Thanks so much for the advice!

PinkPalace - I am very happy to pay for financial advice, I was just thinking that if my bank provided a free service in the area I would start there to help get my head around what I the service I wanted to pay for actually is. Instead, seeing as I will be paying for the service regardless - I wanted to get some opinions on whether paying for financial advice from my bank is the best solution for me - may as well pay an accountant or a financial planner that doesn't receive a commission on up-selling if that is beneficial to me at the moment.

Astrid - thanks for sharing your experience - I am glad that you mentioned that your FP recommended non-bank products. My super is definitely something I need them to look at too - it's been bugging me for years that I have so many accounts all over the place lol

Epacris - I am a bit sus on commission based services too so I can totally understand where you are coming from - I will definitely look into it some more before making my decision.

Liviam - I don't think you need lots of money. They should be able to assist you to make the best decisions for your situation right now - we definitely don't have a lot of spare money and I really don't want that to be our excuse as to why we aren't being proactive with what we do have. At the moment our income is too low to service the mortgage that we want so we have to put off buying until I have an income - we still found corners to cut to save up our deposit (and it only took me a few months to train DF into not being so swipe happy with the account lol)

Mummabee - DF has an accountant that he has been using to do his tax for the last few years and he likes him a lot. We have spoken about maybe seeing him but we haven't got around to calling him to find out if they offer financial advice as a service - definitely something we are considering though!

Kelly - I agree completely that you have to be picky with who you take your advice from - my parents were never that great with money and I can see myself making the same decisions they did without even considering alternatives - I would love to take control and be proactive with our finances and I would love to feel like I have broken that cycle by giving DD the opportunity to be savvy with her money as she gets older.