Australians often wonder when to see a financial adviser in Australia, especially as money decisions tend to grow more layered with age, career changes, and family responsibilities. The things is, there’s no single moment or “right time” that suits everyone. What changes is the kind of questions people start asking as life moves on.
This article outlines the major life stages, from early career through later life, and discusses when guidance may be enough and when regulated financial advice can offer additional clarity. It also covers common triggers, such as job changes or receiving an inheritance, that may prompt a closer look at your financial direction.
Financial Guidance vs Financial Advice: What’s the Difference?
Before we get into the life stages when a financial adviser may be useful, it helps to understand the difference between guidance and advice. Australians often encounter both, but they serve very different purposes.
Financial guidance
Financial guidance refers to general information and education. This might include online calculators, super fund resources, comparison tools, or broad discussions about investment types. Guidance can help you build knowledge, but it doesn’t take your personal circumstances into account and shouldn’t be relied on for individual decision-making.
Financial advice
On the other hand, financial advice in Australia is regulated and falls into two categories: general advice and personal advice.
- General advice provides broad direction but does not consider objectives, financial situation or needs.
- Personal advice is tailored to your situation, including your objectives, risk tolerance, cash flow, tax position, and long-term plans. This type of advice can only be provided by someone authorised under an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence, as it involves recommendations that may influence your financial wellbeing.
Guidance is often enough when you’re learning the basics or comparing options. Personal financial advice, however, becomes important when decisions carry long-term consequences, your goals are more complex, or you want recommendations that best fit your specific circumstances.
Life Stages and When Financial Advice Becomes Helpful at Each Stage
Financial needs shift as you move through different phases of adulthood. Each stage brings new priorities, responsibilities, and decisions, which is why the right moment to seek a financial planner often aligns with where you are in life.
In addition, looking at financial advice by life stage helps clarify when guidance may be enough and when personalised advice becomes more valuable.
1. Early Career: First Full-Time Job to Early 30s
The early career stage often brings your first dependable income, initial super decisions, and the chance to build long-term habits. For many people, it’s the first time money actually feels stable rather than reactive, and this makes early choices more influential than they might seem at the time.
Advice at this stage is less about complexity and more about direction. A financial adviser can help establish habits and structures that support long-term stability. Small adjustments in financial planning, made early, can quietly compound into meaningful differences later on.
A financial adviser at this stage often focuses on:
- Choosing suitable investment strategies inside a superannuation fund
- Setting early savings and investment frameworks
- Building a workable cash-flow structure
- Managing HECS/HELP and other debts
- Introducing basic insurance considerations
2. Forming Your Household: Growing as a Couple, Home Purchases, and Raising Children
As households take shape, financial decisions become more intertwined. Couples may be combining accounts, preparing for a mortgage, planning for children, and balancing future goals with day-to-day expenses. This stage often brings new responsibilities, and some sound, structured financial advice can help ensure your long-term stability.
This is often the point where couples first consider speaking with a financial adviser about shared goals and responsibilities. Many people will be looking for help with:
- Mortgage strategy and cash-flow planning
- Protecting income and dependents through insurance guidance
- Reviewing super and updating beneficiaries
- Building long-term goals as a family
- Planning for childcare and early education costs
3. Peak Career Earning Years: Mid-Career Professionals and Business Owners
Mid-career is commonly marked by higher income and greater financial complexity. Larger portfolios, evolving tax positions, business growth, and competing goals all play a part. Many Australians seek a financial adviser at this stage to help manage the increased responsibility and long-range impact of their choices.
Here’s how a financial adviser can help with wealth management in your peak earning years:
- Structuring investments for long-term outcomes
- Reviewing insurance and risk strategies
- Support for business succession planning
- Guiding on advanced super contribution strategies
- Help with managing multiple income streams
4. Pre-Retirement: Five to Ten Years Before Retirement
The years leading up to retirement often prompt Australians to reassess their financial direction. While the average retirement age sits around 57.3 years, in practice many people finish work earlier or later depending on health, finances, and lifestyle choices.
