20 SMSF-suitable retirement planning appointments in 60 days. Funnel already built below.

First up, thanks for booking your discovery call. It's a real step, and it usually means something's been sitting on your mind for a while, whether an SMSF is the right move, or just whether the retirement you're picturing is actually on track.

What happens on the call is calmer than you might be expecting. It's a short first conversation, around fifteen minutes, nothing more than that. One of our advisers gets on the phone or a video call with you, they ask where you're at, what's brought you here now, and what you'd actually want your money doing for you as you head toward retirement. There's nothing to sign and nobody's going to pitch you. It's really a diagnostic, a chance to work out whether we're the right fit for your situation, and if we're not, they'll tell you that plainly. We're independent, with no bank, fund manager or product provider behind us, so nobody here gets paid to steer you into anything. The point is to understand you first.

You should already have a confirmation sitting in your inbox with your time and the details to join, so keep an eye out for that. Over the next few days we'll also send you a couple of short emails. They cover the questions that come up on nearly every one of these calls, so nothing feels unfamiliar when you actually speak with the team.

Before then, the most useful thing you can do is right below this video. There are a few short clips on the things people ask us most, like what advice actually costs, whether they've got enough for an SMSF to make sense, and whether we're just going to sell them a product. Have a look through the ones that speak to your situation. That way the call isn't spent on the basics, and your adviser can put the whole conversation into your circumstances instead.

Watch a few of those, and one of our advisers will take it from there.

The cost question is the one people are most hesitant to ask out loud, so let me be plain about how it works, because it's simpler than you might be bracing for.

Start with the discovery call itself, which is free, with no obligation attached to it. If you decide to go further from there, the advice is charged as a fixed fee that's agreed with you up front, before you commit to anything. So you'll know exactly what you're paying and what you're getting for it, with no surprises arriving later. We don't take commissions and we're not paid by any product provider, which means the fee is the fee. There's nothing built into the background that rewards us for pointing you one way over another.

Now, whether that's worth paying for is a sensible thing to weigh up. A lot of people who book in tell us they've been carrying the same super and retirement questions around in the back of their mind for years, putting them off because there's no clear plan and the options feel overwhelming. Good advice is what turns that into an actual decision you can act on, and it's what stands between guessing at your retirement and knowing the strategy's been built properly around the life you want.

The straight answer is that advice isn't right for everyone, and at the discovery call your adviser will give you a genuine read on whether the value's there for your situation. If it isn't, they'll say so. We'd rather tell you that early than take a fee that doesn't earn its keep.

This is the question we hear constantly, and it's a sensible one to ask before you spend a cent.

People are usually surprised to learn there's no single magic number where an SMSF suddenly makes sense, and we're wary of anyone who tells you there is. A self-managed fund is really about whether the structure genuinely suits your goals, how hands-on you want to be with your super, and whether the extra control is worth the responsibility that comes with it. For plenty of people that adds up to a clear yes. Plenty of others are better served by something simpler, and telling them so is the right advice.

What your adviser actually does is look at your situation properly. Where your super sits today, what timeline you're working to, what you're trying to build toward in retirement, and whether an SMSF earns its place in that picture or whether it just adds cost and effort you don't need. We've been advising people on exactly these decisions since 1987, and a fair share of that work is telling someone an SMSF isn't the right fit for them, or that an existing one should be wound up. You can trust that advice precisely because it comes from a firm that gets nothing from selling you a structure.

The discovery call is where this gets answered for you specifically. Bring a rough sense of where your super's at, and your adviser will give you a straight read on whether an SMSF is worth exploring for your circumstances, or whether it isn't.

This is the one a lot of people are too polite to say out loud, and it's the right instinct to have. After everything that came out of the Royal Commission, plenty of so-called advice turned out to be a product sale in nicer clothing. So the scepticism is well earned, and we'd rather meet it head on than tiptoe around it.

What makes us structurally different is that we're independent. We're not aligned with any bank, fund manager or product provider, which means there's no parent group behind the scenes with an approved list of products we're nudged to recommend. When there's no product shelf to feed, the advice can genuinely be about you and what actually serves your retirement, rather than about what pays us more. On top of that, we don't take commissions, so there's no quiet incentive pulling the recommendation in any particular direction.

The other piece is how we think about all of it. Our starting point is your goals and where you want to be, not a product we're hoping to place. An SMSF is one possible answer to that, and often it isn't the answer at all. We've built the practice around being willing to say so, which is why we'll happily tell someone to keep things simple, or to wind up a fund that no longer suits them.

You'll feel that on the call itself. Nobody's going to pitch you anything. Your adviser is there to understand your situation and work out whether we're a genuine fit, and that really is the whole agenda for that first conversation.

