Wealth Builder
A 12-month financial advice program for your 30s & 40s
· Melbourne & Australia-wide ·
You're earning more than you ever have, but you're not sure if you're on track.
In Guidance Financial Services' Wealth Builder program, we run your actual numbers and answer what you've been guessing at: whether you can afford the bigger house, whether you're behind, and whether that money should go on the mortgage or into super.
If you've googled “should I pay off my mortgage or invest”, you're in the right place.
Because it seems like every answer starts with “it depends”.
The good news is there is a better answer, and it's specific to you. It just doesn't come from an article written for everyone, or a calculator that doesn't know your income, your loan rate, or that the school fees start in three years.
It comes from someone who's done a proper stocktake of where you're at, built a plan to get you where you want to go, and then helped you put it in place.
And then there's the bits you're too busy to even think about…
The super you haven't looked at since you changed jobs. The salary sacrifice you keep meaning to set up. The cash in the offset that's been about to be invested for two years.
Wealth Builder goes through everything and gets it working together, so your money is working as hard as you do.
Every year you wait, this gap gets wider…
Money invested early has longer to grow, and what it grows starts growing too. It's called compound interest, and it's why someone starting at 35 finishes $472,000 ahead of someone starting at 50, on the same income.
*Based on someone earning $100k in Findex’s The Cost of Doing Nothing Report
Wealth Builder is perfect for…
Growing families
"We earn decent money between us. We have a mortgage, two kids, and absolutely no idea where the money goes every month."
You keep meaning to sort it out. Between school pickups and everything else, it never quite happens.
2 incomes, no kids
“We're in our late 30s. We go on holidays, we eat out, we're not stressed, but we don't really have anything to show for it.”
The income is there, but nobody has ever sat down and turned it into a plan.
Doing it solo
“I'm 38, I earn well, I save regularly. But every financial decision I make, I make on my own.”
You think you're doing all the right things, but there's nobody to check them.
What do you actually get for the fee?
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Your Personalised Wealth Roadmap
showing where you're headed and what gets you there
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A Savings Target
and a plan for where that money goes, based on your personal budget
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Your super reviewed properly
including the fund, the contributions, and the investment options
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Tax strategy
using the legal levers most people never hear about... salary sacrifice, structuring, income splitting
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The right insurance for you
the right cover, at the right level, in the right structure. We make sure you’re not paying for the same thing twice or anything you don’t need.
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Your goals turned into a plan
with an order of operations, so you know what needs to happen first to achieve your goals
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Asset & Debt Strategy
that balances the mortgage, investing, property and super
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An answer to "are we in a good position?"
that comes with numbers attached. 89% of Australians who receive financial advice say they feel less worried about money.
The Wealth Builder Roadmap
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We start by understanding where you're at
We look at your current situation, your goals, and what you actually want your money to do.
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A plan tailored to your life, with a clear direction forward and your money working together the way it should.
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We present our recommendations, answer your questions, and make sure you understand exactly what we're recommending and why.
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We make sure everything is working the way it should and adjust if needed.
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We sit down and look at what's changed and what comes next.
And here's what's not in it:
No hard sell of our own investment products.
No percentage-based fee that grows as your balance does.
No ongoing lock-in at the end of the twelve months.
Instead? An personalised investment strategy, a flat fee that doesn't change whatever we recommend, and a program that finishes in twelve months.
“Can't I just get advice from my super fund or bank?”
You can. And they'll help you choose an investment option inside their own fund, or one of their own investment products. But then? You're still sitting there wondering whether that money would do more against the mortgage, whether you should be salary sacrificing, and whether the investment property is the thing standing between you and a bigger house.
Wealth Builder looks at your entire financial position before we make any recommendations. And because we don't have our own products to sell, we can focus on what's best for you.
“We'll do it once things settle down a bit.”
Totally fair... except that presumes things are going to settle down. Between the mortgage, the kids, the job and everything else, there isn't a quiet year coming.
Underneath that sentence, there's usually a different worry: that this is a big job you haven't got room for right now. Documents to dig up, a weekend gone, someone telling you to cancel the holiday.
Which is exactly why Wealth Builder runs across twelve months instead of one intense fortnight. You come to three meetings over the year. We do the work in between... the projection, the strategy, the paperwork, and the implementation once you sign-off on the advice proposal, which is the part you'd probably never get around to on your own.
Wealth Builder is built for the year that doesn't settle down, because the mortgage, the kids and the job will all still be there in twelve months. The difference is that by then your money will have had twelve months of growing and compounding.
“Are you going to try and sell me something?”
