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Bec Wilson<\/a>Money contributor<\/p>\nFebruary 21, 2026 \u2014 5:01am<\/p>\n
February 21, 2026 \u2014 5:01am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Late last year \u2013 as an experiment \u2013 I clicked on a Facebook ad about superannuation. It was bright, urgent and confident. It warned that every year I delayed reviewing my super could cost me seven figures in retirement, and that hundreds of dollars were slipping away daily without me knowing. All I had to do was enter my details to get the \u201cfour steps\u201d to beat time. Within minutes, my phone rang.<\/p>\n A businessman explained he ran a referral service connecting people to what he called the best financial adviser for them. He\u2019d previously been a director of one firm he particularly liked, and my first appointment would be free.<\/p>\n I was referred on. A young adviser called to pre-qualify me. His questions were simple: Was I over 45? Did I have an Australian regulated super fund? Yes and yes, so I \u201cqualified\u201d for a phone-based discovery meeting after which a Statement of Advice could follow. No fee information, no quote, nothing until later.<\/p>\n Forms arrived the next day requesting super balances, member numbers and passport details. My lead generator rang again to check I was excited. That\u2019s when I paused.<\/p>\n His answers to my questions were polite and over-rehearsed. But the structure was clear: a social media ad generated a lead, the lead was referred to an advice house for a fee, and the process began with an assumption that switching my super was likely.<\/p>\n It felt wrong. And it came right as First Guardian and Shield were imploding<\/a> following a scheme which allegedly enticed more than 12,000 ordinary Australians into moving $1 billion of retirement savings into complex and risky funds.<\/p>\n Since then, my Facebook feed has been flooded with super-switching ads. I also get ads offering me clients, as though I\u2019m an adviser looking to buy leads. So the practice is still proliferating, and people must be going down these funnels while advisers continue to buy the leads. It needs to stop.<\/p>\n Everyday Australians need to understand that finding a financial adviser through Facebook or any digital platform is not the best way. And that switching super is not something to do on a whim, or on the advice of a stranger from the internet, no matter how slick they appear.<\/p>\n This week, ASIC confirmed that this kind of lead-generation is under serious review, particularly where it inappropriately or unnecessarily encourages consumers to switch super. The regulator has published a list of 44 companies it believes are involved, covering both advice firms and referral companies. It has also commenced court action in a number of super-switching matters where consumers were moved into high-risk investments.<\/p>\n ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland described the pattern plainly: \u201cIt starts with a social media ad with a form you fill out, then you get a telemarketing call, and then a recommendation to switch super into a different structure.\u201d<\/p>\n The most common move is out of an APRA-regulated fund and into an SMSF or retail platform loaded with higher-risk investments. His warning to consumers is stark: \u201cIf you see an ad on social media, and they\u2019re asking you to hand over your contact details so someone can talk to you about your super, that\u2019s immediately something you should be cautious about because there have been thousands and thousands of cases where that\u2019s led people to lose their retirement savings.\u201d<\/p>\n The firm I was referred to appears on ASIC\u2019s list. Its inclusion doesn\u2019t imply wrongdoing, but it confirms the funnel I stepped into is far from isolated.<\/p>\n This matters because superannuation isn\u2019t a niche product. Every working Australian has one, and the country\u2019s retirement savings pool now sits about $4.5 trillion. Most people (about 62 per cent) are in large APRA-regulated MySuper funds built for ordinary Australians who don\u2019t want to spend their weekends analysing markets or pay high ongoing fees. These funds are benchmarked, reviewed, compared by the Australian Taxation Office\u2019s YourSuper tool, and named publicly if they underperform.<\/p>\n When someone moves out of that environment into a retail platform or SMSF, the ground shifts. Retail platforms don\u2019t face the same performance tests, and SMSFs sit outside APRA supervision entirely, regulated by the ATO instead.<\/p>\n Before you switch your super, pause and ask yourself:How has my current fund actually performed in accumulation using independent tools such as the ATO YourSuper comparison site<\/a> or ASIC\u2019s Moneysmart resources<\/a>?How do my funds services stack up as I approach retirement using the Epic Retirement Tick <\/a>criteria (the only assessment available for retirement)? Are you happy that they are providing you with what you need?\u00a0What insurance cover do I currently hold, and will I lose or reset it if I move? Don\u2019t neglect this.\u00a0What are all the ongoing fees in the proposed structure \u2013 advice, platform and investment management?Does the adviser or their firm have any ownership interest in the products or ongoing services being recommended?\u00a0Did this process begin with a social media advertisement or an unsolicited call that created urgency?If I am being encouraged to establish an SMSF, do I understand that this removes APRA supervision and makes me responsible as trustee?<\/p>\n If those questions cannot be answered clearly and calmly, it is a sign to slow down.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019re in those structures, comparing fees and performance becomes genuinely hard because you\u2019re no longer looking at one publicly benchmarked product. You\u2019re looking at a customised mix of investments, layered fees and decisions made by your adviser\u2019s firm.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what most people don\u2019t see: most advice firms have a preferred way of doing things, a platform they like, model portfolios they run repeatedly, a system. That\u2019s how businesses work, but it means the conversation can quietly shift from \u201cshould you switch out of your super at all?\u201d to \u201chow do we fit you into our advice and investment system?\u201d without the client ever noticing.<\/p>\n Advisers are legally required to act in their clients\u2019 best interests. But unless you understand how advice firms operate, you may never think to ask the simplest question: was staying put ever seriously on the table?<\/p>\n Editor’s pick It\u2019s one that should be asked more often.<\/p>\n Retirement is an emotional time. Whether you have \u201cenough\u201d and whether you\u2019re in the right fund pushes many Australians towards advice, and good advice can be genuinely transformative, especially as you move from saving to drawing an income. The problem isn\u2019t advice. It\u2019s how some of it is being marketed and sold, and how easily financial anxiety can be channelled into a sales funnel.<\/p>\n So if you see one of those ads, don\u2019t click and don\u2019t hand over your details. If you want advice, seek it out deliberately. Start with your own super fund and find out what support they offer.<\/p>\n Ask people you trust who they use. Meet more than one adviser. Ask how they\u2019re paid, what investment model they use, and whether staying in your current fund is genuinely on the table and why, or why not.<\/p>\n Then do some research of your own and take your time. Super is too important to move because you felt afraid and clicked naively.<\/p>\n Bec Wilson is author of the bestseller How to Have an Epic Retirement and the newly released Prime Time: 27 Lessons for the New Midlife<\/a>. She writes a weekly newsletter at epicretirement.net<\/a> and hosts the Prime Time<\/a> podcast.<\/p>\n Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers\u2019 decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.<\/p>\n Expert tips on how to save, invest and make the most of your money delivered to your inbox every Sunday. Sign up for our Real Money newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Beware](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/6b4bf7d4d6bde4d04eb3a4fa130c0cfc2f82c772.jpeg\")
Beware social media ads putting pressure on you to switch your super.iStock<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/7ae32370d505c83bf4ff38b0673b3bc55ce5a08f1ef7cd281ae9711f48700267.png\")
The Facebook ad I clicked urging me to review my super.<\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/9e809d52e06541aede88f07ca3e194180e2293f342e55fcd72e87d308bf76483.jpeg\")
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