In short

When a financial adviser retires or sells their practice, your file transfers, but you aren't bound to the new adviser — you can leave at any time without a reason. Check the new adviser on ASIC's free Financial Advisers Register, treat fee renewal as a genuine review, and get a proper handover meeting. Before agreeing to restructure anything, check the capital gains tax, grandfathered Centrelink arrangements, and insurance implications.

You get a letter. After twenty years, the person who has looked after your money is retiring, or has sold the practice, and someone new will be in touch. You've never met them.

We've written elsewhere about how to choose an adviser and what a first appointment actually involves. This is the other situation — where the choice has been made for you — and it deserves its own article, because it's now a common thing to go through and almost nobody is told what they're entitled to ask for. This article is general information only, not personal advice.

Why does this keep happening?

It's not a slight, and it's not unusual. The number of financial advisers in Australia fell substantially after the education, exam and professional-standards reforms of recent years, and a large group of long-serving advisers either retired or sold their client book rather than carry on.

So if you've had the same adviser since your fifties, there's a fair chance you'll go through this at some point. It is ordinary business. That matters to say plainly at the start, because nothing that follows is an accusation — selling a practice is a perfectly legitimate thing to do, and the person buying it is not a villain.

What transfers, and what doesn't?

Your file transfers. Your records, your strategy documents, the administrative side of the relationship: all of that moves across to the new firm.

Here's what doesn't transfer, and it's the single most useful thing in this article: the client book was sold. You weren't.

Money changing hands for a practice gives the buyer no claim on your continued custom. There's nothing binding you to them — indeed you can end an ongoing fee arrangement at any time (ASIC MoneySmart, https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/investing/financial-advice/financial-advice-costs). You don't need a reason to go elsewhere, and you don't need anyone's permission.

I labour the point because the feeling runs entirely the other way. People feel handed over. They feel it would be awkward or ungrateful to ask hard questions of someone who's just inherited them, so they nod along — at exactly the moment when the most consequential decisions get made. Staying should be a decision. It shouldn't be a default made out of politeness.

Should you check the new person — is it free and does it take five minutes?

ASIC maintains the Financial Advisers Register, a public record of the advisers authorised to provide personal advice to retail clients. It's published on the MoneySmart website, most of the information on it is free, and it exists precisely so consumers can check that an adviser is authorised and registered to provide financial advice, and find out about them before getting advice (ASIC, https://www.asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/financial-services/financial-advice/financial-advisers-register/information-on-the-financial-advisers-register/; ASIC MoneySmart, https://moneysmart.gov.au/financial-advice/financial-advisers-register). It shows the current AFS licensee name, registration status, and up to 20 qualifications and training courses the adviser has completed. Look your new adviser up before the first meeting.

One caveat worth knowing: the information on the register is supplied by the advice businesses themselves — licensees and authorised representatives — and ASIC does not check or review it before it goes on (ASIC, same source). So treat it as a starting point rather than a character reference. If something looks wrong, ASIC's guidance is to raise it with the licensee first, and to lodge a report of misconduct with ASIC if you're still concerned.

While you're there, confirm which licensee they operate under. The Australian Financial Services Licence behind the advice can change even when the office, the phone number and the receptionist all look exactly the same as last year.

Then ask about relevant experience. This is not rudeness, it's fit. Retirement is a specialisation — the interaction between super, the Age Pension, aged care and your estate is its own body of knowledge, and a thoroughly competent adviser whose clients are mostly forty-year-olds building up their super may not be the right person for a 78-year-old managing a Centrelink income test.

Are fees a review point, not an automatic rollover?

Ongoing fee arrangements don't roll on forever by themselves. An adviser who charges an ongoing fee must seek your renewal of the arrangement annually and must obtain your written consent before deducting ongoing fees from your account — and if the arrangement terminates, they must not keep charging under it, with civil penalties for breaching that (ASIC, https://www.asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/financial-services/giving-financial-product-advice/fees/faqs-ongoing-fee-arrangements-and-consents/). The consent regime was amended by Schedule 1 of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering Better Financial Outcomes and Other Measures) Act 2024 with effect from 10 January 2025, so the paperwork you sign now may look different from the paperwork you signed a few years ago.

A change of adviser is the natural moment to look at what you're paying and what you actually get for it. Again — not an accusation. Plenty of people are getting good value. But plenty of people are also paying a fee agreed a decade ago that neither party has revisited since, and if you were ever going to look at it, this is the week. Our article on the deductibility of financial advice fees covers the tax side.

Should you ask for a proper handover meeting?

Not just a letter — a meeting. Ask what they have actually read of your file. Ask what they understand your strategy to be and why it was set up that way; a good answer here tells you almost everything, because someone who can explain the reasoning behind arrangements they didn't design has done the work. Ask what they are proposing to change, and why. And ask who you will actually deal with day to day.

Then ask for your own copies of the current strategy documents, plus a plain-English summary of what's in place. You should hold those regardless.

What is the real risk — strategy drift?

Here's what to watch, and it's the reason this article exists.

A handover is when portfolios get restructured. New platform, new products, sometimes a new fund. Some of that is genuine improvement — an arrangement built fifteen years ago may well be dated, and a fresh set of eyes is often exactly what a stale portfolio needs. But some of it is simply the new firm's preferred product set, and the paperwork looks identical either way.

The test isn't is this newer. The test is: is this better for me, and what does it cost to get there? Ask for the reasoning in writing, including the cost of making the change.

Three specific things to check before you agree to move anything. The first is capital gains tax: restructuring investments held outside super can realise gains that were never going to be triggered otherwise, and a tidier portfolio is not worth an avoidable tax bill — our article on CGT timing covers the mechanics.

