's signatures to fraudulently transfer their life savings into high-risk investments so the advisors would get higher commission, which funds then went down the toilet - yeah, that's criminal fraud

      but otherwise - I'm waiting to hear how many Australian financial advisors had to pay out for bad advice … "

      • AustriaBargain on 07/06/2025 - 14:08

        I’m sure they don’t give outright bad advice and only givr advice that is vague enough to be good advice.

  • ihbh on 05/06/2025 - 21:05
    +1

    As the potential adviser to open his kimono and show you what he's got. You don't want to be taking advice from someone who's got just switched careers and drivers Ubers on the weekend as a side hustle.

    Unfortunately, the people you need advice from are retired young and doing what they enjoy, which is not to advise.

    • Brianqpr on 07/06/2025 - 08:12
      +1

      That just isn't true. I worked in the advice industry for some years and there are some fantastic and ridiculously smart advisers who've been doing it for decades.

      • ihbh on 07/06/2025 - 08:24
        -5

        ridiculously smart

        There are different levels of smart. Financial advice is relatively repetitive (not the low, but the mediumish socio-economic clients who can afford to pay, but not use something more high end - themselves or specialised), unless you're managing a lot of wealth.

        If you're a financial advisor who's been doing it for decades, then you aren't doing right or not taking your own advice or don't have enough clients, or you don't have any hobbies.

        • Brianqpr on 11/06/2025 - 17:03
          +2

          You clearly haven't dealt with high net worth clients will all sorts of income streams, trusts, business properties, estate planning needs etc. Not to mention they are also very savvy people themselves that will be quick to identify any weaknesses in an adviser. You need to be able to engage on their level. I'm talking multi millionaire business owners etc. Then there's non standard investments, structured products etc, etc and a constantly changing investment and regulatory landscape that you need to be across.

          At this level it is far from repetitive. Whatever level of smart you are trying to be here, you've missed the mark.

      • p1 ama on 08/06/2025 - 01:12
        -4

        fantastic and ridiculously smart advisers who've been doing it for decades

        I've also worked in finance for many years - trust me, if they were "ridiculously smart", they would have ended up in investment banking, private equity, institutional sales, portfolio management, corporate development or even wealth management at a family office or in private banking, definitely not "small time" financial advice for non-UHNWIs.

        • Brianqpr on 11/06/2025 - 17:08
          +1

          Some of them are in family office. And I'm talking HNW clients, not retail "mums and dads". These advisers are doing very well indeed and are a far cry from the guys that used to sit in bank branches selling insurance.

          As for portfolio management, the firm I worked for built our own managed account service that was then bought by a much larger organisation. We also built a number of in house structured products.

          So yes these guys are fantastic and ridiculously smart.

  • ezpz on 06/06/2025 - 07:44
    +3

    I’ve just gone through the process. Paid about $5.5K. Other commenters are right in that probably 70-80% you could do yourself but it was valuable to me because:

    • they did all of the number crunching and research, calculated my existing portfolio diversification weightings etc which I could have done but has saved me a pile of time.
    • the advisor was a really good sounding board - we discussed a whole pile of investing strategies, I validated my thoughts and understanding of those and they gave me a couple of suggestions that I hadn’t previously thought of.
    • it forced me to pull my finger out and get things sorted.

    I’d say the one area that’s probably in the too hard basket for most people is life insurance - both understanding what the right level of cover is and the different insurances and options. I also think the industry makes it purposefully so. My financial advisor has recommended PPS Mutual for example which is only available to certain professionals and only available through an advisor.

    • maxyzee on 06/06/2025 - 09:21
      +1

      Thanks. Yes that’s pretty much my exact situation in that I could a lot of it myself but I need that external factor to pull my finger out and yes also have that sounding board about what to invest in and what would be the most tax efficient way to go about it etc.

      One thing that gives me pause is your last paragraph. But I get that’s also something that I need to pull my finger out as well.

    • WhyAmICommenting on 07/06/2025 - 08:16
      -3

      Why have they only recommended that PPS mutual? Sounds suss with no context.

