Why one-off financial advice is so hard to get
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27 March 2026
by
Ryan Johnson, Money Mag
Article link:
https://www.moneymag.com.au/can-you-access-one-off-financial-advice
Getting financial advice on a single issue sounds simple enough. You have a question about buying a home, aged care, insurance or retirement - and you want to pay for help without signing up to an ongoing service.
In practice, that can be hard and expensive.
"Many financial advisers do offer advice on a single topic, but not all do," says Sarah Abood, chief executive of the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA).
The need is widespread. Research from Investment Trends shows 11.8 million Australians have unmet financial needs, with 80% believing they could have benefited from professional financial advice.
"Australians are being left to manage major financial decisions without professional support," Abood says.
"Some are turning to unregulated social media or internet searches for answers, which carries a high risk of poor outcomes, including permanent capital loss and reliance on social security."
Cost is a major barrier. According to Adviser Ratings, median advice fees rose 86% between 2018 and 2024, climbing from $2510 to $4668.
That can come as a shock to consumers expecting to pay for a quick meeting or a simple answer.
But advisers say the real hurdle isn't the conversation itself; it's the legal and compliance work required behind the scenes.
What one-off advice actually means
One-off advice is not rare. Adviser Ratings data shows single-engagement advice made up 23% of client interactions in 2025, down slightly from 25% a year earlier.
That broadly matches the experience of Michael Sauer, a financial adviser and founder of Source Wealth, who says a quarter of his clients seek one-off advice each year.
Even so, he regularly hears the same question from prospective clients: can they simply pay for an hour of his time to deal with one issue?
"Unfortunately, that 'cash-for-answers' model isn't how financial advice works," Sauer says.
Financial advice generally falls into two broad categories: ongoing holistic advice and one-off advice.
Holistic advice takes a wider view of a client's finances and long-term goals, while one-off advice is usually narrower and tied to a specific issue or life event.
Even so, Sauer says the upfront fee is often similar whether a client wants one-off advice or an ongoing service, because much of the same fact-finding, strategy work and documentation needs to be done.
"The financial plan itself is really an enormous amount of work and that's primarily due to legislation," he says.
"Even if someone asks a simple question and you know the answer off the top of your head, you still must document it in a statement of advice (SOA). You have to prove it's in their best interests and show that you've compared a range of alternatives."
Can statements of advice be streamlined?
In Australia, advisers must provide an SOA - a legal document that allows clients to assess recommendations before acting.
"(SOAs) can be quite long and complex, and they will take several weeks generally to arrive," says Abood.
The Quality of Advice Review published December 2022, recommended replacing long statements of advice with shorter, more practical records of advice.
That could mean a short letter or email setting out recommendations instead of an 80-page document.
"If that were legally possible, the cost of advice could come down significantly," Sauer says.
He says advice will never be as cheap as some consumers might hope, because even simple questions often require research, due diligence and comparisons.
"But if advice documents were shorter and less complex, more people could be helped."
Sauer says one-off advice has become less common because a standalone plan with no ongoing service is generally less profitable.
"Adviser time is finite - you can only service a certain number of clients - so if your book is already full, you're probably going to focus on clients who want ongoing advice," he says.
While Sauer sees one-off advice as essential, Source Wealth is only able to offer it because he uses online questionnaires to collect client information, saving time and helping keep costs down.
Could a new class of adviser fill the gap?
The government's proposed new class of financial adviser is designed to give Australians access to simpler, lower-cost personal advice on limited issues such as superannuation, insurance and retirement income.
Sauer is cautiously supportive of the idea.
"Having someone who can provide factual information makes sense," he says. "That kind of model could also help advisers where a client isn't necessarily a good fit for holistic financial advice - but there are still details that need ironing out."
The risk, he says, is that providers must know when to refer someone on.
Retirement planning, for example, often involves more than just super. It can also affect a person's age pension, and advice that fails to take that broader picture into account could leave them worse off.
"As long as there's a clear understanding of when to refer clients on to qualified financial advisers, I think that approach could work well for all parties," he says.
Where consumers can turn now
For people who just want a straight answer, Sauer says there is still a gap in the market.
At one end are financial counsellors, who provide free, government-funded help for people in hardship, including with debt, budgeting and financial stress.
At the other are Australians who can afford a financial adviser or planner for tailored advice.
In between sits a large group of Australians with genuine questions, but no clear low-cost way to get personal advice.
"That gap in the middle is where there's no real 'pay per question' option at the moment," Sauer says.
For some Australians, their super fund may be the most practical place to start.
Super funds can already provide a range of free advice to members on issues tied to their account, including investment options, contributions, retirement income and insurance inside super.
That service, known as intra-fund advice, remains poorly understood. AMP research shows only one in 10 Australians know what it is, with awareness dropping to 7% among people aged 50 to 64. Yet most say they would use it if they knew it existed.
For now, that still leaves many Australians in an awkward position: their question may be too important to ignore, but not big enough to justify an ongoing advice relationship.
That is why one-off financial advice, while available, remains hard to access even though demand is widespread.
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