Short answer
Check the licence first — financial planners must be licensed in every state. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 1,384 Australian financial planners in this directory, only 58% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 7.5% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Financial Planners handle superannuation, retirement planning, investment strategy, insurance inside super and personal financial advice. This is what to check before you hand over your retirement to someone, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
Financial Planners must be licensed
Personal financial advice may only be given under an Australian Financial Services Licence, by a licensee or an authorised representative, and every adviser must appear on the government's Financial Advisers Register with their qualifications and licence history. You should receive a Financial Services Guide before any advice and a Statement of Advice with it.
The Financial Advisers Register at moneysmart.gov.au lists every adviser who may give personal advice, with their licensee, qualifications and any bans. Not being on it is the whole answer.
What 1,384 Australian financial planners actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For financial planners:
| What we checked | Financial Planners | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 58% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 56.8% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 7.5% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 88.4% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 92.5% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 12 | 39 |
What goes wrong with financial planners
- Advice from someone not on the Financial Advisers Register, which has no professional standing and no complaints path
- Fees charged as a percentage of your assets without being shown as a dollar figure
- A recommendation into products the licensee owns or is paid to sell
What to ask before the work starts
- What is your number on the Financial Advisers Register, and who is your licensee?
- What will I pay in dollars for the advice, and for implementing it?
- Does your licensee own or get paid by any product you are recommending?
A financial planner who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median financial planner in this directory has 12 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the financial planners are
Melbourne (101), Sydney (87), Brisbane (63), Adelaide (38), Perth (35), Gold Coast (30). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best financial planner in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do financial planners need a licence in Australia?
- Yes. Personal financial advice may only be given under an Australian Financial Services Licence, by a licensee or an authorised representative, and every adviser must appear on the government's Financial Advisers Register with their qualifications and licence history. You should receive a Financial Services Guide before any advice and a Statement of Advice with it.
- How do I check a financial planner's licence?
- The Financial Advisers Register at moneysmart.gov.au lists every adviser who may give personal advice, with their licensee, qualifications and any bans. Not being on it is the whole answer.
- What percentage of Australian financial planners have a verifiable ABN?
- 58% of the 1,384 financial planners in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a financial planner have?
- The median financial planner here has 12. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare financial planners near you
1,384 financial planners, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
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