      • I like freestuff on 08/06/2025 - 15:11
        +1

        Because its "only available to certain professionals and only through an advisor" so it must be extra good. No kick backs or anything /s.

    • p1 ama on 08/06/2025 - 20:43
      +4

      I’d say the one area that’s probably in the too hard basket for most people is life insurance - both understanding what the right level of cover is and the different insurances and options. I also think the industry makes it purposefully so. My financial advisor has recommended PPS Mutual for example which is only available to certain professionals and only available through an advisor.

      I'm a qualified actuary, though I don't work in insurance, so I think I'm qualified to opine on this without having a horse in the race.

      The issue is that life insurance is pretty much riddled with scams these days. They're a relatively obscure product, compared to other forms of retail insurance (e.g. car, house, medical, travel…etc.), and it's an industry where it's relatively difficult for people to shop around and/or change products or insurers. For example, it's relatively easy for most people to cross-shop car insurance and compare quotes / change providers every year. It's also the product with the most predatory marketing and sales tactics.

      Putting it simply, you can think of the profitability of a policy by the present value of its premiums minus the expected present value of payouts, in other words (again, simplifying here), but the insurer's margin is:

      Profit = PV(premiums) - Pr(payout) * PV(payout)

      Compared to most other forms of retail / personal insurance products, life insurance has a very, very low probability of payout, and so, many insurers will try to sell you on very high coverage, and most people don't realise that this doesn't end up hitting the profitability very much because of the low payout probability. People are then charged ridiculous premiums for like $1.5m (for example) of coverage, which most people do not need, or is not actually fit for the risk that most people face. In other words, by selling this huge coverage, the thing on the left of the minus sign goes up a lot, the thing on the right of the minus sign goes up by nowhere near as much.

      Lastly, there's a huge conflict of interest in a lot of life insurance sales as well - a lot of the sales happens through brokers or advisors who present themselves as "independent", but really, are earning commissions from the insurers. Obviously I have no issue with salespeople earning commission, but my view is that it always has to be clear who is paying - either the insurer pays (and the customer knows, as they did not pay, they are getting a "biased" take), or the customer pays (and the advisor cannot take kickbacks from anyone else). As an example, PPS Mutual openly advertises that they profit share with their advisors (see: https://www.ppsmutual.com.au/advisers/become-an-accredited-a…), which makes it obvious why an advisor would want to recommend their product, or recommend a higher coverage than what most would need.

      Ultimately, again, as an actuary, but also as someone who does not work in insurance, most people (emphasising "most", not all) should get their life insurance through superannuation. Because they buy policies in bulk, they get better prices, and have significantly more buying power to wrangle the insurers. Also worth thinking about what the purpose of your life insurance is (if you wish to get it). Given how late many people have kids these days, many people already have $300-400k in investments and superannuation by that age - this would be enough to provide a very comfortable income stream for the kids until adulthood already.

      • mrtin on 11/06/2025 - 21:34

        I believe you cannot legally call yourself "independent" and take commission.

      • Brianqpr on 13/06/2025 - 10:59

        Most people take out cover to do things like clear debts (which are large in many cases due to house prices) as well as replace all or part of their income for their families if they happen to be unlucky enough to die young, which inevitably some people do. I bet everyone here knows of someone it happened to. That alone quite easily gets required cover up to amounts like $1.5 million, even if that does sound like a lot. 800-900k home loan to clear plus a lump sum to be used to replace lost income for 20 years easily gets you up around that level.

        Then there's lifestyle choices. Some people still want their kids to go to private schools if they pass away, so add on more cover. Etc, etc. Others don't need or want that. Maybe you have assets that you'd be willing to have sold if the worst happened, another way to reduce required cover.

        Of course you can take the punt it won't happen to you and chances are you'll be right, but you might not be. You can also decide that your beneficiaries don't need the luxury items or can cope with some debt etc if you're gone and take a lower insured amount. The adviser's job is to talk through these kind of trade offs so you can make an informed decision.

