How to Choose a Financial Planner in Sydney (2026)

The short answer

If you are accumulating wealth, planning for retirement, restructuring debt around a property purchase, or have a meaningful change of circumstances (inheritance, redundancy, divorce, business sale), an independent fee-for-service financial planner is usually worth the cost. Expect $3,500 to $6,500 for a comprehensive initial plan plus $2,500 to $5,000 per year for ongoing review. If you are looking for free advice tied to product commissions — that is sales, not advice, and the law has been tightened over the past decade to make that distinction clearer.

How financial planners are licensed in Australia

Every Australian financial planner must hold or be authorised under an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) issued by ASIC. Since 1 January 2026 financial advisers must also meet the Financial Adviser Standards — relevant degree-level qualifications, the national exam, an ethics framework under the Code of Ethics, and continuing professional development. The Financial Advisers Register (publicly searchable on the ASIC MoneySmart website) records every licensed adviser's name, AFSL, qualifications, areas of advice, and any disciplinary history.

• Confirm the individual adviser is on the Financial Advisers Register — search by name on ASIC's MoneySmart site
• Confirm the AFSL holder (the licensee the adviser is authorised under) is not a related party to any product manufacturer whose products you would be sold
• Check for any past disciplinary action, banning, or complaints on the register
• Confirm the adviser's stated areas of advice cover what you actually need — superannuation, investments, insurance, debt and cashflow, aged care, SMSF — these are scoped categories and an adviser only authorised for one cannot legally advise on another

Four fee models — and the conflicts each one introduces

How a financial planner gets paid tells you most of what you need to know about whose interest they serve. The four models you will encounter:

• Fee for service: you pay an agreed dollar fee (flat or hourly) directly to the planner. No commissions, no asset-based fees on your portfolio. This is the cleanest model and the one most aligned with your interests.
• Asset-based fee: a percentage of the assets the planner manages on your behalf, typically 0.5% to 1.0% per year. Common, legal, but creates an incentive to recommend strategies that grow the fee base rather than strategies that pay down debt or shift assets outside the planner's mandate.
• Commission on insurance: planners can still receive commissions on life and TPD insurance products. The commission is disclosed and capped under the Life Insurance Framework, but the structural incentive is real — be alert to recommendations that involve replacing existing cover with a new policy that pays a fresh upfront commission.
• Hybrid: any combination of the above. The most common arrangement in Australia. Get the total cost in writing, with every line item separately disclosed, before you commit.

When a financial planner is worth it

There are five life situations where good financial advice routinely returns more than its fee. If you fit one of these, the question is not whether to engage a planner but how to choose a good one.

• Five to ten years from retirement, with multiple super funds and a mix of in-super and out-of-super investments to consolidate and project
• Property purchase plus restructure — refinancing, debt recycling, splitting an offset arrangement across multiple properties — where the strategy interacts with your overall wealth and tax position
• Material change of circumstances — inheritance, redundancy payout, business sale, divorce settlement, partner death — that triggers tax and structuring decisions you have not made before
• Insurance review where you have life, TPD, income protection, and trauma cover stitched together over a decade and need an independent reassessment of cover levels, ownership structure and policy duplication
• Self-managed super fund setup or review, where the regulatory load is high and an error is expensive — SMSF advice requires specific licensing authorisation

When you probably don't need one

There are also situations where a financial planner adds limited value relative to fee. An honest planner will tell you upfront if you fall into one of these categories.

• Early-career accumulation with one super fund, no investment property and standard insurance — a low-cost online tool, your super fund's intra-fund advice (often free for members) and an annual review with your accountant will usually cover the ground
• One-off, narrowly scoped questions (single super consolidation, one insurance review) — a fixed-fee scoped engagement is much better value than a full plan
• Active personal investing where you make your own asset allocation decisions and just need tax structuring — a good accountant and a tax-aware solicitor for any trust or company structure will do more than a generalist planner

The questions to ask before signing

The most important conversation happens before you sign anything. A planner who refuses to answer these questions or hedges is telling you something useful.

• What is your AFSL number and who is the licensee? (Confirm it on the Financial Advisers Register before you sign.)
• What are your areas of advice authorisation? Does that include everything I need help with?
• What is the total fee for the initial plan? What is the annual ongoing fee? Is it flat, asset-based, or commission-influenced?
• Are you paid any commission, referral fee, or other benefit by any product provider whose products you recommend? If so, which products and what amounts?
• Do you have any ownership relationship with any product provider — bank, super fund, insurer, platform, fund manager — whose products you would recommend?
• What is your approved product list (APL)? Can you recommend products outside it?
• Can I see a redacted sample Statement of Advice for a client with circumstances similar to mine?
• How often will we meet for ongoing review and what is included in that fee?

Red flags to walk away from

A few patterns are reliable warnings. None of these by themselves is necessarily disqualifying, but several together are.

• 'Free' initial consultation that lasts two hours and ends with a product recommendation — that is sales, not advice
• Inability to clearly state the planner's AFSL or to point you to their entry on the Financial Advisers Register
• Heavy concentration of recommended products from a single platform or fund manager related to the licensee
• Pressure to roll all existing super into a new fund or platform within the first meeting, before a Statement of Advice has been prepared
• Insurance recommendations that involve replacing existing cover with new cover from the planner's recommended provider — get a second opinion before signing
• A Statement of Advice that is more than 60 pages of generic boilerplate with two or three pages of actual recommendations buried inside

Property buyers — when to bring the planner in

If you are buying a Sydney investment property, bringing a financial planner in early is usually worthwhile. Three decisions interact: how you structure ownership (personal, joint, family trust, SMSF), how you fund the purchase (deposit source, loan structure, offset arrangement), and how the property fits into your overall wealth and tax position. Your mortgage broker handles the loan; your conveyancer handles the legal transfer; your accountant handles the annual tax return. The planner sits above all three and looks at the whole picture — but the time to bring them in is before you commit to a structure, not after.

How this fits with your other professionals

A financial planner is one part of a wider Sydney property team. They typically work alongside your accountant (who handles the annual tax return and BAS), your mortgage broker (who structures the loan), your conveyancer (who handles the legal transfer), and, for investors, your quantity surveyor (who prepares the depreciation schedule). A planner experienced with property-focused clients will have working relationships with practitioners in all four areas and can coordinate the strategy without making you the project manager.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions