See the call funnel we built for Money Path Advisory below.

First up, thanks for booking your discovery call. It's a small step, but it usually means you've been turning over the same question for a while, whether your super and your retirement are actually set up the way they should be, and you'd like a straight read from someone independent.

Here's roughly how the call runs, because it's probably calmer than you're bracing for. It's a short discovery call, about 15 minutes, and one of our advisers gets on the phone or a video call with you, asks about where your super sits today and what you want retirement to look like, and gives you a clear sense of whether we're the right fit to help. Nobody is going to push a product at you. We're an independent practice, so the only thing the adviser is weighing up on that call is your situation.

You should already have a confirmation with your time and the details to join, so keep an eye out for that. Over the next few days we'll also send you a couple of short emails. They cover the questions that come up on nearly every one of these calls, so nothing catches you off guard when you actually speak with the team.

Before then, the most useful thing you can do is sitting right below this video. There are a few short clips on the questions people ask us most, things like whether an SMSF is even worth it for your circumstances, what the advice actually costs, and how it all works if you're not in Adelaide. Have a look through the ones that speak to you. That way we're not spending the call covering the basics, and the whole conversation can go straight to your situation.

Watch a few of those, have a rough sense of your numbers, and one of our advisers will take it from there on the call.

The cost question is the one people most often feel awkward asking, so let me be plain about how we handle it, even though the exact figure depends on your situation.

We don't publish a single price, and there's a genuine reason for that rather than a coy one. The right piece of work for someone consolidating a couple of old super accounts looks very different from a full retirement and estate plan, so quoting one number for everyone would either overcharge the simple jobs or underquote the involved ones. What we can promise is that you'll know exactly what any advice costs, and what you're getting for it, before you agree to anything. Nothing goes ahead until the fee is on the table and it makes sense to you.

The part that genuinely sets us apart sits underneath all of that. We're an independent practice, so we're paid by you for advice, and never by a product provider for steering you somewhere. There's no commission built into what we recommend, and no bank or fund paying us behind the scenes to point you their way. When we suggest something, it's because it fits your circumstances, full stop.

On the call the adviser will get a feel for what you're actually after, and if there's a piece of work worth doing, you'll get a clear scope and a clear fee for it. And if you don't really need to pay for much at all right now, they'll tell you that too.

This is the one worth watching before anything else, because a self-managed fund suits some people beautifully and is genuinely the wrong move for others, and plenty of people set one up before they've worked out which camp they're in.

The appeal is control. Instead of your money sitting in a big fund making decisions on your behalf, you decide how it's invested, and for the right person that control is exactly what they've been missing. The catch is that control comes with responsibility. You become a trustee, there's an annual audit and a tax return, and the fund has to be run to the ATO's rules, so it needs to be worth the extra effort and cost for the position you're actually in.

So the real work on the call is simply working out whether a fund earns its keep for you, rather than talking you into one. That comes down to your balance, how hands-on you want to be, and what you're trying to achieve, whether that's more control over your investments, or a clearer path into retirement, or bringing a scattered super picture back under one roof. For some people the answer is a straightforward yes. Plenty of others are better off with a simpler structure that does the same job with far less admin.

Because we're independent and paid for advice rather than for setting up funds, we've no reason to talk you into one that doesn't fit. We turn that conversation around fairly often. Bring your situation to the call and you'll get a straight read on whether it's genuinely worth it for you.

If you've dealt with a bank or a big institution for advice before and come away feeling like you were being sold to, this is worth two minutes.

The difference sits in who we work for. We're an independent practice, and our whole job is to give you advice that's in your best interests, tailored to your circumstances and your stage of life. There's no product shelf we're being pushed to fill, no bank behind us setting targets, and no commission changing what we recommend. When a big institution gives you advice, however good the individual person is, they're ultimately working inside a business that's built to sell its own products, and that shapes the answers you get whether anyone means it to or not.

The practical version of that plays out on every call. We're just as happy to tell you to leave your super where it is, or that you don't need to change a thing right now, as we'd be to recommend a piece of work, because we don't earn anything by moving you around. Our clients tend to stay with us for years, often through retirement and beyond, and that only happens when the advice has genuinely been for them the whole way through.

Bring the questions you'd want a second opinion on. You'll get a considered answer that's built around your situation.

Short answer, yes, and it's more common than you'd think. We're an Adelaide practice, but a good chunk of the advice we give is delivered over video and phone, so where you happen to live makes very little difference to the quality of the work.

