Most people stay with a financial adviser well past the point the relationship stopped being useful. Not because they are happy, but because leaving feels like an accusation, the paperwork looks tedious, and there is a quiet worry that the problem might be them.
Usually it is not. Advice relationships go stale in fairly predictable ways, and the signs are recognisable once you know what you are looking at.
Equally, plenty of people switch for reasons that will not improve anything, and a poorly executed switch can cost real money in tax and, in the worst cases, leave someone without insurance cover they can no longer replace. Both halves of that are covered below.
Signs the advice has gone stale
Nothing has changed in years
The clearest signal. Your circumstances have moved, through a new job, a separation, an inheritance, children, a business sale or approaching retirement, and the plan has not moved with them.
Advice is meant to respond to your life. A strategy set in 2019 and never revisited is not a long-term plan, it is an old document.
The annual review reviews performance and nothing else
A meeting where you are shown how the portfolio has performed, told markets have been volatile, and sent away with no change and no decisions is not advice. It is a subscription.
A useful review looks at contributions, tax position, insurance adequacy, estate arrangements, cash flow and whether your goals have shifted. If your meetings only ever cover returns, you are paying an advice fee for a performance report.
You do not know what you are paying
If you cannot say, in dollars, what your total annual cost is including the advice fee, the platform fee and the underlying investment costs, ask. If asking produces percentages rather than dollars, ask again.
Reluctance to answer that question plainly is one of the strongest signals there is.
The fee has grown but the service has not
Percentage-based fees rise automatically as your balance grows. If your fee has doubled over several years while the number of meetings, the depth of the work and the responsiveness have stayed the same, that is a reasonable thing to raise.
Nothing significant in the last two years has been discussed with you
This is a useful objective test right now, because a great deal has changed.
Division 296 commenced for balances over $3 million. The transfer balance cap and contribution caps moved. The capital gains tax rules for individuals and trusts change from 1 July 2027, with a transitional rule that affects anyone holding appreciated assets. Payday super changed employer obligations. Negative gearing on established residential property was restricted for purchases after May 2026.
Not all of these apply to everyone. But if your adviser has not raised a single one with you, and any of them touch your situation, that tells you how closely your file is being watched.
Every conversation ends in a product
Some advice involves products. Not all of it should. If every meeting concludes with a recommendation to move, switch or buy something, and rarely with “do nothing” or “here is a strategy that costs you nothing”, it is worth asking what is driving that.
The advice feels generic
If your plan reads like it could belong to anyone with a similar balance, it may well have been produced that way. Regulators have taken action against firms producing templated advice with client names inserted, and the client experience of it is exactly this vague sense that nothing was really about you.
They never disagree with you
An adviser who agrees with everything you suggest is not adding much. Part of what you are paying for is someone who will tell you when you are about to do something expensive, including when you very much want to do it.
Your insurance has not been looked at
Cover set up years ago is frequently wrong now, in either direction. Some people are badly underinsured after a mortgage or a child.
Premiums have also risen sharply across the market, and our guide on restructuring cover without losing protection covers the options if the cost is the problem rather than the cover itself. Others are paying for cover they no longer need. Both are failures of review.
Estate arrangements never come up
Binding death benefit nominations lapse in many funds, commonly after three years. If nobody has asked you about yours, or about your will, that is a gap in the service rather than a gap in your interest.
You have been quietly orphaned
Your adviser left, retired or sold the practice. Nobody was assigned, or someone was and never made contact. Fees continue to be deducted.
This is more common than people expect, and it is the clearest case of all. If you are paying an ongoing fee and cannot name the person responsible for your file, you are paying for nothing.
Reasons that are not good reasons to switch
Some frustrations feel like grounds for leaving and are not.
A period of poor returns. Markets fall. An adviser who kept you invested through a downturn when you wanted to sell may have added more value in that one conversation than in everything else they have done. Judge the process, not the last twelve months.
A friend’s portfolio did better. You are comparing two different risk profiles, time horizons and tax positions, usually on incomplete information, and usually only when the comparison is unflattering.
One bad meeting. People have off days and firms have bad quarters. A pattern matters. A single instance usually does not.
They told you something you did not want to hear. This may be the strongest sign to stay.
Someone approached you with a better idea. Be especially careful here. Unsolicited contact promising higher returns, particularly where the conversation moves toward switching your superannuation, is the pattern behind the most serious recent losses in Australia.
Try the conversation first
Before doing anything else, tell your current adviser what is not working.
Some of these problems are fixable and stem from assumptions rather than neglect. An adviser who thinks you want minimal contact may be giving you exactly that. A service level that never suited you may never have been discussed.
Ask directly: what am I paying in total, in dollars; what is included in the service; when did we last review my insurance and my beneficiary nominations; and what has changed in the last two years that affects me.
How they respond will tell you what you need to know. A firm that engages seriously with those questions is worth another look. A defensive or vague response has answered the question for you.
A second opinion is not the same as a switch. Ours sits within our financial advice service, and it is a reasonable step before you decide anything.
What switching actually costs
If you do decide to move, the costs are manageable but they are real, and one of them is dangerous if handled badly.
Insurance: the one that can genuinely hurt you
Do not cancel any insurance policy until replacement cover has been formally issued and is in force.
Insurance is priced on your health at the time it was underwritten. If your health has changed since, and for most people over a period of years it has, replacement cover may come with exclusions, loadings, or may not be available at all.
