Frequently Asked Questions

Life Sherpa is a unique financial advice service that helps you live the life you want, with the money you have. Through Life Sherpa’s online platform, you can access highly qualified financial advisers, who can give you guidance and connect you with the right financial solution (whether it’s a home loan, superannuation or insurance policy).

Through Life Sherpa, you can access a range of benefits, depending on your subscription (you can find the details here). Along with courses and memberships, our core offering is financial advice. This is provided by our team of ‘Life Sherpas’, who you’ll be able to engage with online and over the phone.

Our advisers (Life Sherpas) can assist with a wide range of things, including:

• Budgeting and managing your money
• Understanding how your money personality affects your spending and saving habits
• Assessing your financial health
• Managing your finances as a couple
• Dealing with debt
• Understanding financial products
• Finding the right home loan
• Developing and implementing an investment plan
• Choosing a super fund and consolidating multiple super accounts
• Saving for a first home purchase (or paying off an existing one)
• Deciding what insurance you need, how much cover and which product/provider is right for you
• Deciding whether to salary sacrifice more super
• Getting your financial housekeeping sorted

For any questions, feel free to get in touch.

Life Sherpa is free to get started. Join up, and you will get immediate access to our online resources, plus 30 days access to your very own Life Sherpa (adviser). If you want ongoing support, our membership options start at $15 a month or $150 a year (with no lock in contracts). You can find all the details on pricing here.

We have multiple ways to stay in touch with you: through email and online chat, as well as over the phone. It’s all based on what approach will work best for you!

Absolutely not. We firmly believe that financial advice should be easily accessible to all Australians, and we’ve created Life Sherpa specifically for people who may have previously felt it was too complex or out of reach.

If your primary source of income is from salaries and wages, or you work as a contractor – and you are not retired or about to retire – then Life Sherpa is for you.

Whether you're just starting your career, or perhaps taking over the family finances after a death or divorce, Life Sherpa is the perfect place to start. We’ll help you transform your finances using simple, achievable steps that don't feel overwhelming.

The key to quality financial advice is that it’s based on your specific situation – and for this reason, we do need to gather a fair bit of information. Rest assured, we will keep this information completely secure, and never share it with anyone unless you ask us to, or unless we are required to by law.

Your Life Sherpa will ask for information about things like your family circumstances, income, health and lifestyle, personality profile, goals and objectives. They will also need to get a clear picture of what assets you already own (your home, investment property, super and investments), how much you owe (credit cards, mortgages), and how much you earn. All the information you provide will help us give you better advice. You can view our Privacy Policy here.

We guard your information carefully and never share it with anyone unless you ask us to, or unless we are required to by law. This includes your email address (who likes spam?!).

To ensure your information is completely secure, we use virtual firewalls, and best-practice encryption techniques to protect your password, and all traffic between you and Life Sherpa's servers. From the time you submit your login credentials, all communications between your computer and lifesherpa.com.au are encrypted. 

The security of your Life Sherpa account is maintained with disk storage encryption and authentication measures. Our servers are located in a highly secure facility, where access requires multiple levels of authentication and recognition procedures. Your password cannot be recovered, even by us. For the full details, see our Privacy Statement.

No, not unless you have completely separate finances! Life Sherpa is designed to be used by individuals or couples who share finances – one of you will be the primary account holder (and the account will be in their name), but you’ll both have access to the site and services. After all, your relationship status will influence the advice we provide, so it makes sense to cater to couples!

Life Sherpa is licensed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to provide advice on a range of financial products (including home loans, bank deposits, insurance, super, shares and managed funds) and to help you acquire, change or sell these products.

Life Sherpa is also registered with the Tax Practitioners Board as a tax (financial) adviser. For more information, see our Combined Financial Services and Credit Guide.

All our Life Sherpas are university qualified or have relevant industry qualifications. Many also have professional qualifications such as Chartered Accountants, Certified Financial Planner, Fellow Chartered Financial Practitioner or similar. This exceeds the requirements for licensing set down by ASIC for financial advisers or mortgage brokers. Rest assured, you’re in the best of hands.

The first thing you’ll notice about Life Sherpa is the fact we’re based online. Unlike traditional financial advisers, we make our services and resources easily accessible – anytime, anywhere, from any device.

While some advisers work on a commissions basis, we make our revenue wholly from subscription and other fixed fees. We’ll only ever receive a transparent fixed fee, and rebate you the rest of any upfront or trailing commission. We’re privately owned and not aligned to any bank, insurance company or institution – and while we have access to all the greatest products out there, we’re not motivated by fees, hidden commissions or kick-backs. This means you can rest assured knowing our advice is provided based on your needs and your needs alone.

Our Life Sherpas (advisers) exceed all the required credentials for advisers in Australia, and they bring decades of knowledge and experience to the table. When you become a Life Sherpa subscriber, one of these experts will be available to you whenever you need them, by phone or email. Given our affordable fee options, this means quality advice is now within reach of any Australian.