        All things being equal you can reduce cover as you get older as debts reduce, kids finish school, you build assets etc. This offsets the increasing cost of cover as you age and unlike changing policies, reducing existing cover is very easy to do.

        Ultimately people who never need to claim will often see it as a waste of money, but those that do will be very grateful they had insurance.

        Super can be a good way to pay for insurance, but you need to keep an eye on it as costs really increase as you get older and can seriouly dent your retirement savings.

  • ramshead on 06/06/2025 - 08:21
    +1

    Also check out how much of that fee could be a tax deduction.

  • ukulele on 06/06/2025 - 10:17

    got quoted 6k so it seems to be the ballpark. But they want 600 per month retainer, which is what i'm hesitant about.

    I'm getting another quote now. The meeting is in 6 weeks.

    • kiitos on 17/06/2025 - 14:58

      What do you get for the retainer?

  • numloxx on 06/06/2025 - 10:47

    Check out HLB Mann Judd, it's who I use, very good rates.

  • Lastchancetosee on 06/06/2025 - 14:26

    You can also get financial advice [advise] through your superannuation fund. The vost varies according to the level of advice. Obviously, it's primarily in relation to super and assests, but I have colleagues with quite complex financial situations and assets who have started with the super advisor and then gone for further advice ad needed.

  • All Blacks NZ on 06/06/2025 - 16:27

    I have worked for a major bank in Australia in their financial planning division. Majority of financial planners that work for banks or large organizations are waste of time as their sole purpose is to push their own products and sell insurance where they make the most money. So don't bother with any of them.

    Independent financial advisors are the way to go especially the ones that charge for advice and not rely solely on commission paid on the products you buy off them. It was at least 7 years ago and back then the going rate was between $2000 - $2500 for a full comprehensive financial plan. It might be $3k - $4k now but I wouldn't pay any more than that unless your net worth is $5 million or something. In which case, you have done pretty well on your own.

    Based on your situation, you have a paid off house and earing a lot of money while you have some investments outside of super. It all comes down to what you are wanting to achieve. Do you want to build wealth? Do you want to minimise tax? Do you want to retire early? If I was in your situation, I would talk to a good accountant first before talking to a financial planner.

  • boirganz on 06/06/2025 - 18:36

    Save your money. Put the max amount into super, and your kids accounts. No kids ? Put it into ETFs.

    Enjoy life - you’re in the top 1pc of wealth and you have a solid financial base.

    • localhost on 06/06/2025 - 20:44
      +3

      This!!! And costs less than $7k.

    • Some Guy on 14/06/2025 - 01:42

      Kids can receive $400 per year of "unearned income" before paying 66% tax. To avoid that, tt requires trustee accounts and brokerage/fees can quickly erode profits, especially if contributing small amounts regularly.

      I'd use ETFs if I thought I'd need access to the money, otherwise I'd make non-concessional contributions to super ($120k/year) and claim tax deductions and enjoy the tax free returns in retirement.

  • Name on 06/06/2025 - 21:20

    Worth seeing. We spent 10k which included a restructure and complex trusts with holding companies. But it resulted in annual savings of about $150k.

    • tenpercent on 06/06/2025 - 21:26
      +1

      annual savings of about $150k.

      Post it as a deal. You will become Ozbargain legendary. Instant Platinum membership status.

    • Aerith-Waifu on 07/06/2025 - 00:18
      -1

      Must be rich Asian parents who expected no less from you

      • Name on 22/06/2025 - 08:58

        Nope. Poor white parents who had multiple jobs to make ends meet.

    • kiitos on 17/06/2025 - 15:01

      Did the complex trusts and holding companies come from the advice, or were they existing and the advice had to taken them into account?

      • Name on 22/06/2025 - 08:51
        +1

        They came from advice.

        We saw a "financial advisor" who was recommended from a H&R block accountant we used for years (they were colleagues). Was worst money ever spent. They didn't know what they were talking about and we spent next few years just doing the usual.