The discovery call itself is by phone or video, whatever suits you. From there, if we go on to do a piece of work together, the fact-find, the meetings, and the advice all work perfectly well remotely, and you'll see everything set out clearly in writing regardless. Plenty of our clients we speak to far more often on a screen than across a desk, and it doesn't change the substance of the advice at all.

If you happen to be in Adelaide and would rather sit down in person, we can do that too, and we're occasionally able to arrange to meet at your home if that's easier. But you're not missing anything by being interstate or in a regional town. Bring it up on the call and the adviser will sort out whatever format works best for you.

A lot of the people we speak to already have an accountant, or an adviser they've used for years, and that's a perfectly good reason to be cautious about starting a conversation with someone new.

A discovery call isn't us asking you to sack anyone. Most often it's a second opinion, a fresh independent read on whether your super and your retirement plan are set up as well as they could be. Accountants and advisers are excellent at plenty of things, but the two roles don't always overlap, and it's surprisingly common for someone to have a great accountant handling the tax and nobody really owning the bigger retirement picture, or an old adviser relationship that's gone a bit quiet over the years.

If everything's already in good shape, we'll happily tell you that, and you can carry on with whoever you're with, no harm done. If there's a gap worth looking at, at least you'll know. Because we're independent and we're not chasing a product sale, we've genuinely no reason to stir something up that doesn't need stirring.

Come to the call with what you've already got in place. The adviser will give you a straight read on whether there's anything worth doing.

The discovery call is short and pretty relaxed, so there's not much you need to prepare. But a few things in front of you help the adviser give you a far more useful read in the time you've got.

The main one is a rough sense of your super. Whatever you've got, including those older accounts most people have half forgotten about, and your partner's too if you're planning your retirement together. You don't need exact figures for this first call, ballpark is fine, though if you can log into your super portal beforehand and glance at the real balances, even better.

It also helps to have half an idea of what you'd like retirement to look like, and roughly when. You don't need it worked out, that's part of what we're here for, but a sense of whether you're picturing stopping work in a couple of years or ten changes the conversation a fair bit.

And if you already have an SMSF that someone set up for you and you're not sure the strategy's still right, have a rough idea of what's in it. Come with those few things and the call can get straight to your situation.

Subject: Your discovery call is booked
Preview: What happens on the call and who you'll be speaking with.
Send: Immediately after booking (fires on form submission)

Hi,

Your 15-minute discovery call is locked in. It's a phone call, so there's nothing to install and nowhere to be. We'll ring you on the number you booked with.

A few things about who you'll be talking to, so the call isn't the first time you're weighing any of this up:

- Money Path is an independent Adelaide practice. We hold our own licence, so no bank or product group sits behind the advice you get.
- The adviser you'll speak with has 15+ years in financial planning, with a Bachelor of Economics and a Graduate Diploma in Global Wealth Management from the University of Adelaide, plus an Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning.
- Advice is delivered nationally by phone and video, so where you're based in the country doesn't change anything.

On the call itself we'll ask about your super, roughly where you're at, and what you want retirement to actually look like. From there we'll tell you whether an SMSF suits your situation or whether it'd just be more admin and cost for you. If it doesn't suit you, we'll say so.

Talk soon,
The Money Path team

Subject: Whether an SMSF is worth it for you
Preview: There's a point where a self-managed fund earns its keep, and a point where it doesn't.
Send: Day 1, morning

Hi,

The question sitting behind most of these calls is some version of: is a self-managed fund actually worth it for me, or is it just more paperwork and risk I don't need.

Worth setting out how we think about it before we talk, so the call starts further along.

An SMSF gives you control. You decide what the fund holds, how it's invested, and how it's structured around your retirement. That control is the whole appeal, and for the right person it's genuinely valuable. It also comes with real responsibility: you're a trustee, there's compliance to keep on top of, and there are running costs that don't go away whether the fund does well or not.

So the answer turns on a few things, and none of them is a slogan:

- How much you have in super, and whether the running costs are small enough against that balance to be worth carrying.
- Whether you actually want to be involved in the decisions, or would rather someone else simply handle it.
- What you want the fund to do that your current super can't already do for you.

Plenty of people who ask us this end up better off leaving their super where it is, and we tell them that. The point of the call is to work out which group you're in before you commit to anything.

Talk soon,
The Money Path team

Subject: How one couple's super changed after retirement
Preview: A retiree client on what changed once the structure was sorted.
Send: Day 1, afternoon

Hi,

Results are easy to quote and hard to trust, so here's one in the client's own words, and then what actually sat underneath it.

