How to Get Free Financial Guidance in Australia Without Paying Thousands in Fees
A comprehensive Statement of Advice can cost $3,000 or more. But for many common financial questions, there are legitimate free and low-cost options available. Here is where to find them and what each one covers.
Professional financial advice in Australia can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 or more for a comprehensive Statement of Advice. For households navigating mortgage stress, rising living costs, or the complexity of superannuation decisions, that fee alone can become a barrier to getting help.
The result is that many Australians make significant financial decisions, on superannuation allocation, insurance cover, debt structure, or first home purchases, without any professional input at all. In many cases, the cost of that gap compounds over time.
There are, however, legitimate channels where Australians can access free or low-cost financial guidance. Most are government-backed, industry-funded, or legally required to be provided. This article maps them out, starting with the most actively helpful and finishing with tools and complaint services.
Where to Access Free Financial Guidance in Australia
The channels below are ordered from most actively helpful to supplementary resources. The first eight offer real human interaction or direct guidance. The last two are tools and dispute services worth knowing about.
Most Australians are not aware that their super fund is required to offer what is called intra-fund advice at no additional cost. This is funded through existing member fees and covers advice specifically related to your account with that fund.
Check your fund’s member portal or contact their advice line directly. The APRA fund list can help verify your fund’s contact details.
ASIC MoneySmart guide to super funds →If you are experiencing financial hardship, Australia has a well-funded free counselling system backed by government funding. Financial counsellors are not financial advisers and do not provide investment advice, but for debt stress, cashflow problems, and hardship applications they are highly effective and completely independent of any financial product.
The National Debt Helpline operates on 1800 007 007, free and confidential, Monday to Friday. Financial Counselling Australia maintains a directory of counsellors by location.
National Debt Helpline → Find a financial counsellor →Most major Australian banks offer complimentary initial consultations, particularly for existing customers or lending clients. These can be a useful starting point for lending-related questions. It is worth understanding upfront that advice from a bank is typically limited to that bank’s own products, so comparisons across the market are not part of what they provide.
For an independent comparison across lenders, a mortgage broker (channel 4) is generally more useful. Always verify any bank adviser’s credentials on the ASIC Financial Advisers Register.
Licensed mortgage brokers provide free initial consultations and can model borrowing scenarios across a panel of lenders at no upfront cost to the consumer. Brokers are paid via lender commissions on successful settlements. Since 2021, brokers are also subject to a best interests duty under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act, which requires them to act in the consumer’s best interest.
Understanding how broker remuneration works before engaging is useful. ASIC MoneySmart’s explainer covers this clearly.
Many mid-to-large Australian employers provide financial wellness services as part of their employee benefits package. These are typically delivered through third-party providers and are either free or heavily subsidised. Most employees never check whether their employer offers this benefit.
A common first step is checking your employer’s HR intranet or benefits portal, or asking your HR team directly whether a financial wellness program is available to staff.
Community centres across Australia offer free financial literacy workshops and one-on-one sessions. These services are particularly common in areas with higher proportions of migrants, students, low-income households, and small business operators. Community legal centres can also help with financial-related legal questions including debt disputes, consumer law, and bankruptcy considerations.
Search your state name plus “community financial counselling” or “community legal centre” to find services near you. The Community Legal Centres Australia directory lists centres by location.
The Financial Information Service (FIS) is a free service run by Services Australia (formerly Centrelink) that is available to all Australians, not just those receiving government payments. FIS officers are not financial advisers and cannot provide personalised financial advice, but they can provide detailed information about how government entitlements, superannuation, and retirement income interact. This service is particularly useful for people approaching retirement age who want to understand how their super and assets affect Centrelink Age Pension eligibility.
FIS is available by phone or in person through Services Australia service centres. Phone 132 300 and ask for the Financial Information Service.
Services Australia FIS →The ATO runs a free Tax Help program during tax time, staffed by trained volunteers, for eligible individuals with simple tax affairs. This is not financial advice but it is a genuinely useful free service for eligible people who find the tax return process confusing or want help ensuring they are claiming what they are entitled to.
ASIC’s MoneySmart platform provides regulatory-backed financial education tools and calculators. This is not personalised advice or a human service, but the tools allow scenario testing that can be genuinely useful before or after speaking to any of the channels above. It also hosts the official Financial Advisers Register for verifying credentials.
AFCA is not a source of proactive financial guidance and is listed last for that reason. It is however important to know about before engaging any financial service. AFCA is a free, independent external dispute resolution scheme backed by the Australian Government. All licensed financial services providers are required by law to be AFCA members. If something goes wrong with advice or a service from a licensed provider, AFCA can investigate and issue binding determinations against financial firms at no cost to you.
Knowing AFCA exists means you can engage with any licensed free advice channel with more confidence. If something goes wrong, there is a formal, no-cost avenue for redress that does not require lawyers or court proceedings.
Quick Reference: Which Channel for Which Need
| Your Situation | Most Relevant Channel | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Questions about super investment options or insurance | Your super fund’s intra-fund advice line | Free (covered by member fees) |
| Debt stress, hardship, or difficulty paying bills | National Debt Helpline / Financial Counselling Australia | Free |
| Lending questions with your existing bank | Major bank initial consultation | Free (product-aligned) |
| Mortgage, refinancing, or cross-lender comparisons | Licensed mortgage broker | Free to consumer |
| Financial coaching or salary packaging at work | Employer wellness program | Free or subsidised |
| Financial literacy, budgeting, or debt/legal questions | Community financial or legal centre | Free |
| Age Pension, retirement income, or Centrelink interaction with super | Services Australia Financial Information Service | Free |
| Tax return help (simple affairs, eligible earners) | ATO Tax Help program | Free |
| Scenario modelling and independent calculators | ASIC MoneySmart tools | Free |
| Complaint about a financial product or licensed provider | AFCA | Free |
| Complex, personalised financial planning | Licensed financial adviser (fee-for-service) | Paid — $2,000–$5,000+ for a full SOA |
How to use these channels effectively
Free guidance is most useful when approached with a clearly defined question. A common pattern among people who get the most value from these services is preparing before the session rather than arriving with a vague brief.
Define the specific question before approaching any service
Different channels suit different needs. A super fund’s advice line is the right place for questions about investment options inside your account, not questions about whether to buy a property. Arriving with a clearly defined question tends to produce a more useful outcome than a general conversation.
Ask for written projections and the assumptions behind them
Where a session produces projections or comparisons, asking for those in writing along with the assumptions used is common practice. This allows independent cross-checking using MoneySmart calculators and makes it easier to compare outcomes across different sources or sessions.
Understand how the person you’re speaking to is paid
This applies to every channel. A super fund adviser is funded by the fund. A mortgage broker is paid by lenders. A bank’s adviser may be licensed to their institution’s products only. Understanding the incentive structure behind any guidance is basic due diligence. ASIC MoneySmart’s guide to choosing a financial adviser covers what to ask any professional before engaging.
Cross-check projections using ASIC’s free tools
After any session that produces a projection, running the same scenario through the MoneySmart compound interest calculator or super projection tool is a useful way to sense-check the numbers independently. These tools are regulatory-grade and free.
Know when a paid licensed adviser is the right next step
Free channels cover a wide range of common questions well. For complex, personalised situations involving multiple financial considerations, significant asset decisions, or tax structuring, a licensed financial adviser is the appropriate resource. The ASIC Financial Advisers Register lets you verify any adviser’s credentials and areas of authorisation before engaging.
Information about where to get help is freely available. The gap for most people is not access, it is taking the first step and following through on it. If you want to work through these steps alongside others doing the same, MSH is a free community built around exactly that.
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