This worry comes up a lot, and it's a smart thing to raise early, because running a self-managed fund does carry real responsibility, and pretending otherwise would do you a disservice.

So let me lay out what's actually involved. As a trustee you carry responsibility for the fund, for its investment strategy, and for keeping it on the right side of the rules. That responsibility is what puts people off, and understandably so. But the day-to-day heavy lifting isn't something you're meant to shoulder on your own. Setting the strategy, structuring the fund properly, running the ongoing reviews, and handling the technical side of things is the work an adviser carries alongside you and your accountant. Your part is making the calls on where you want to head. Most of the grind sits with the people you've engaged to handle it.

What that means in practice is that the real question isn't whether you have time to run a fund single-handed, because very few people ever do that. It's whether the control and flexibility an SMSF gives you make it worth having a proper team behind it. Some people land on a clear yes. Plenty of others decide the time and attention it asks for genuinely isn't worth it, and a simpler setup serves them better.

Your adviser will walk through exactly what would land on your plate versus theirs at the discovery call, so you can weigh it up with the full picture in front of you rather than a vague sense of dread about the admin.

This is a really common one, and it deserves a clear answer, because a good accountant is genuinely valuable and we work alongside plenty of them.

An accountant and a financial adviser are really doing two different jobs. An accountant typically looks after the compliance side of an SMSF, lodging the annual return, organising the audit, and keeping the fund on the right side of the ATO. That's important work and it has to be done well. What it usually doesn't cover is the strategy. Whether an SMSF was even the right move for you in the first place, what the fund should actually be doing for you, and how it fits with your retirement timeline, your income, and the life you're trying to build. That's the advice piece, and it's a separate discipline.

A lot of people who come to us have a fund their accountant set up years ago, and nobody's ever stepped back to ask whether the strategy inside it still serves the retirement they're heading into. The structure might be perfectly fine, but no one's been steering the actual plan.

That's the gap our advisers fill, and we're very happy to work in with your existing accountant rather than replace them. At the discovery call, your adviser can take a look at where things sit and tell you plainly whether there's a strategy gap worth closing, or whether you're already in good shape.

There are plenty of advisers to choose from, so let me point to the two things that genuinely shape what working with us is like, without burying you in a wall of credentials.

The first is independence, and for us that's structural rather than a slogan. We're not tied to a bank, a fund manager or a product provider telling us what we're allowed to recommend, and we don't take commissions. So the advice starts with you and stays about you. That independence is why we're comfortable telling someone an SMSF isn't right for them, or that a fund should be wound up. There's nothing sitting behind the recommendation pulling it one way.

The second is that we've been doing this a long time, and only this. We're a family-owned firm that's specialised in retirement advice since 1987, and our advisers hold the Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor credential. That focus is why so much of our work is helping people right at the point you're at now, weighing up whether their super is structured for the retirement they actually want. The reviews clients have left us reflect the same thing, people who came in unsure and left with a clear picture of where they stood.

Bring your hardest questions to the discovery call. Your adviser would rather earn your trust on the substance than on a pitch.

Day 0, immediately after booking
Pillar: Welcome + expectation set
Subject A: your call is booked
Subject B: a note before your discovery call
Preview: What the 15 minutes covers, nothing to prepare.

Day 1, AM
Pillar: Hard objection #1 (do I have enough super to make an SMSF worthwhile)
Subject A: the enough question
Subject B: do you have enough super for an smsf
Preview: Why we answer this one the same whether you have a lot or a little.

Day 1, PM
Pillar: Lesson-based case study
Subject A: he thought 75, we said 60
Subject B: a client who expected the worst
Preview: A client who came in expecting the worst.

Day 2, AM
Pillar: Suitability model (control weighed against responsibility and cost)
Subject A: the trade you're weighing
Subject B: the four things that decide an smsf
Preview: The four things that decide whether an SMSF earns its keep.

Day 2, PM
Pillar: Actionable asset (DIY)
Subject A: ask us these on the call
Subject B: five questions for any adviser
Preview: Five questions that sort a real adviser from a product seller.

Day 3, AM
Pillar: Hard objection #2 (are they just going to sell me an SMSF) + transparency
Subject A: what we get paid either way
Subject B: why we turn people away from smsfs
Preview: Why we turn people away from SMSFs every week.

Day 3, midday
Pillar: Macro urgency (real market shift) + transparency
Subject A: why people are asking this now
Subject B: what changed after the royal commission
Preview: What changed, and why independent advice is harder to find.