        A friend recommended a financial advisor/accountant from Aspira who restructured everything. A lot more expensive but they knew what they were doing. We're doing our taxes/bookkeeping with them now as they are great at communicating and know their stuff.

  • Gelato on 06/06/2025 - 23:06

    $6k-10k from what i heard recently (Sydney)

  • Aerith-Waifu on 07/06/2025 - 00:16

    I think if i got money to burn I will putting additional money i can afford to lose in LRV now and watch it disappear overtime, or mooning! Whatever comes first!

    Forget about all the planning crap. They only look after themselves

  • Brianqpr on 07/06/2025 - 08:11

    Depends on the complexity and amount of work involved for the adviser. They have A LOT of compliance etc costs to meet.

  • Hangryuman on 07/06/2025 - 11:44
    -4

    $7K is a ripoff - offered to people who haven't bothered to do their own learning about finances, and who want to trust somebody in a suit

    [some time later: ACA Current Affair TV "I trusted that nice man in a suit - how come he took all my money!?"]

    I've read that 99% of financial advisors in Australia are tied to a big bank or such and will recommend only products from that company - in other words vested interest - you shouldn't pay for such advice.

    I once got offered a financial plan - first session maybe 40 minutes telling him my complete financial situation while he took notes - two weeks later he calls me in, hands over a 100 page booklet I leafed through and saw it was mostly copy-paste generic stuff about wills, life insurance, and managed funds (guess which financial institution) - and said I could have it for something like $2600 (this was maybe 10 years ago)

    I balked and said thanks anyway - and he said "if you don't buy it I won't eat tonight!"

    I didn't see that as a reason to give him $2600 - and I kept walking - out the door.

    • blindwilly on 07/06/2025 - 22:03
      +1

      "I've read that 99% of financial advisors in Australia are tied to a big bank or such and will recommend only products from that company - in other words vested interest - you shouldn't pay for such advice."

      This is not true and was never true. I used to work for a publication that covered the advice sector and when ASIC released lists of where every adviser worked around 2011 we crunched the numbers and only about 40-45 per cent of advisers worked for a bank or large institution. The rest were self-licensed or worked for small to medium privately owned companies.

      Since then the banks and institutions have exited the advice sector and that figure is closer to 20 per cent if you include those who work for super funds with most advisers working for themselves (self-licensed) or working for those private firms.

      Additionally, since the Hayne Royal Commission all advisers have to disclose any conflicted remuneration (that is money they get for recommending an inhouse product) as part of their advice, and non-bank/insto advice firms can offer inhouse products too, which led to the disclosure requirement.

  • diceman99 on 07/06/2025 - 12:28

    In my dealings, I find that a financial advisor, won't tell you which stocks to pick.
    They may say, 30% property, 40% shares 30% bonds or some such ratio.
    Financial advisors will never recommend Bitcoin or gold, or anything which they may receive blowback, as I some cases they may be personally liable for incorrect financial advice.
    They can't guarantee returns or income, they only way they can make you money is by tax planning, so they really can only save you money, not make you money.
    You may want to consider Aust shares with franking credits and high payout ratio or shares with a low dividend yield and low payout ratio which have a capital growth.
    If your in the highest tax bracket, it's better to get capital growth shares. When you sell you apply the 50% discount after you hold them for 1 year, effectively lowering your tax payable when compared to the 30% franking credits on other shares.
    Lots of strategies to consider
    You will probably be better served by reading a financial investments book

  • diceman99 on 07/06/2025 - 12:36

    I heard in the news lately, they may be making financial advice a tax deduction (currently it is not) so if they change the rules after 1st July your net cost will be 7000 - (7000 * 0.45 + Medicare Levy).
    So roughy 7000 - 3290 = 3710

  • Big-Deal on 07/06/2025 - 12:40

    Why does anyone on OzBargain need a financial advisor? We don't need any advise on handling money, we teach others

    • Trying2SaveABuck on 07/06/2025 - 23:11
      +1

      investing and being 'savvy' with money are 'two different things'

      lots of people can be 'savvy' very few people can invest effectively to generate market beating returns

      • thebombout on 08/06/2025 - 14:31

        … consistently.

