Evergreen Planning Book a conversationBook

Letters from Evergreen · No. 1

A letter
to your
future self

Fee-for-service financial planning from Norwood, Adelaide — for people who would rather understand their money than be sold something. We start the way good plans do: by writing things down.

From the planners at Evergreen Planning7-minute readFigures illustrative

Begin the letter
Fig. 1 — Growth rings. The lean years are part of the tree too.

The letter

The letter

Dear future you,

Right now, the person you used to be is reading this on a phone, probably between two other things. They have a super statement they haven’t opened, a mortgage they understand about seventy per cent of, and a quiet feeling that they should do something about money. We’d like to tell you what they did next.

They didn’t chase a hot tip or a clever scheme. They sat down for forty-five minutes with a planner in Norwood and said the unglamorous things out loud: what comes in, what goes out, and what keeps them up at night.

Most of what compounding needs from you is time — and not interrupting it.

Then they got a plan they could actually read. A few pages in plain English: what to do with their super, how much to put away each month, which insurance was worth having and which wasn’t. The reasoning was written down, so that you — reading this years later — could check whether it still made sense.

Some years were lean. Markets did what markets do, and there were months when putting money aside felt like watering a stick in the ground. They kept going anyway — not because anyone promised it would work, but because the plan had said what to do in the bad years before the bad years arrived.

We can’t tell you what the numbers are now. Nobody honestly can. What we can show you is how the arithmetic works, and we’ve drawn it below as a tree, because that’s what it most resembles: slow, then less slow, then — one summer — shade.

Warmly,

The planners at Evergreen Planning

Norwood, Adelaide · spring 2026

Fig. 2 · The Future-you visualiser

Plant a number. Watch it grow.

Choose a starting amount, a monthly habit, a time frame and an assumed yearly return. The tree grows with the total: dark leaves are what you put in, light leaves are compound growth.

After 25 years

About $435,800

You put in $170,000Growth $265,800

$20,000
$500
25 years
6.0% a year
Year by year

Hover or drag across the chart — or focus it and use ← → — to see any year. The tree follows.

Bring this sketch to a first conversation →

Illustrative only — not advice; excludes fees, tax and inflation. Monthly contributions, a steady assumed return compounded monthly. Real returns rise and fall.

Who we help

Three kinds of letters we write most often

Most people come to us at a turning point. These are the three we know best — if yours isn’t here, write to us anyway.

Chapter I

Nearly retired, or just retired

Turning decades of super into an income you can live on, deciding when to stop work, and working out whether the Age Pension will play a part.

  • “How long will it last?”
  • “Should we pay off the house first?”

Chapter II

Young families

Childcare, a mortgage, parental leave and something left over for later. We help you decide what matters, in what order, and what can safely wait.

  • “Is salary sacrificing worth it for us?”
  • “How much life cover is enough?”

Chapter III

Small-business owners

When the business is the nest egg. Paying yourself properly, super when you’re self-employed, and thinking early about a sale or succession.

  • “Am I putting enough into super?”
  • “What happens if I can’t work for six months?”

Our advice process

Four seasons, roughly

Advice shouldn’t feel like a sales funnel. Here’s what actually happens, and about how long each part takes.

  1. 45 minutes · no cost

    A first conversation

    Tell us what’s going on. Bring a super statement if you like. You’ll leave with notes, whether or not you come back.

  2. About 2 weeks

    Gathering the details

    We collect the paperwork — super, loans, insurance, spending — and ask the awkward questions kindly.

  3. About 3 weeks

    Your written plan

    A Statement of Advice in plain English: what we recommend, why, what it costs, and the options we looked at and set aside.

  4. Every year, or when life changes

    Tending it

    An annual review, and a check-in when things change — a baby, a new job, a sale, a diagnosis. Plans are allowed to grow.

Fees

What it costs, in writing, before we start

Fixed fees, agreed up front. No commissions from product providers and no percentage of your balance — the fee you can see here is how we’re paid.

  1. First conversation45 minutes, in Norwood or by video
    $0
  2. Written plan — one main thinge.g. super, debt or insurance
    $2,750
  3. Written plan — a bit of everythingsuper, property, insurance, estate and cash flow
    $4,400
  4. Putting it in placepaperwork, rollovers and applications, done with you
    $990
  5. Ongoing partnershipannual review, two check-ins, email any time
    $2,640a year · $220/month

If a product you already hold pays a commission to someone, we’ll show you where it goes and what switching it off would involve.

Sample pricesAUD, including GST. Fees and policies are those of a fictional firm, for this demo.

Sketch your first year

Two questions, one fixed number.

What would help most?
How much is going on?
  • Written plan — one main thing$2,750

First year, fixed$2,750

Nothing further unless you ask for it.

Questions

Things people ask before the first conversation

If yours isn’t here, it’s probably a good one. Bring it along.

Do you earn commissions on anything you recommend?

No. Our only income is the fixed fee you agree to, in writing, before any work starts. That’s the whole arrangement.

Do I need a lot of money before it’s worth seeing a planner?

No. Some of the most useful conversations are with people who have more questions than savings — a new mortgage, a baby on the way, a first business. If a full plan isn’t worth the fee for you yet, we’ll say so.

Is the Future-you tree a forecast?

No. It’s compound-interest arithmetic on the numbers you choose, with monthly contributions and a steady assumed return. Real returns rise and fall, fees and tax reduce them, and inflation changes what a dollar buys. It shows the shape of time, not a promise.

Can you help with a self-managed super fund?

We can talk through whether an SMSF suits you at all, and work alongside your accountant if you already have one. For many people, it isn’t the right fit — and we’ll explain why if that’s the case.

Do you only see people in Adelaide?

We meet in person in Norwood, and by video anywhere in South Australia and interstate. Once a month we hold appointments in the Adelaide Hills and on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

What should I bring to the first conversation?

Nothing, if you’d rather just talk. To get more out of it: a recent super statement, a rough idea of what you spend in a month, and your questions written down — the ones that feel silly are usually the good ones.

Write back

Book a first conversation

Forty-five minutes, no cost and no obligation. Tell us a little about what’s going on and when suits you.

Office
Norwood, Adelaide SA
Hours
Tue–Fri 9am–5pm · Sat 9am–12pm
By video
Anywhere in Australia

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