So, what does financial advice cost in Australia? It’s charged in one of three ways: a fixed fee for a defined piece of advice, an ongoing service fee for continuing support, or an hourly rate.
Cost is the question most people want answered first and the one most adviser websites avoid. The avoidance is understandable fees genuinely vary with complexity but it isn’t helpful. What follows is how pricing actually works in this industry, what moves it, and what you’re entitled to be told.
How Much Does Financial Advice Cost, Really?
A fixed fee for scoped advice. You agree what the advice covers, you’re quoted a fixed amount, and that’s what you pay. This suits a defined question a contribution strategy, an insurance review, a decision about a lump sum where the work has a clear end point.
A fixed fee for comprehensive advice. The same model applied across everything: structure, super, investments, insurance and estate planning together. More work, so a higher fee, and the piece where structural decisions tend to surface.
An ongoing service fee. A recurring fee for continuing advice reviews, adjustments as rules change, access during the year. Usually charged monthly or annually, either as a flat amount or as a percentage of the assets being advised on.
An hourly rate. Less common for retail advice but used for narrow pieces of work, or for clients who want to buy advice in small increments.
What is no longer a pricing model is commission on investment and superannuation products. Conflicted remuneration on those products was banned under the Future of Financial Advice reforms. Commission on life insurance still exists, but it’s capped and must be disclosed to you.
What makes one advice fee higher than another?
Complexity, almost entirely. The things that reliably move a fee up:
- More than one entity. A company, a family trust, or both, alongside personal holdings.
- A business. Ownership structure, succession, key person exposure and the eventual sale all have to be considered together.
- A self-managed super fund. Additional compliance obligations and a different advice framework.
- Blended families. Estate planning becomes materially more complex where there are children from more than one relationship.
- Multiple properties. Particularly where borrowing, ownership and tax treatment differ between them.
- Insurance requiring underwriting. Medical history, occupation and cover amount all extend the work.
What doesn’t move the fee much is the size of the balance on its own. Advising on a straightforward $1.5 million position can be less work than advising on a complicated $400,000 one.
Do you have to pay for the first meeting?
At Silverloom the first step is a phone call of 20 to 30 minutes. It’s free and carries no obligation. Its purpose is narrow: work out what you’re trying to achieve, understand roughly where you are now, and establish whether going further makes sense. Nothing is sold in it and no advice is given, because at that stage there isn’t enough information for advice to be appropriate.
If it does make sense to continue, the next step is a one-hour consultation over phone or video where your situation is worked through in detail. Some of those consultations attract a fee and some don’t, depending on what’s involved. Either way you’re told before it’s booked, so there’s never a charge you didn’t agree to.
Can you pay advice fees from your superannuation?
Sometimes. Where the advice relates to your superannuation, fees can often be deducted from your super balance rather than paid from your bank account. Three conditions apply in practice: the fund must permit it, the advice must relate to that super interest, and it must satisfy the sole purpose test.
It’s worth separating two questions. Whether you can pay from super is a rules question. Whether you should is a different one the money leaving your super today is money not compounding until retirement, which may or may not be the right trade in your circumstances.
Is financial advice tax deductible?
The general position is that fees for advice relating to producing assessable income may be deductible, while fees for initial advice that establishes a plan are typically treated as capital in nature and not deductible. The Australian Taxation Office has published guidance on how to apportion advice fees between deductible and non-deductible components.
Deductibility depends on your circumstances and on what the advice actually covered. Confirm your position with a registered tax agent rather than assuming either way.
How do you know what you’re getting for the fee?
You’re entitled to specifics, in writing, before you pay anything. Ask for:
- The scope. What’s covered and, just as importantly, what isn’t.
- The total cost. Including any ongoing component, stated as a dollar figure rather than only a percentage.
- What ongoing service includes. How many reviews, what access between them, what triggers additional cost.
- Any third-party benefit. Whether the adviser or licensee receives anything from a product provider.
Ongoing arrangements come with a specific protection worth knowing about. An ongoing fee arrangement requires your written consent each year, given through a consent document that sets out what you’ll be charged and what you receive for it. If you don’t consent, the arrangement ends. An ongoing advice fee can’t quietly continue indefinitely and if one has been, that’s worth querying.
Is financial advice worth the cost?
That depends on what’s at stake in the decision, which is a more useful frame than comparing fees in isolation. Advice tends to justify its cost where a decision is significant, hard to reverse, and has consequences that compound how a business sale is structured, how superannuation is arranged in the decade before retirement, who is nominated to receive a death benefit.
It tends to justify it less where the decision is small, easily changed, or already well handled. A competent adviser will tell you which of those you’re in. That’s part of what the first conversation is for.
Frequently asked questions
Do financial advisers still earn commissions in Australia?
Commissions on investment and superannuation products were banned under the Future of Financial Advice reforms. Commissions on life insurance remain permitted but are capped and must be disclosed to you in writing.
What is an ongoing fee arrangement?
An agreement to pay for continuing advice. You must give written consent each year for it to continue, and the arrangement ends if you don’t. It can’t roll on automatically.
Is the first consultation really free?
The first call is free and carries no obligation. If you go on to a full one-hour consultation, whether that attracts a fee is discussed and agreed with you before it’s booked.
Can I get advice on just one thing?
Yes. Scoped advice on a single issue is permitted and common, and generally costs less than comprehensive advice. The scope is agreed with you and documented before work begins.
Can I stop paying an ongoing advice fee?
Yes. Ongoing fee arrangements require your written consent each year and end if you don’t give it. You can also withdraw from the arrangement at any time by telling your adviser.
Silverloom starts with a free 20 to 30 minute phone call, with no obligation to go further. Book a time.
General advice warning: The information in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on it, consider whether it is appropriate for you and read our Financial Services Guide.
Silverloom Advisory Group Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR No 1310731) of Core Advice Collective Pty Ltd. Core Advice Collective Pty Ltd holds Australian Financial Services Licence No 700341.