        A majority of quality ETFs, and stocks have shot the lights out in the last few years. I fear I, along with many others have a false sense of what's normal. I'm DIYing it but staying diversified and learning what I can along the way. Found the "Rask" network on YT to be a great resource for keeping it real. GL to you and everyone navigating this learning curve.

  • Kempe on 07/06/2025 - 20:53

    Never understood how an unknown advisor on commission could possibly help someone with a financial plan of their money
    It's YOUR money, YOU do it, its not rocket science

  • Trying2SaveABuck on 07/06/2025 - 23:10
    +1

    it is 'tricky' becuz you only know how 'good the advice' is when you are looking in hindsight

    if it was me i'd rather invest id want a signficant amount of their fees to be 'performance based'

    however id probably just stick to boring ETFs - VAS/VGS/IVV/QUAL and a bit of 'GOLD or BTC' to stability

    kind of the belief if these guys/girls where actually good with money they probably wouldnt be Financial advisors and they would be hedge fund managers

    • dono2 on 08/06/2025 - 07:46

      You left out etf FANG and FHNG,

      • Trying2SaveABuck on 08/06/2025 - 11:07

        Fair, i own a bit of FANG

        But it is low diversity due to it only holding 10 companies

  • SuperMid on 08/06/2025 - 08:12
    +2

    Just plug all your financial details into a chat gpt thread, youll be surprised how tailored and accurate the response will be.

  • nse on 08/06/2025 - 10:27
    +2

    Ensure it’s a fee only advisor, don’t get caught up with one that signs you up into their high fee/% fund.

  • mrtin on 09/06/2025 - 08:49

    Your experience (floundering with no real purpose) is common in my experience.
    What is your next big goal? Probably retirement? The advice and recommendations should focus and revolve around this goal.
    Seek advice early. It makes a huge difference.
    You've done well so far, keep going and I hope you achieve your next financial goal,whether you diy or seek professional advice.

  • JayEmmGee on 09/06/2025 - 09:47
    +1

    How long is a piece of string?

    I manage a financial planning business and we only take on clients who have complex situations and either want to 'outsource' managing that part of their lives or higher income earners/high investible assets and want strategic advice to set them up for retirement. We generally don't take on any clients who want 'one off' or 'transactional' advice as we have found in most cases the value our clients get from us is in a lot of cases more about having a trusted sounding board who also knows their stuff around strategy and investing (which people often care a lot less about since they can access a lot of this information 'for free').

    The research has shown that the amount clients are willing to pay for one off/transactional advice is so low that no advisers could actually make money on these clients. I think for us unless a client signs up for at least 12 months we lose money on them due to the high upfront time and costs to the advice business.

  • jaimex2 on 09/06/2025 - 13:24
    +3

    $0

    Talk with Grok or ChatGPT and learn as much as you can.

    The crux of it really is you need to know as much as possible yourself because you want to stay flexible.

    Locking yourself into a plan is fine but you'll go a lot further knowing when opportunistic events present themselves.

  • amsaini15 on 09/06/2025 - 16:28

    I would agree. Recently I asked so many questions from Gemini and I am surprised with the quality of personalised answers. If you can learn to write a correct prompts to Gemeni, co Pilot, you can learn alot yourself.

    • Xplosive on 09/06/2025 - 17:25
      -1

      Also don’t hesitate to ask help for a good prompt from ChatGPT itself too.

  • movieman on 09/06/2025 - 17:39
    +1

    A helpful comment from Reddit suggested this mob. They paid $1500 for a simple situation and one off advice.

    It's $350 for the initial 2 hour appointment.

    https://aspirefc.com.au/what-we-can-do/

    Whichever way you proceed, highly recommend it's based on a flat fee, that's fixed and one-off.

    Or happy to provide any direct suggestions and recommendations pro-bono. Just DM me.

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