Because retirement timing varies so widely, the pre-retirement years are a critical retirement planning window. Working with a financial adviser at this stage can help clarify options, manage trade-offs, and align retirement timing with income needs and long-term security.
Here’s how a financial adviser can help in those years leading up to retirement:
- Transition-to-retirement strategies
- Guidance on contribution rules and tax efficiency
- Centrelink considerations
- Rebalancing portfolios for sustainability
- Modelling future income needs and retirement timing
5. Retirement and Later Life: Income, Health, and Estate
Many people assume that once you retire, the need for a professional financial planner fades. But in reality, retirement brings a new set of priorities. At this point, it’s more important than ever to manage savings, control taxes, plan for future health needs, and organise estate intentions.
With income now drawn from super or investments, each decision can influence both day-to-day comfort and long-term financial security. Retirement planners who provide financial advice by life stage remain valuable here, as the focus shifts from growing wealth to managing and protecting it.
Here are just some of the ways that a reliable financial adviser can help you in your retirement years:
- Retirement income strategies and drawdown planning
- Reviewing super pension structures
- Planning for rising health or aged-care costs
- Supporting estate planning intentions
- Simplifying financial arrangements for ease and clarity
In retirement, a financial adviser often shifts focus from growth to income management and long-term security.
Event-Driven Triggers That Suggest You Should Speak With a Financial Adviser
Not all financial decisions follow predictable life stages. Some of the most important reasons people seek advice arise unexpectedly and can reshape your plans in meaningful ways. When major changes occur, working with a financial adviser may help you make informed decisions.
Here are some of the significant and common events where a financial adviser can help:
- Receipt of inheritance or financial windfall
- Redundancy, a major promotion, or a career shift
- Separation, divorce, or forming a new partnership
- Selling a business or investment property
- Significant health changes or unexpected expenses
- Relocation within Australia or returning from overseas
Top Situations Where Personalised Financial Advice Is Often Needed
Some financial situations call for more than general guidance, especially when choices carry long-term consequences or involve several moving parts. Personal advice can offer structure, clarity, and tailored direction when your situation becomes more layered.
Here are some situations where personalised financial advice is often helpful:
- Balancing multiple goals: Competing priorities like investing, paying off debt, and saving for your future goals and plans.
- Managing tax implications: When your investments or income start affecting how much tax you pay, and you want help making sense of the rules.
- Handling complex assets: Ownership of trusts, multiple properties, or business interests.
- Planning long-term income: Figuring out how your savings and super can provide a dependable income throughout retirement.
- Adapting to major financial changes: You may experience sudden increases or decreases in income or assets and need assistance deciding how to manage.
- Needing a structured plan: When you want clear, tailored steps rather than broad suggestions.
Financial Advisers Can Support You Through All Life Stages
Contrary to what most people might think, financial needs are more variable than static. As careers develop, families grow, and priorities shift, the questions people ask about money tend to change with them. What felt straightforward in your 20s can look very different a decade later.
For many Australians, financial advice becomes most valuable when decisions start to feel interconnected — or when the consequences of getting things wrong become harder to unwind. That might happen early, later, or somewhere in between. Recognising those moments can help you decide when working with a financial adviser may be worth considering, based on your circumstances rather than a specific age.
Sources
AFS licensees. ASIC. (n.d.-c). https://www.asic.gov.au/for-finance-professionals/afs-licensees/
Bareham, J. (2025, November 13). When should you get a financial advisor [10 situations explained]. My Wealth Solutions. https://mywealthsolutions.com.au/blog/when-should-you-get-financial-advisor/
Financial advice. Moneysmart.gov.au. (n.d.-e). https://moneysmart.gov.au/financial-advice
Hayes, J. (2025, November 15). When to get financial advice in Australia: Age, stage, triggers. James Hayes – Financial Planner. https://www.jameshayesfp.com.au/blog/when-to-get-financial-advice-in-australia
HECS-help – study assist, Australian Government. Australian Government Study Assist. (n.d.). https://www.studyassist.gov.au/financial-and-study-support/hecs-help
Retirement and retirement intentions, Australia, 2024-25 financial year. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (n.d.). https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/retirement-and-retirement-intentions-australia/latest-release