No. The fee is fixed and it's the one published on this page, so there are no surprises that change what you have to pay. It's a fair thing to wonder, and worth asking any adviser you talk to.
You'll also get a written advice proposal before we start, setting out exactly how we're paid.
If you're after someone to pick you a hot stock, we're not your people.
Picking stocks isn't what decides how much you end up with. The mix of assets you hold is, and so is the unglamorous part: the cash flow, the super, the order you pay things down in, and the projection that tells you whether the life you're planning actually adds up.
If your household income is over $300,000 or your structures are complex, there's a different advice pathway here that fits you better, and we'll point you to it.
And if you are struggling with debt right now, start with the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007. That's free, and it's the right first call.
“I wanted to take the time and thank Paul and the Guidance team again for making it possible to buy our first home.
We could have never done it without them and their advice. The most important factor was the trusting relationship we have and the confidence the team instilled in me based on their personalised, competent advice and financial modelling.
They don’t tell you what you want to hear or sell you products you don’t need. They set you up for the life you want.”
— Nathalie
Guidance Financial Services Client
What it costs
We know that the cost can be what stops you getting the financial advice you need, so we’ve created an easy payment plan to make it more accessible for you.
$990 to start
then $390 per month
Fixed fee
No percentage-based fees
No ongoing lock-in
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions? Take a look at the FAQ or reach out anytime. If you’re feeling ready, go ahead and apply.
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Wealth Builder is a 12-month program, not an ongoing arrangement. It finishes at the end of the year and there's no lock-in.
Your last meeting is a 12-month review, and that's where we talk about what happens next, whether that's ongoing advice, consults as needed, or nothing at all. You decide then, not when you sign up.
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No — but you're also not locked in. The program ends with a 12-month review and by then your super, investments, insurance and cash flow are set up and running, and you'll know what to do next. If you'd like us to keep reviewing it each year, that's a separate conversation you have at the end, rather than something you commit to now.
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A financial plan built on your own numbers, and twelve months of help putting it in place. That covers your cash flow, your super, your tax position, your insurance and the order you tackle your debt in. Three meetings across the year, and implementation of your plan, plus a 12-month review.
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Your 30s and 40s are the most important window. You're earning more, taking on bigger financial commitments, and the decisions you make now compound over the next 20 years. Most people who come to Wealth Builder aren't in financial trouble — they just want to make sure everything is working the way it should before it's too late to course-correct easily.
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Wealth builder is for people who are doing well and want to make sure they're not missing anything. Most clients come in with good habits already in place — what they're missing is a clear system that ties everything together and someone who can tell them honestly whether it's all working.
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There's a real answer and it's specific to you. It moves depending on your loan rate, what tax bracket you're in, and when you'll actually need the money. Working that out against your own numbers is one of the first things Wealth Builder does.
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We look at what you already own first. If your super and your investments are doing their job, we tell you to keep them.
When we do compare something new, we compare it on four things: what it costs you every year, what it actually does, what it won't do, and what moving would do to your tax and your insurance.
For your investment portfolio, we use an index-at-the-core approach, because 87.6% of active Australian share funds failed to beat the index over the last ten years. So, your money isn't sitting with a manager trying to beat the market. It's in low-cost index funds, and the lower the annual fee, the more of the return stays yours.
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Answer
We've been doing this for over 20 years, so whatever you're about to tell us about your finances, we've almost certainly seen it before. Nick is our Wealth Builder specialist has ten years in financial planning across technical and advice roles, bachelor degrees in accounting and in banking and finance, plus a Master of Financial Planning.
He's also in his 30s, with the same questions about the mortgage, super and what to pay down first, and he's had to answer most of them for himself, so he understands where you’re coming from.
His specialisation is advice for people in their 30s and 40s who are earning well and trying to decide between the mortgage, super, investing and a bigger house.
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A common benchmark is 1–2x your annual salary in super by your mid-30s, growing to around 3–4x by your mid-40s. But the more important question is whether your super is structured correctly for your situation — the right fund, the right investment option, and contributions that are actually on track for the retirement you want.
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Because every year you wait is a year your super may be in the wrong structure, your cash could be working harder, and decisions get made by default rather than by design. The people who wish they'd done it sooner all say the same thing: the hardest part was starting.
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Banks and super funds can give you information about their own products, but they can't give you advice that spans your whole financial picture. Wealth Builder covers cash flow, debt, super, investments, and protection together — because that's the only way to make sure everything is actually working in the same direction.
In twelve months, you'll have your finances sorted.
Mortgage or super. Whether you're behind for your age. Whether the house you keep looking at is within reach. What to do with the investment property.
We answer all of that, and get your money working as hard as you do.