The second is grandfathered Centrelink arrangements, and this is the big one, because it is irreversible. If you held a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card on 31 December 2014 and your account-based income stream was purchased before 1 January 2015, that income stream is not assessed as income under the CSHC income test at all. But if you move that existing account-based income stream to another account-based income stream product, you lose the grandfathering for it, and the balance of the new income stream is assessed under the deeming rules instead (Social Security Guide, https://guides.dss.gov.au/social-security-guide/3/9/3/30; https://guides.dss.gov.au/guide-social-security-law/3/9/3/31). Note this is the CSHC treatment specifically — the Age Pension grandfathering for pre-2015 account-based pensions works differently, through the deductible-amount method rather than a full exemption, so don't assume one tells you about the other. Our article on grandfathered account-based pensions explains what's at stake, and our piece on transferring an account-based pension between funds covers the mechanics. If anyone proposes moving your pension, this question comes before all the others.

The third is insurance. Switching a super account can end cover you currently hold, and cover taken out decades ago may be impossible to replace at your current age or state of health. Our article on losing insurance when you start a pension covers how easily this happens.

None of this means refuse all change. It means change should have a reason that's about your circumstances, and that reason should be written down.

What do the worked examples show?

These two show the same handover going differently. They are illustrative only, and not personal advice.

Consider Margaret, 79, a self-funded retiree who has held a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card since 2013 and an account-based pension she started in 2009. Her new adviser proposes consolidating everything onto the firm's preferred platform, which means commuting the old pension and starting a fresh one. On these facts the platform may genuinely be better administratively — but moving that income stream would end its grandfathered status, and the new account balance would then be assessed under the deeming rules for her CSHC income test, where currently none of it counts (Social Security Guide, https://guides.dss.gov.au/social-security-guide/3/9/3/30). On these facts it is generally rational for someone in Margaret's position to ask for the grandfathering consequence to be quantified in writing before agreeing to anything, because it cannot be undone afterwards.

Now consider Robert, 68, whose adviser of fifteen years has just sold the practice. Robert looks the new adviser up on the Financial Advisers Register before the first meeting, notes the licensee has changed even though the office hasn't, and sees which qualifications are listed (ASIC MoneySmart, https://moneysmart.gov.au/financial-advice/financial-advisers-register). At the handover he asks what's actually been read of his file and what's proposed to change, and he treats the annual fee renewal — which the new adviser must seek in any case, in writing (ASIC, https://www.asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/financial-services/giving-financial-product-advice/fees/faqs-ongoing-fee-arrangements-and-consents/) — as a genuine review rather than a signature. On these facts nothing is wrong and nothing needs fixing; Robert simply made staying a decision instead of a default. The difference between the two isn't suspicion. It's that both asked before signing.

What if you'd rather leave?

Then leave. You can end the arrangement at any time and you don't owe anyone an explanation. Stop the ongoing fee, collect copies of your records, and take your time choosing someone else — our article on how to choose a financial adviser sets out the criteria, and they apply exactly the same way here.

And do take your time. There's no deadline, and no reason to move in a hurry to whoever is in front of you.

What is one quiet lesson worth taking from it?

If the handover feels disorienting because your old adviser was the only person on earth who understood how your affairs fit together — that's worth noticing.

Keep your own plain-language summary of what you hold, where it is, and why it was set up that way, so that any competent adviser, or your family, could pick it up cold. Our article on the emergency information folder is the natural place for it. That's useful when an adviser retires. It's considerably more useful in the situations where you're not there to explain anything at all.

Sources

Key takeaways

  • When an adviser sells their practice, your file transfers, but you don't — there's nothing binding you to the new adviser, and you can end an ongoing fee arrangement at any time.
  • ASIC's free Financial Advisers Register lets you check a new adviser's licensee, registration status, and qualifications before your first meeting, though the information is supplied by the business itself rather than verified by ASIC.
  • Ongoing fee arrangements require annual renewal and written consent to keep deducting fees — a change of adviser is a natural moment to genuinely review this rather than sign automatically.
  • Before agreeing to restructure investments, check three things: capital gains tax on realising gains, whether it breaks a grandfathered Commonwealth Seniors Health Card arrangement, and whether it ends existing insurance cover.
  • A pre-2015 account-based income stream loses its CSHC grandfathering if moved to a different account-based income stream product — this is irreversible, so it should be quantified in writing before agreeing to any consolidation.

Frequently asked questions

Am I obliged to stay with the new adviser when my old one retires or sells their practice?

No. The client book was sold, not you — there's nothing binding you to the buyer, and you can end an ongoing fee arrangement and go elsewhere at any time, without needing a reason or anyone's permission.

How do I check a new financial adviser before meeting them?

Look them up on ASIC's free Financial Advisers Register, published on the MoneySmart website. It shows the current licensee name, registration status, and qualifications, though the information is supplied by the advice business itself rather than verified by ASIC, so treat it as a starting point.

Does my ongoing adviser fee automatically continue when the adviser changes?

No, not automatically. An adviser charging an ongoing fee must seek your renewal of the arrangement annually and get your written consent before deducting fees. A change of adviser is a good moment to genuinely review what you're paying and getting for it.

What should I check before agreeing to restructure my investments after a change of adviser?

Check three things: whether restructuring will trigger capital gains tax on investments held outside super, whether moving an account-based pension will break a grandfathered Commonwealth Seniors Health Card arrangement (irreversible for pre-2015 pensions), and whether switching accounts will end existing insurance cover that may be impossible to replace.

A note on advice. This article is general information only and doesn't account for your personal circumstances. Everyone's situation is different — before acting, it's worth talking it through with a licensed adviser who knows your full picture.