Financial advice through super funds: What’s on offer?

One of the biggest innovations in the provision of financial advice by super funds is the way it’s delivered.

After years of rapid industry growth and consolidation, large super funds are finding that they can no longer get by with a handful of their own in-house advisers. To scale up the advice they can offer members, more funds are outsourcing and offering digital advice (robo-advice).

Many funds are beginning to see a digital-first strategy as a means of reaching more of their members in an affordable way. As the technology becomes more sophisticated, digital advice is likely to become more widespread.

There are currently two models for providing non-digital advice:

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• In-house: advisers are employed by the fund or an associated entity
• Outsourced: Some or all advice services are provided by an external panel of advisers.

There is no right or wrong model, with good examples of innovation using both in-house and outsourced approaches. The following fund examples are for illustrative purposes only; they are not recommendations.

In-house

Funds with significant numbers of advisers employed in-house are Australian Retirement Trust (ART), Aware Super, UniSuper, TelstraSuper, Equip Super and Team Super. As of June 2025, both ART and Aware employ more than 100 advisers, with UniSuper close behind, employing around 80. The other funds have smaller capacity, with around 20 advisers each.

Some other industry funds employ advisers that are licensed through Industry Fund Services (IFS) rather than through the trustee.

Historically, these funds were able to offer face-to-face advice services because their members were clustered geographically around central locations. For example, UniSuper’s advisers are generally located on university campuses – where all the fund’s members worked until the fund became a public offer in 2021.

Post-pandemic, we have all become more accustomed to meeting virtually, so in-house advisers can provide services to members wherever they are over the phone or via video conference.

Large retail funds often have advice provided by ‘in-house’ advisers that are employed by an associated entity rather than directly by the fund. For example, the company providing advice services to members of MLC super funds is part of Insignia Financial, the same entity that owns the super funds’ trustee.

Outsourcing

Most funds provide general and limited advice internally, but outsourcing comprehensive advice is common.

Australian Retirement Trust (ART) is an example of a fund using a blended in-house and outsourced model to provide advice. Advisers employed by the fund provide one-off advice about super that is charged collectively, so members don’t need to pay a separate fee.

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If members need comprehensive advice, they are referred to an accredited adviser on ART’s National Advice Panel or they can source their own financial planner.

The cost of advice

While personal financial advice is getting easier to access via your super fund, it’s still difficult to know what it will cost until you contact your fund or its nominated adviser and agree on the scope of advice you want. The reason given is that each person’s needs will be different, but it could be a disincentive for many people.

The good news is that most funds provide intra-fund advice at no additional cost, so this can be an excellent place to start. If your needs can’t be met using this service, it’s time to explore more comprehensive advice.

Upcoming changes to advice

The Quality of Advice Review (QAR) commissioned by the previous Federal Government proposed wide-ranging changes to financial advice laws that are intended to make advice more accessible and less costly.

The current government is in the process of implementing some of the review’s recommendations, including replacing statements of advice with a simpler advice record and introducing a new category of adviser that can deliver personal advice with a lower level of training than under the current regime.

These new advisers won’t be permitted to charge fees or receive commissions for their advice. The service offered is likely to be relatively simple, relying on digital advice tools and loosely scripted explanations of the output by the adviser. This reflects the level of service possible from staff who have less training and can’t collect fees. Super funds are keen to broaden the services they offer using the new class of adviser when legislation is finalised.

Despite early promises that the package would be ready in early 2024, as of August 2025 only small changes to the advice regime have taken place, including some disclosure rules and arrangements for consumers to consent to advice fees. Draft legislation to replace SOAs (among other tweaks) was released in March 2025 and is not yet before parliament. Prior announcements suggested the new class of adviser would be included in this second piece of legislation, but disappointingly, the promised reform was omitted.

Who pays for advice?

‘Free’ intra-fund personal advice is appealing, but the downside is that it is subsidised by all members of the fund via administration fees.

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Fees for more complex personal advice may be paid directly by you or deducted from your super account, depending on the fund. It’s important to know that fees for advice that are not about super (for example, about insurance products outside the fund) cannot be deducted from your super account.

Reform stemming from the Financial Services Royal Commission prohibits ongoing advice fees from being deducted from MySuper products. The deduction of fees for one-off advice is still permitted.

Quality of super fund advice

As things stand, the quality of advice offered by super funds is mixed. How satisfied you are with your fund’s service will depend on the complexity of the advice you’re looking for and what they can offer. If you simply want to know which of your fund’s investment options is right for you or how much insurance cover you should have in place (and what it will cost), you’re likely to walk away happy. If you have more complex needs and your fund doesn’t offer comprehensive advice, you’re less likely to find the service useful.

A recent ‘road test’ of intra-fund advice conducted by CHOICE was critical of the service overall, noting that participants were often left feeling that they needed to make decisions themselves, rather than receiving a personalised recommendation. One participant said her adviser recommended she make super contributions without weighing up whether she should prioritise those contributions over other needs, such as repaying mortgage debt.

This shortcoming is likely due to the way funds interpret the regulation of intra-fund advice. Intra-fund advice can’t be about financial products outside the fund, such as your mortgage. This means a fund providing intra-fund advice won’t recommend whether to repay the mortgage or contribute to super, but only the best way for you to contribute to super (i.e. whether you should make concessional or non-concessional contributions or a mixture of both) based on what you tell them about your income and what you feel you can afford.

Funds giving intra-fund advice are also at a disadvantage because they don’t generally follow up with members, who are left to implement the advice themselves. Follow through is higher with a personal financial adviser because they do it for you.

Risks and remedies

When you use intra-fund advice, you are only going to get advice about your super fund’s investment options and services (not any external products), so to that extent the advice you get is limited if not conflicted. However, under ASIC rules, super funds are required to manage conflicts of interest in their dealings with members.

Outsourced advice does away with some of the concerns about conflict of interest because advisers can offer products from other funds, including advice on SMSFs.

If you are not happy with the advice you receive or have a complaint, you should take your complaint to your super fund to give them the opportunity to address it.

Then, if you are still not satisfied, you can lodge a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). This is a free ombudsman service whose decisions are binding on superannuation fund trustees.