What to expect - Financial Adviser
If you've requested an introduction — or are considering it — this page is for you.
It explains what a typical engagement looks like across each of the three pathways, so you can arrive at your first conversation feeling prepared rather than uncertain.
Every situation is different, and what you need will shape what happens. These are guides, not fixed programmes. But in our experience, the conversations below are the ones that make the most difference — in roughly the order they tend to happen.
For women navigating separation, a financial adviser rarely works alone. At certain points a solicitor is essential — and the two professionals work in sequence, and then alongside each other, to give you both the legal and financial picture you need. Before reading the detail below, it is worth taking a moment to see how the two professionals interact across all three situations.
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Considering Separation
For women considering separation, the following series of conversations with a financial adviser would be helpful.
Initial conversation At no cost, 15 minutes, online (optional)
An initial conversation to confirm that this is the right fit — for you and for the adviser. A chance to ask questions, set expectations, and decide whether you'd like to proceed.
Your financial picture At no cost,
Before this meeting, your adviser will guide you on what to bring — the documents, figures, and information that will make the conversation as useful as possible.
Together you will work through your goals, priorities, values, and lifestyle aspirations — and how your assets, liabilities, income, and superannuation can best support them. The aim is a practical understanding of where you stand now, what is clear, what is missing, and what separation could mean for you financially. From this, your adviser will discuss a range of scenarios with you: how assets might be divided, and what different outcomes could look like in practice.
These first two meetings are at no cost. At the end of them, you will have a clear enough picture to decide if — and how — you want to proceed.
Your options Formal engagement begins here
With the foundations in place, this is the point at which you formally engage your adviser.
Working from the discussions in your second meeting and any additional information that has come to hand, your adviser develops a detailed financial plan tailored to your situation — modelling scenarios, exploring implications, and surfacing the questions worth asking before any decisions are made.
The goal is a clear and considered view of what is on the table, and what different paths could mean for you financially, now and over time — under a range of assumptions, including the ones you are most and least hopeful about.
Beyond that
Anything further is based on what your situation actually requires.
Fees
The financial advisers I introduce offer the first two meetings at no cost. Before any paid work begins, your adviser will be clear about what is involved, what it costs, and what you can expect. There is no obligation to proceed following the first two meetings. I ask that of everyone I work with. No surprises, no pressure — and if at any point something doesn't feel right, please let me know.
Separating Finances
For women in the process of separating finances, the financial and legal work run together — and knowing how they connect matters.
This phase is led by a family law solicitor. If you don't yet have one, that is the right place to start, and I can make that introduction. Your financial adviser works alongside your solicitor throughout — bringing the financial detail, the long-term modelling, and the knowledge of your situation built in earlier conversations. The two professionals inform each other's advice at every stage.
The settlement process has more moving parts than most women expect — and more stages where good advice makes a material difference. A typical engagement with a financial adviser across this process looks something like this.
Initial conversation At no cost. 15 minutes, online (optional)
If you are continuing with the adviser you worked with during the considering separation phase, this is a chance to reorient — confirming what has changed, what is now in play, and how the engagement will work from here.
If you are coming to a financial adviser for the first time, this is a conversation to confirm the fit, ask questions, set expectations, and decide whether you'd like to proceed. There is no obligation to go further.
Your financial position and the settlement framework At no cost.
Before this meeting, your adviser will guide you on what to bring — including any disclosure documents, correspondence, or proposals that have emerged from the legal process so far.
This meeting works differently depending on where you are starting from.
If you are coming to a financial adviser for the first time at this stage, this meeting covers both: building that foundational picture of your goals, priorities, values, and financial position, and beginning to understand how different ways of dividing assets could affect your life going forward.
If you worked with a financial adviser during the considering separation phase, this meeting is not necessary — the foundations are already in place. You move directly to formal engagement, where the work shifts from general orientation to specific advice about the settlement being negotiated.
In both cases, the outcome is the same — a clear and grounded understanding of your financial position, and what the settlement process could mean for you practically and over time.
This meeting is at no cost. At the end of it, you will have a clear enough picture to decide whether to formally engage your adviser for the work ahead.