People cancel a policy on the expectation that a new one will be issued, then find a condition diagnosed in the meantime is excluded. That is not recoverable. Any adviser who suggests cancelling before replacement cover is confirmed in writing has made a serious error.
The same applies to insurance held inside superannuation. Switching super funds can end the cover attached to the old account.
Capital gains tax
Moving investments held outside superannuation can trigger capital gains tax if assets are sold to make the move.
Often they need not be. Many platform and adviser changes can be done by in specie transfer, meaning the assets move without being sold, so no CGT event occurs. Ask specifically whether that is possible before agreeing to anything, because the difference can be substantial.
Where a sale genuinely is required, understand the tax cost before proceeding, particularly in light of the capital gains tax changes commencing 1 July 2027, which we cover in our article on the CGT changes.
Fees and paperwork
There may be withdrawal or exit fees on existing platforms. A new adviser will usually charge for the initial advice document. Neither is unusual, but both should be quoted upfront in dollars.
How to change advisers properly
The order matters more than the speed.
Gather your documents. Your most recent advice document, current fee arrangements, product and platform statements, and all insurance policy schedules.
Write down what you actually want. “Better returns” is not a brief. “I want my insurance reviewed, a plan for the next five years and to understand what I am paying” is.
If you are struggling to define the brief, our guide on what most people get wrong before seeking financial advice covers the assumptions worth checking first, and what to look for when choosing a planner in Adelaide covers the local decision.
Interview replacements before terminating anything. Our 15 questions to ask a financial adviser and our guide on how to check an adviser’s registration are both worth using here.
Ask the prospective adviser what the switch will cost you. In dollars, in tax, and in time. Ask whether assets can transfer in specie. An adviser who has not considered your transition costs is telling you something about how they will handle the rest.
Arrange replacement insurance before cancelling anything. Cover first, cancellation second. Never the reverse.
Terminate the ongoing fee arrangement in writing. Ongoing fee arrangements require your consent to continue and do not renew automatically. Put the termination in writing to both the adviser and the licensee, and keep a copy.
Confirm the fees have actually stopped. Check your statements two and three months later. Fees continuing after termination is a common administrative failure, and it is your money.
If your adviser’s firm has collapsed
Different situation and a different process. Complaints go to the firm’s internal dispute resolution process and then to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority at no cost to you. Where a firm cannot pay an AFCA determination, the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort may cover part of it, though it is capped and does not cover every loss.
Get your file and your product statements together early. Reconstructing years of records after the fact is considerably harder.
A last thought
Changing advisers is not a judgement on anyone. Firms change, people retire, and what suited you at 35 may not suit you at 58. The relationship existing for a long time is not itself a reason to continue it.
Equally, do not switch expecting a new adviser to solve a problem you have not defined. Work out what is missing first. Sometimes the answer is a different firm. Sometimes it is a franker conversation with the one you have.
If you would like a second opinion on whether your current arrangement is serving you, we are happy to look at it and tell you honestly if we think you are already well served. Our financial advice page explains how we work, and you can get in touch whenever suits.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if I should change financial advisers?
The clearest signals are structural rather than emotional: no meaningful review in over a year, a plan that has not changed despite your circumstances changing, an inability to find out what you are paying in dollars, insurance and beneficiary nominations never being reviewed, and no discussion of significant legislative changes that affect you. Being unable to name the person responsible for your file while still paying an ongoing fee is the clearest case of all.
What does it cost to change financial advisers?
Potential costs include capital gains tax if investments held outside super are sold to make the move, platform exit or withdrawal fees, and the new adviser’s initial advice fee. Many transfers can be done in specie so the assets move without being sold and no CGT event occurs, so ask specifically whether that is available before agreeing to anything.
What should I do about my insurance when changing advisers?
Never cancel existing cover until replacement cover has been formally issued and is in force. Insurance is priced on your health at underwriting, and if your health has changed, new cover may carry exclusions or loadings or may be unavailable. This also applies to insurance inside superannuation, which can end when you switch funds.
How do I cancel ongoing advice fees?
Ongoing fee arrangements require your consent to continue and do not renew automatically. Terminate in writing to both the adviser and their licensee, keep a copy, and then check your statements over the following two or three months to confirm deductions have actually stopped. Fees continuing after termination is a common administrative failure.
Should I switch advisers because my returns have been poor?
Usually not on that basis alone. Markets fall, and an adviser who kept you invested through a downturn when you wanted to sell may have added significant value. Assess the process, the service and the fee rather than the last twelve months of performance, and be cautious of anyone approaching you unsolicited with promises of better returns.
What if my adviser left and nobody contacted me?
This is common enough to have a name in the industry, and if you are still paying an ongoing fee while nobody is servicing your file, you are paying for nothing. Contact the licensee directly to ask who is responsible for your account, and treat the answer as the basis for deciding whether to stay.
Do I have to tell my current adviser I am leaving?
You are not obliged to explain yourself, but you do need to terminate the ongoing fee arrangement in writing, and it is worth raising your concerns before deciding. Some issues stem from mismatched expectations rather than poor service, and a firm that responds seriously to direct questions may be worth keeping.
General advice warning. This article contains general information only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not a recommendation to change financial advisers, to switch or cancel any financial product, or to alter any insurance arrangement. Replacing insurance carries risks that depend entirely on your circumstances and health, and existing cover should never be cancelled before replacement cover is confirmed in force. Please seek personal financial advice before acting on any of it.
