The Life-Event Email Sequence Financial Planners Should Send When a Client Changes Jobs

14 September 2026·7 min read

Quick answer: A short sequence of three to four emails, spaced over a few weeks, that acknowledges the change, flags the specific things worth reviewing (super rollover, insurance inside super, salary changes affecting contributions), and offers a low-pressure way to book a review — without pretending you know their new situation until you've actually talked to them. The goal is to be the first call they think of, not to give advice by email. ✨

A client changing jobs is one of those life events that financial planners hear about almost by accident — it comes up in passing during an annual review, or you notice a different employer on a pay slip they've sent through. By the time most planners think to follow up properly, the client has already made decisions on their own: rolled old super into whatever the new employer's default fund is, let insurance cover lapse without realising it was inside the old fund, or simply not thought about any of it because nobody prompted them to 💖. A job change is genuinely one of the highest-value moments to reach out, and most planners let it pass because there's no natural trigger reminding them to.

What most planners get wrong

The biggest mistake is waiting for the client to bring it up. Clients don't know what they don't know — most have no idea that changing jobs can affect insurance held inside super, or that a new employer's default fund might not be the best home for their balance. If you wait for them to ask, you'll often be having the conversation after the decision's already been made and is harder to unwind.

The second mistake is sending one generic "hope all is well, let's catch up" email and calling it a nurture sequence. A single email with no specific reason to act gets skimmed and forgotten. A short sequence that names the actual things worth checking gives the client a reason to reply now rather than "when I get a chance."

The job-change email sequence (copy-paste structure)

Email 1 — sent within a week of finding out, warm and short:

Subject: Congrats on the new role
"Hi [name], congratulations on the move to [new employer/role] — that's exciting news. A job change is one of those moments that's worth a quick check-in on your super and insurance, since a few things shift automatically in the background that most people don't think to look at. No need to do anything right now — I'll follow up in a few days with the specific things worth a look."

Email 2 — sent 4-5 days later, the specifics:

Subject: Three things worth checking after a job change
"Following up on my last note — here are the three things I'd suggest we look at together: (1) whether your new employer's default super fund is the right home for your contributions or whether we should redirect them, (2) whether any insurance cover you held inside your old super will lapse or change now contributions have stopped, and (3) whether your new salary changes what makes sense for extra contributions this financial year. None of these need an urgent decision, but they do have a bit of a shelf life."

Email 3 — sent about a week later, the booking nudge:

Subject: Want to run through it together?
"No pressure at all if you're still settling into the new role — but if you'd like to talk through any of what I mentioned, here's a link to grab 20 minutes: [booking link]. Even a quick conversation now can save some cleanup later."

Email 4 (optional) — sent 2-3 weeks after, if no response, soft close:

Subject: Keeping this on your radar
"Totally understand if this hasn't been front of mind — new jobs come with enough to think about already. I'll leave the door open; just reply whenever suits and we'll find a time."

A fee-for-service planner with an ongoing client base: built this sequence into their existing CRM as a manual trigger — whenever a client mentioned a job change in a review or email, it took thirty seconds to add them to the sequence, which turned an easy-to-miss detail into a consistent follow-up habit rather than relying on memory.

A planner specialising in pre-retirees: adapted the sequence for clients closer to retirement, where a late-career job change (redundancy, a shift to consulting, semi-retirement) has bigger implications for contribution caps and transition-to-retirement strategy — the emails leaned more on "let's make sure this doesn't affect your retirement timeline" than on general tidying up.

A planner working with young professionals: found job changes were frequent and often came with a pay rise, so the sequence emphasised the "extra contributions" angle more than insurance continuity, since that was the detail most likely to actually change this client group's financial position.

How to actually run this

Set a simple internal trigger. You don't need marketing automation software for this — a CRM tag, a shared spreadsheet, or even a calendar reminder works, as long as someone reliably adds a client to the sequence the moment a job change comes up.
Keep every email genuinely short. This sequence works because it's scannable on a phone during a lunch break, not because it's comprehensive — save the detail for the actual conversation.
Don't give specific advice inside the emails themselves. Flag what's worth checking, not what the answer will be — you don't know their new circumstances well enough yet to say, and putting a recommendation in writing before you've had the conversation is exactly the kind of thing that creates problems later.
Make the booking step as low-friction as possible. A direct calendar link beats "let me know a time that suits" — reduce the number of steps between "I should do this" and it actually happening.

Please note: general information, not personal financial advice — any specific recommendation about super, insurance or contributions needs to account for the individual client's full circumstances, and current rules/caps should always be checked against official guidance before a client acts on anything.

💡 Ask clients to flag job changes themselves, not just wait to notice. A simple line in your annual review meeting — "if anything changes with your job or income during the year, flag it with us, even a small update" — turns this from something you have to catch to something clients proactively hand you.

Mistakes to avoid

Sending one generic check-in email instead of a short sequence with specific reasons to act.
Giving a specific recommendation about what to do with super or insurance inside the email itself.
Waiting for an annual review to raise a job change that happened eight months earlier.
Using the same generic sequence for every client regardless of career stage — a redundancy near retirement and a pay rise for a 28-year-old need different framing.
Making the sequence feel like a sales pitch rather than a genuine "this is worth checking" nudge.

Frequently asked questions

How do we actually find out when a client changes jobs?

Mostly through existing touchpoints — annual reviews, LinkedIn updates if you're connected, or clients mentioning it in passing. There's no reliable automated way to catch every job change, so the honest answer is this depends on a habit of asking and noticing, not a system that does it for you.

Should this sequence include specific product recommendations?

No — keep the emails focused on "here's what's worth reviewing," not "here's what you should do." Genuine nuance worth naming here: what's right for one client's super or insurance situation after a job change can be completely wrong for another, and any real recommendation needs to happen after a proper conversation about their specific circumstances, not inside a templated email.

What if the client doesn't respond to any of the emails?

That's fine, and worth expecting for a decent chunk of clients — not every life event nudge gets picked up. The soft-close email leaves the door open without chasing, and you can always raise it again naturally at the next scheduled review if it's still relevant.

Does this only work for clients on an ongoing service arrangement?

It works best for those clients since you already have a relationship and context to draw on, but a lighter version can work for past clients you haven't spoken to in a while too — a job change is a legitimate, non-salesy reason to reconnect with someone who's gone quiet.

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Written by

Kate, founder of Chronically Online

I help Gold Coast and Brisbane businesses grow with branding, websites and marketing that actually works.

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