"Harry has been looking after my wife and my financial affairs for many years ... and has assisted our super growth since rolling it over after retirement." Michael C., retiree and super rollover client

What did the work, rather than the sentence: we started with what he and his wife wanted the money to do through retirement, not with a product. Then we looked at how the super was structured after the rollover, where it was invested, and whether that structure matched the years ahead of them rather than the years behind. The growth he's describing came from getting that structure right and reviewing it, not from chasing a hot return.

That's the shape every one of these starts with. We work out what you want retirement to look like first, then whether your super, and possibly an SMSF, is set up to get you there. Your call will run the same way.

Talk soon,
The Money Path team

Subject: What an SMSF actually asks of you
Preview: Control is the upside, and it comes with real obligations.
Send: Day 2, morning

Hi,

If we do end up setting a fund up together, it's worth knowing what you're taking on, because the appeal and the obligation are the same coin.

As a trustee of your own fund, you're responsible for keeping it compliant. That means an annual audit, ongoing record-keeping, and contribution and investment rules that apply to a self-managed fund and not to a regular super account. Getting them wrong has consequences. None of this is meant to scare you off. It's the trade you make for control, and for a lot of our clients it's a trade well worth making.

What we do is carry the strategy and the ongoing advice so you're not working any of it out alone. You stay the decision-maker; we make sure the decisions are sound and the fund stays on the right side of the rules. Every recommendation comes to you as a written Record of Advice, so you can see the reasoning, not just the conclusion.

We'll walk through exactly what the ongoing responsibilities would look like for your situation on the call, so you can decide with your eyes open.

Talk soon,
The Money Path team

Subject: Three things to check on your super this week
Preview: A short list you can run through on your own super today.
Send: Day 2, afternoon

Hi,

Something you can do this week regardless of how the call goes, because it's useful either way.

Pull up your current super and check three things:

- The fees you're paying, and whether you can tell what you're getting for them. A lot of people can't, and that alone is worth knowing.
- How it's invested. Whether the mix still matches how many years you've got until retirement, or whether it was set once and never looked at again.
- Any old accounts you've lost track of. Most people have a forgotten industry-fund account or two from an old job, still charging fees against a small balance.

None of that requires us. It's the same first look we'd take together, and doing it now means the call can go deeper than surface numbers.

If it throws up questions, bring them to the call.

Talk soon,
The Money Path team

Subject: How we differ from bank advice
Preview: Why the licence behind your adviser changes the advice you get.
Send: Day 3, morning

Hi,

A question worth putting on the table before we talk: how is this different from the advice you'd get through a bank.

The practice was established as an independent one. We hold our own licence through Australia National Investment Group, which means no bank or product manufacturer sits behind us setting the menu. A lot rides on who owns your adviser, because it decides whether the answer you get is shaped by what suits you or by what the institution has to sell.

We charge for advice, and what that costs depends on the work your situation calls for, so we'd rather scope it with you on the call than guess in an email. Whatever it turns out to be, you'll see it in writing before anything proceeds, and the fee pays for the advice itself rather than a commission for steering you into a product.

You'll find our reviews on Google, and the adviser you'll be speaking with is rated five stars on AdviserRatings. Have a read of those before the call if it helps. Many of them are from retirees whose super we've looked after for years, which is the kind of relationship we're set up for.

Talk soon,
The Money Path team

Subject: Your call is tomorrow
Preview: Your time and number, plus the one thing worth having handy.
Send: Day 3, afternoon (or morning of the call if the call is early)

Hi,

Your discovery call is booked for tomorrow. We'll ring you on the number you booked with, so there's nothing to set up. It runs about 15 minutes.

The one thing worth having handy is a rough sense of your super. You don't need exact figures or statements in front of you. A ballpark of what you've got and where it sits is plenty for a first conversation.

We'll use the time to understand where you're at and what you want retirement to look like, and to give you a straight read on whether an SMSF or a change to how your super is structured would help you get there. If it wouldn't, you'll hear that too.

If tomorrow no longer works, reply to this email with a day that suits and we'll move it, no trouble at all.

Talk tomorrow,
The Money Path team

Subject: Today's call
Preview: We'll ring you, so there's nothing you need to do but pick up.
Send: 2-3 hours before the call, recipient timezone

Hi,

Your discovery call is today. We'll ring the number you booked with, so you don't need to do anything but pick up.

If something's come up or you're running behind, reply to this email or give the office a quick call and we'll sort it.