No. While we can access a wide range of products from many different providers, we don’t depend on advertising, sponsorships or similar  incentives for promoting them (which is how comparison services typically make their money). We also provide a full personal advice service and help deal with the paperwork to put your plans in place – rather than a simple product pitch.

We believe that all payments should be fair and transparent. So, when we receive an upfront or trailing commission from a bank or financial institution, we’ll pass it on to you (less our capped fee for the service we’ve provided). Essentially this means you know exactly what you’re paying us, and what you’ll get in return. 

We do not act as a referral or lead generation service for anyone else – you can rest assured the advice we provide is in your best interests.

When you’re a paid Life Sherpa subscriber, you’re entitled to receive cash back when you buy certain financial products such as home loans or insurance policies.

Basically, any commission an adviser would normally receive for ‘selling’ this product is passed on to you in the form of cash (minus Life Sherpa’s fixed management fee).

Life Sherpa shouldn’t be confused with other commission refund services that allow you to benefit from trailing commissions, but do not offer advice. For us, giving you the right guidance and connecting you with the right product is what it’s all about – no hidden agendas or strings attached.

To be eligible for cash back, all you have to do is complete a simple form to register your insurance policy or home loan and tell us where to pay the refund. We will collect the commissions and directly refund them to your bank account every month. Nothing changes with your product – same premium, same cover, same returns, same fees. All that happens is that Life Sherpa becomes your servicing adviser, delivering the advice the trail commission is supposed to pay for, and putting cash back in your pocket.

We have a range of quizzes, planning & tracking tools and educational resources available, including our quick fix, which you can check out here, and our money personality, which you can try here. All our tools and resources are designed to help you understand more about yourself and your own money situation, so you can take control of your life and your future.

Absolutely! Life Sherpa is licensed by ASIC to identify the right product for you, at the right price – and we are by your side throughout the whole process, from application to settlement and beyond.

We know that price is important, but making sure it’s the right product for your circumstances requires the skill of an experienced adviser – something internet comparison sites simply can’t deliver.

Your Life Sherpa will also be there for you when your annual renewal comes around or you need to make a claim.

Life Sherpa can provide you with advice and arrange for you to acquire credit products (home loans, credit cards, personal loans and car loans), life insurance products (life, trauma, TPD and income protection), superannuation funds and investment products (shares, managed funds and ETFs) as well as bank deposits.

For each of these classes of products, we have selected a range of providers with whom we deal, based on our assessment of those providers and their products. We do not have any direct relationships with product providers – which means we aren’t limited in the options we can offer. 

For home loans, we choose which lenders we recommend from a panel of over 30 lenders who together make up more than 95% of the market.

For insurance, we have accreditation with 12 of the leading insurers chosen based on our research. This group accounts for over XX% of the market.

We also maintain an approved product list for superannuation funds and investments, which changes from time to time based on our ongoing research.

Life Sherpa is currently not suited to people who are already retired, run a business through a company that employs other people, have a self-managed super fund (SMSF) or family trust, or are seeking help managing a large investment portfolio. However, we can help with a referral to a suitable financial adviser – to find out more, get in touch.

That depends. If you're not an Australian tax payer with most of your financial accounts located outside Australia, we're unable to help you at this time.

However, if you're an Australian tax payer with mostly Australian-based accounts, who is currently overseas, we can most likely provide advice relating to your Australian finances. To find out more, get in touch.

Short answer: no. Our philosophy is to empower our members to control their own finances. So, while we’ll give you step-by-step guidance on how to put your plan into motion, we won’t hold money or assets, or place trades on your behalf. It’s your life and your money – so you’re always in the driver’s seat.

We know that things can change – which is why we have no lock-in contracts. Your membership is payable month-to-month, and you can upgrade, downgrade or cancel online at any time (up to three days before your next charge).

Cancellation will be effective at the expiry of the period you have paid for, at which point you’ll no longer have access to your Life Sherpa, the website or any cash back payments you were receiving.

To cancel your membership, just send us an email.

Sometimes – it depends on your circumstances. To find out more, ask your Life Sherpa.

Your Life Sherpa will be able to help – but here are few tips to get your started:

• Get started by completing the ‘About Me’ section. This should only take you a minute or two.

• Don’t try to complete your Financial Life profile in one go. Use the Financial Freedom Factor tool as your guide. As you progress through the tool it will prompt you to complete the relevant sections of your financial profile.

• If you don’t know an answer, or don’t have the information in front of you, then an estimate is fine in the short term. You can always go back and put in the exact answer later.

We know that, to a significant number of people, these issues are important when selecting an investment or other product. We’ve researched and identified products which can meet the needs of most people in this area.

Tell your Life Sherpa the issues that matter to you, whether they’re environmental, religious or ethical. We will then take these into account when providing you with advice and recommendations. Otherwise, we will provide advice in your best interests without considering these issues explicitly.