In Episode 74 of The Purposeful Investor Podcast, David Andrew and Aden Wilkins sat down with Kristen Turnbull, Director of CoreData WA, to unpack new research revealing why three in five Western Australians worry about money despite the state’s strong economy. Read the recap below.
Key Takeaways
- Three in five Western Australians are worried about their disposable income, regardless of how strong the economy is.
- Income level makes almost no difference to financial anxiety. People earning above $200,000 share similar levels of concern to those earning far less.
- West Australians who receive financial advice are nearly twice as likely to feel confident about their financial future as those who do not.
- 62 per cent of advised retirees are living the lifestyle they expected in retirement, compared with 38 per cent of those without advice.
- The value of financial advice has almost nothing to do with investment returns, and almost everything to do with confidence and peace of mind.
Why a Strong Economy Does Not Guarantee Financial Security
The first finding to understand is the disconnect between macro performance and personal experience.
WA’s economy is genuinely strong. The state generates roughly $380 billion in economic output each year, driven by mining, resources, and energy exports. Household consumption growth leads the nation. But that headline prosperity does not automatically reach every household, and it does not address the anxiety that comes from cost-of-living pressures, uncertain interest rates, or geopolitical events that feel impossible to plan around.
As Kristen Turnbull explained, there is a real polarisation in the community. Some households are doing well. Others are seriously constrained, with little savings for unexpected expenses. What is striking is that even households with high incomes often share similar levels of concern to those earning much less.
The research identified four conditions that many families find themselves in:
- Constrained: Anxious about the future, juggling competing demands, avoiding decisions they know they should address.
- Functioning: Getting by. Even affluent households can feel disorganised and uncertain if they are not in control of their finances. Basics are in place, but many trade-offs are being made.
- Comfortable: Steady progress, content with where things are heading.
- Prospering: Complete financial freedom, purposeful legacy, and a life lived on their own terms.
The human condition is to survive and then thrive. Most families want to reach the top of that framework. What the research confirmed is that the majority have not.
The Income Paradox: Why $200,000 a Year Does Not Buy Confidence
One of the most revealing findings from the Voice of WA research is that income level barely moves the dial on financial anxiety.
The research segmented households by income and measured their level of financial concern:
| Household income | Level of financial concern |
| Under $150,000 | High |
| $150,000 to $200,000 | High |
| Above $200,000 | High |
Across all three groups, concern about their ability to live well and meet future demands was almost identical. A higher income does not, on its own, translate to greater financial confidence.
This is what David Andrew calls the thin veneer of affluence. A family with a large home, a new car, and a private school on the calendar does not necessarily have financial security. Those visible signs of prosperity are often backed by a large mortgage, an assumption that income will continue, and very little financial buffer.
A high income gives you a high income. What you choose to do with it is what builds genuine wealth.
The research also identified a squeezed middle: households earning between $100,000 and $150,000 a year who are under significant financial pressure. They earn enough to be excluded from some support systems but face high costs of living, mortgage stress, and limited room to absorb unexpected expenses.
This is one of the most practical reminders that financial anxiety is not a problem you grow out of by earning more. It is a problem you solve by having a clear plan and someone to help you implement it.
What Financial Advice Actually Changes
The most compelling data in the research is the confidence gap between those who receive financial advice and those who do not.
Across the whole surveyed population, roughly three in five residents were concerned about the economy and their financial future. But when the data is separated by advice status, the picture shifts dramatically:
| Confidence measure | Advised | Unadvised |
| Not worried about their financial future | 65% | 37% |
| Confident they are making smart financial decisions | Significantly higher | Baseline |
| Confident they can afford the life they want | Significantly higher | Baseline |
Those receiving financial advice were nearly twice as likely to feel confident about their financial future. That difference does not come primarily from investment returns. It comes from something more fundamental: knowing that someone objective has reviewed your situation, identified risks you may have missed, and given you a clear picture of where you stand.
Kristen Turnbull, whose research firm has no commercial relationship with Capital Partners, was direct: advice brings value, especially in the confidence it creates. The peace of mind, the sleep-at-night factor, and the knowledge that a professional is guiding you are the primary benefits.
The research measured confidence across three questions that Capital Partners treats as the three critical outcomes for every client family:
- Are you making smart decisions about your money?
- Will you and the people you care about be okay?
- Can you afford to live the life you want, now and in the future?
Across all three, people receiving advice reported significantly higher confidence. Not because their investments necessarily outperformed, but because they had calibrated their situation with a professional and could anchor to that evidence.
Capital Partners explored these themes in a related article on the confidence gap affecting West Australians.
What the Research Found About Retirement Planning
The data on retirement planning is equally revealing, and it goes directly to the question of what advice changes in practice.
The research asked pre-retirees and retirees about their goals, their plans, and whether reality had matched their expectations. The three goals that came up consistently across the population were:
- Having enough money to live comfortably without financial stress
- Being debt-free in retirement
- Feeling confident that savings will last through retirement
A secondary goal, for those who had achieved the foundations, was having the money and freedom to travel.