Talk soon,
The Money Path team

Subject: Looks like we missed each other
Preview: Easy to fix. Reply and we'll set a new time.
Send: 1-2 hours after a missed call (conditional)

Hi,

Looks like we missed each other today. These things happen, no trouble at all.

You booked in to get a straight read on your super and whether a self-managed fund suits you, and that's still worth a 15-minute call whenever it works for you. Reply to this email with a day and time that suits and we'll lock it in.

The Money Path team

Subject: Will your super last

Most people carry a quiet version of the same worry: will the super actually last as long as I do.

It's rarely a question of having been careless. The real answer just depends on a chain of decisions nobody has ever laid out end to end for them. When you retire, how you draw the money down, how it's invested along the way, how the tax works as your circumstances change. So the worry sits there, unanswered, and the natural response is to not look at it too closely.

Looking at it closely is the whole point. Your real situation mapped forward, so you can see how today's choices shape the years you stop working, rather than a rule of thumb off a calculator. Once you can see it, the worry has somewhere to go, because now there's something you can actually adjust.

That picture is what independent, tailored advice is for.

Money Path Advisory

Subject: Is an SMSF right for you

Once your super grows past a certain point, someone usually suggests you look at running your own fund.

Where the conversation often goes wrong is that it jumps straight to setup, structure and paperwork. That's the admin, and it's the easy part to talk about. The earlier question is the one that decides everything: does a self-managed fund actually suit your circumstances, your goals and how involved you want to be. Answer that one wrong and no amount of tidy paperwork fixes it.

A self-managed fund can give you real control over how your super is invested and some genuine planning advantages. It can also hand you responsibilities and admin you never wanted. Which of those it turns out to be depends entirely on you, not on a template. Whether it's right for you is an advice decision, and it deserves to be treated as one before a single form gets filled in.

Money Path Advisory

Subject: Advice that isn't selling you something

A lot of people keep advice at arm's length because they assume it arrives with a product attached.

That wariness is earned. For years, plenty of what was called advice was really product distribution in a nicer suit, and the person across the desk was paid on what they sold rather than on how well you did afterward. Enough people were on the wrong end of that arrangement for the distrust to stick.

Independence is the answer to it. When the advice isn't tied to selling you a particular fund or product, the recommendation has to earn its place in your plan or it doesn't belong there. We model your situation first, work out what you actually want from retirement, and only then talk about how to get there. The strategy is tailored to your circumstances and your stage of life, not fitted to something we needed you to buy.

Money Path Advisory

Subject: What changed after retirement

Something we hear from clients years into working together is that their super grew more after they retired than they expected it to.

That runs against the instinct. Most people picture retirement as the slow drawdown, the balance only ever heading one direction. But the years around finishing work are when the structural decisions carry the most weight, and they're the decisions most people make on autopilot. When to move from building super to drawing an income from it, how the money stays invested once you're living off it, how the tax sits as your situation changes. Handled well, those choices do more for the balance than another year of contributions ever would.

It surprises people because no one ever framed it as decisions in the first place. The transition into retirement felt like an event that just happened to them, rather than a sequence of calls that someone could have sat down and mapped out in advance. Mapped out in advance, the same transition can be smooth, and the balance can keep working long after the last pay cheque.

Money Path Advisory

Subject: Super, investments, tax and estate

Plenty of people have an accountant, a super fund and maybe a solicitor who drew up the will. What they don't have is anyone whose actual job is making those pieces line up.

Each professional answers the question they're asked, and answers it well within their own lane. Your accountant handles the return, your fund invests the money, your solicitor drafts the will. What none of them is holding is how it all fits together: super, investments, tax and estate lined up into one coherent plan for the next twenty or thirty years. So the gaps between them go unnoticed until something forces the issue, and by then the room to fix it has usually narrowed.

That whole-of-picture view is what an independent adviser is meant to own. Not to replace the accountant or the solicitor, but to sit above the parts and make sure they're pulling in the same direction, tailored to where you actually want to end up. It's the difference between a set of separate arrangements and an actual plan.

Money Path Advisory

Subject: Start with a short call

If any of these have landed close to home, the next step is smaller than you might think.

We offer a free 15-minute discovery call with an experienced, independent adviser. No preparation and no product pitch. We talk through where your super and your retirement plans sit today, where you want them to be, and whether independent advice is worth taking further. You leave with a clearer view than you arrived with, whether or not we ever work together.

Most people put this off for years, then wish they'd done it sooner. Fifteen minutes is a small price for finally knowing where you stand.

Money Path Advisory