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I came across a piece recently by Dan Haylett titled Your 12 Good Years. It's one of those articles you read once and keep thinking about. The idea is simple and uncomfortable in equal measure — and it has a direct bearing on how financial planning should actually work.

Most people assume their financial adviser is working for them. And most of the time, they genuinely are trying to. But trying to act in your interest and being structurally free to do so are two different things.

I didn't study finance. I didn't plan any of this. I became a financial planner by accident — and I think that's exactly why it works.

No, we don't spend our days hunched over a Bloomberg terminal picking winning stocks. Here's what the job actually looks like — and why it probably matters more to you than you think.

They're 27, earning $120,000 each, and their lives look identical from the outside. In thirty years, the gap between them won't be measured in dollars alone — it'll be measured in options, freedom, and sleep quality.

Most people plan toward retirement. Very few plan toward financial freedom. The difference matters — because retirement is just a date on a calendar, and financial freedom is something you can start building toward right now.

Most Australians have a Will. Far fewer have left their family with everything else they'll actually need — the accounts, the passwords, the contacts, the documents that make an already difficult time far harder than it needs to be.

Most Australians with personal insurance arranged through a financial adviser are paying a commission embedded in every premium — and most have no idea.