Modelling options, proposals and counter-offers Formal engagement begins here (Meeting 3 onwards)
With the legal framework and your entitlements under Australian family law established — either through your solicitor meetings or work already done in the considering separation phase — this is where the detailed financial work begins.
This phase is iterative — the meetings below follow the rhythm of negotiations, not a fixed schedule. Your adviser works with you through each stage as it unfolds.
Depending on where negotiations stand, your adviser will help you build a proposal to put forward, assess one you have received, or stress-test a revised position. Income, superannuation, housing, retirement — each of these looks different depending on how assets are divided, and this is where that starts to become concrete.
Your solicitor and your financial adviser are in dialogue throughout. The legal assessment and the financial modelling inform each other — and it is often in that conversation that the most valuable outcomes emerge. A settlement structure that works better for your lifestyle goals. A superannuation split that changes your long-term position. A way of dividing assets that the legal process alone would not have surfaced. The protections matter — but so does knowing what is genuinely possible.
Reviewing a counter offer When a counter offer arrives, your adviser works through it with you — what it actually means financially, how it compares to what you are entitled to, and whether it is worth accepting, negotiating further, or declining.
A second counter-offer, if needed If negotiations continue, a further session to assess any revised proposal — or one you want to put forward — with the same rigour.
Finalising
A final review before you sign anything — confirming that what is being proposed is fair, that you understand its long-term implications, and that you are making this decision with full information and without pressure.
Beyond that
Anything further is based on what your situation requires.
Fees
The financial advisers I introduce offer the first two meetings at no cost. Before any paid work begins, your adviser will be clear about what is involved, what it costs, and what you can expect. I ask that of everyone I work with. No surprises, no pressure — and if at any point something doesn't feel right, please let me know.
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Planning Retirement
For women planning retirement, the following series of conversations with a financial adviser would be helpful.
Through conversations, legal matters often arise that are just as important, and just as commonly overlooked. These will usually require the services of a solicitor but in most cases, you will not meet with them directly. Your financial adviser leads, briefs the solicitor, and liaises with them as required — usually behind the scenes, with a meeting where the documents require it.
Initial conversation At no cost. 15 minutes, online (optional)
An initial conversation to confirm that this is the right fit — for you and for the adviser. A chance to ask questions, set expectations, and decide whether you'd like to proceed. There is no obligation to go further.
Your position and your goals At no cost.
Before this meeting, your adviser will guide you on what to bring — the documents, figures, and information that will make the conversation as useful as possible.
This is where the picture starts to come together. Your adviser will also ask what legal documents you have in place — your current will, any powers of attorney, and your superannuation beneficiary nominations. A will written during a marriage, before a separation, or before significant changes to your assets may not do what you think it does.
This meeting establishes where you are now, and together you will work through what you want retirement to look like — your values, goals, and priorities, your assets, income sources, superannuation, and housing position, and the lifestyle you are genuinely planning for, not a generic version of it. From this, your adviser builds a clear picture of your current trajectory, what it can realistically support, and where there is still room to improve your position.
Women who come to this meeting often arrive with uncertainty about whether the retirement they want is within reach. Most leave with a honest picture of what is possible — and a clear sense of what a well-structured plan could still achieve. At the end of it, if you are ready to turn that into a plan, your adviser will talk you through what formal engagement looks like and what happens next.
Your options Formal engagement begins here
Your adviser presents what they have found — your current position modelled forward, alongside better-structured alternatives. What different approaches could mean for your income, your superannuation, your Age Pension eligibility, and your financial security over time. A basis for making considered decisions, not a prescription.
Where documents need to be prepared or updated, your adviser briefs your solicitor, who does that work — a current will, an Enduring Power of Attorney covering financial and medical decisions, and superannuation beneficiary nominations confirmed as binding.
Beyond that
Ongoing strategy, reviews, and further advice are based on what your situation requires.
Fees
The financial advisers I introduce offer the first two meetings at no cost. Before any paid work begins, your financial adviser will be clear about what is involved and what you can expect, and will confirm the cost of the legal services and documentation with your solicitor. I ask that of everyone I work with. No surprises, no pressure — and if at any point something doesn't feel right, please let me know.
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