Advised pre-retirees planned at a different level. The contrast is telling:
| Focus area in planning | Unadvised pre-retirees | Advised pre-retirees |
| Primary concern | Living comfortably, staying debt-free | Maintaining lifestyle, freedom to travel |
| Foundational worries | Still present | Largely resolved |
| Planning horizon | Near-term security | Long-term life design |
When the foundations are in place, there is room to focus on what a good retirement actually looks like.
For retirees already living the experience, the difference was stark:
| Outcome in retirement | Advised | Unadvised |
| Living the lifestyle they expected | 62% | 38% |
| Financially constrained | Approx. 3x less likely | Baseline |
Critically, the researchers tested whether this was simply an income effect. It was not. The data pointed to advice as the key variable, independent of how much money people had.
This is something David Andrew and Aden Wilkins see in their work with clients every day. A great retirement is not about having a specific number. It is about having the best life possible with the resources available, with a clear plan and the confidence to live it.
The Information Overload Problem
One issue the research touched on directly shapes how many families experience money: the sheer volume of financial information available, and how little of it is designed to help.
Financial media is largely built around two things: fear and the appearance of expertise. Headlines about market crashes, interest rate changes, and economic threats are designed to generate engagement, not to help readers make better decisions. The effect is a constant backdrop of anxiety that bears little relationship to any individual family’s actual situation.
This creates a specific problem. People have more access to financial information than ever before, but less confidence in what to do with it. Someone reads an article about interest rates and wonders whether they should be doing something differently. They have not received advice. They have received noise dressed as information.
The research was conducted in late 2025, before several significant global events. The levels of concern recorded then have likely increased since.
Cutting through that noise is one of the most practical things a good wealth adviser does. The process of stripping away what does not apply to your specific circumstances, focusing on what does, and making decisions based on that smaller, relevant dataset is what good financial advice looks like in practice.
There are currently around 15,600 financial advisers in Australia, down from approximately 30,000. Access to quality advice has become genuinely harder to find. That scarcity makes the conversation about where to get started more important than ever.
Why Even Financial Experts Take Advice
One moment from the podcast conversation is worth sharing directly.
David Andrew is among the most qualified financial professionals in Australia. He has spent over 25 years advising successful families across WA. And he takes financial advice himself.
The reason is straightforward. No one is objective about their own situation. The value of having someone skilled and outside your circumstances review your decisions, flag what you may not have considered, and hold you to account is not about knowledge. It is about objectivity and deliberation.
Most big financial decisions are made too quickly. The structure that a regular advice relationship provides is the space to slow down for decisions that matter, consider the second and third-order consequences, and move forward with confidence rather than anxiety.
As Kristen Turnbull put it: a surgeon would not operate on their own leg.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are West Australians financially anxious despite a strong economy?
A strong economy generates wealth at a macro level, but that does not automatically reach every household. Cost-of-living pressures, debt levels, interest rates, and global uncertainty all affect how families feel about their personal financial situation. The Voice of WA research found that three in five WA residents worried about their disposable income regardless of the state’s economic performance.
Does earning more money reduce financial anxiety?
Not reliably. The Voice of WA research found that households earning above $200,000 reported similar levels of financial concern to those earning less. A high income increases your capacity to build wealth, but without a clear financial plan it can also support higher debt, higher costs, and no greater security. A high income gives you a high income. What you do with it determines your actual financial position.
What does financial advice actually change?
The research found that those receiving financial advice were nearly twice as likely to feel confident about their financial future as those without advice. The benefit was not primarily from investment returns. It came from having a professional help them make clear decisions, address risks they had not identified, and confirm that their plan was sound. That confidence translates directly to lower financial anxiety and a better quality of life.
What do advised retirees experience differently from unadvised retirees?
The research found that 62 per cent of advised retirees were living the lifestyle they had expected in retirement, compared with 38 per cent of unadvised retirees. Advised retirees were also approximately three times less likely to describe themselves as financially constrained. The researchers confirmed this was not simply because advised clients had higher incomes. Advice itself was the variable that made the difference.
What is retirement planning about beyond just saving money?
The research found that people in retirement who had planned well were focused on completely different concerns. Where unadvised retirees were focused on living comfortably and paying off debt, advised retirees were focused on maintaining lifestyle and having freedom to travel. Good retirement planning is not about reaching a target number. It is about building the confidence and the plan to live the life you actually want.
How do I cut through financial information overload?
The starting point is distinguishing between financial information and financial advice. Most financial media is produced to generate engagement, not to help you make better decisions. A qualified financial adviser takes your specific circumstances, filters out what does not apply to your situation, and helps you focus only on what matters. That process is far more valuable than any amount of general information.
Listen to the full conversation with Kristen Turnbull in Episode 74 of The Purposeful Investor Podcast.
Watch the full episode on the Purposeful Investor YouTube channel.