Day 3, evening (or Day 4 AM if the call is in the morning)
Pillar: Final prep
Subject A: before we speak
Subject B: a short note before your call
Preview: What helps, and how to reschedule if you need to.

Subject: Whether an SMSF suits you

A lot of people come to us already halfway convinced they should set up a self-managed super fund. A friend runs one, or an accountant mentioned it, and it starts to feel like the obvious next step.

Sometimes it is. Often it isn't.

An SMSF gives you more control over how your super is invested, and for some people that control is worth the extra responsibility that comes with it. For others it adds paperwork and decisions at exactly the stage of life when they were hoping things would get simpler.

The question worth sitting with first is what you actually want your super to do for the retirement you're planning, and whether an SMSF gets you there more reliably than a simpler structure would. Setup comes much later, once that's clear.

We work through that with clients before anyone signs anything, and we'll say plainly when the answer is no.

Subject: The part of an SMSF people underestimate

Control is the reason most people are drawn to a self-managed fund. It's also the part that catches them out.

When you run your own fund, you're the trustee. That means the investment decisions are yours, the compliance obligations are yours, and the responsibility for getting it right sits with you rather than a large institution. Plenty of people are comfortable with that, especially those who like being close to their money and have the time for it.

Others find, a few years in, that they took on a job they didn't really want.

None of this makes an SMSF good or bad on its own. It just means the structure has to earn its place in your wider retirement plan, rather than being something you drift into because it sounded appealing. Whether the control is worth the responsibility depends on your balance, your goals, and how hands-on you genuinely want to be with your super in the years ahead.

Subject: When your existing SMSF no longer fits

Not every question about a self-managed fund comes from someone deciding whether to start one. A fair few come from people who already have one, set up years ago, and have started to wonder whether it still suits them.

Circumstances change. A fund that made sense when you were building wealth and happy to be hands-on can feel like more work than it's worth once you're closer to retirement and want things to get simpler. Sometimes the goals it was built around have shifted entirely.

If that's where you are, it's worth getting an independent view on whether to keep the fund as it is, restructure it, or wind it up. Because we hold no product or commission arrangements, we've no reason to steer you one way or the other. We look at whether the fund still serves the retirement you're heading towards, and tell you what we'd do in your position.

If you'd like a second opinion on a fund you already run, reply and we'll arrange a time to talk it through.

Subject: Who your adviser is actually working for

There's a question worth asking any adviser before you take their view on your super: who pays them, and for what.

A lot of advice in this country still sits under a bank, a fund manager, or a product provider. However capable the individual adviser is, the arrangement behind them can shape which answers come easily and which don't. An adviser aligned to a product tends to find reasons that product fits.

We hold no alignment with any bank, product provider or institution, and we take no commissions. Our fee is fixed and agreed up front, so what we recommend stays completely separate from what we're paid. That independence is what lets us tell someone their situation calls for a simpler structure than an SMSF, or that the fund they already have should be wound up, without it costing us anything to say so.

When you're deciding how to structure your super for retirement, independence is what determines whether the advice you get is built around you or around what someone needs to sell.

Subject: Closer to retirement than you think

One of the more common things we hear in a first meeting is someone assuming they'll be working far longer than they'd like. They've watched their super for years without ever mapping it against the retirement they actually want, so the answer stays vague and a bit worrying.

More often than people expect, once we sit down and model it properly, the picture is better than they feared. Clients who came in braced to work into their seventies have left with a realistic timeline that put retirement years earlier.

One client described it this way in a Google review:

<blockquote>Met with Anthony for an initial assessment. Right from the start he was friendly and put us at ease. He methodically took us through our current financial situation, goals and retirement options. He thinks it's possible at 60 - we thought it would be more like 75!! I really liked how he mapped out a timeline, clearly showing key moments and what we needed to do in order to get to these.</blockquote>

Not everyone gets good news, of course. The real point is that guessing is a poor way to make a decision this big. Seeing the numbers laid out, with the key moments marked and the steps to get there, is how the uncertainty turns into a plan you can act on.

Subject: Where the SMSF decision fits

Most conversations about self-managed super funds start in the wrong place. They begin with setup, investment options and compliance, when those are the details you sort out once you've decided the structure is right for you.

The order we'd suggest is different. Work out what you want your retirement to look like and what your super needs to deliver to fund it. From there, look at whether an SMSF genuinely improves on a simpler structure for your situation, or whether it just adds complexity for its own sake. Only then does the setup question become worth having.

An SMSF is one possible tool inside a retirement plan, and a good adviser will reach for it only when it fits. If you'd like a clear read on whether it fits yours, that's the sort of question a short call is well suited to. Reply and we'll find a time.