I also went to a small local so called reputable financial...

I also went to a small local so called reputable financial planner/adviser company and sat with them for about an hour whilst they went through their well rehearsed speil, initial setup and mgt fees about $6K ongoing annual fees about $8K. In the end everything they said they could do I thought I could do but.....................with a fair bit of effort on my part. I had plenty of time to plan my retirement so started researching and understanding the basics of financial management (this is what they should be teaching kids at school) I had an SMSF set up for under $2K by getting an accountant to help. My ongoing annual accounting/ compliance / audit fees are currently $1600. Do what you can yourself and you can look at it as paying yourself.