Pete and Heather lost over $1.2 million in retirement savings. They’re expecting just $150,000 in compensation

Exclusive: The light at the end of the tunnel was tantalisingly close for Pete Spencer-Franks.

The Western Australian man and his wife Heather had accumulated over $1.2 million for their retirement, pumping almost every dollar they could spare into a self-managed super fund (SMSF).

The good life was approaching. After turning 60 in 2024, Pete had begun the slow, triumphant transition into retirement.

That retirement never came – Pete now works six days a week as a bus driver and Heather works in retail.

The couple may be forced to live off the pension, if they can ever afford to retire.

The couple’s combined $1,226,753.80 superannuation pot vanished, along with the savings of 6000 other Australians, after the devastating collapse of the First Guardian Mater Fund investment scheme in 2025.

Over a year of exhaustive self-advocacy and multiple complaints to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) is expected to culminate in meagre compensation of just $150,000 through the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR).

“We did everything Australians are told to do. We worked hard, saved for retirement, sought professional advice and followed the rules,” Pete, now 62, told nine.com.au.

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“We weren’t reckless, we weren’t chasing extraordinary returns.

“Yet we’ve lost a lifetime of savings and are left carrying the consequences of failures we didn’t create.”

The couple, who emigrated from the UK in 2006, became entangled in the messy demise of First Guardian six years ago.

Pete had been contacted by a lead generator, who put him in touch with United Global Capital (UGC), an Australian financial advice firm that later went into liquidation and had its Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence cancelled.

He was encouraged to roll his and Heather’s superannuation savings into a Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF) and invest 99 per cent of it into First Guardian.

This was the death knell for their six-figure retirement savings account.

“I trusted the government-accredited and government-licensed financial advisor,” Pete said.

Pete claimed he was assured First Guardian was “just as secure as any mainstream super account”.

Like many other investors in the failed scheme, his fund generated healthy returns for several years.

“It had done quite well. I did contribute a lot in those years,” he said.

“All was going well, it seemed, [until] I had started the transition to retirement.”

Pete discovered their SMSF was “flatlining” as he attempted to draw down some of it into cash.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) froze the assets of First Guardian in February 2025 as part of an investigation into what the watchdog alleged was “industrial-scale misconduct”.

Pete and Heather’s money went down with the ship, along with around 6000 investors who invested $450 million into First Guardian.

ASIC is conducting multiple investigations into conduct connected to First Guardian.

First Guardian was operated and managed by Falcon Capital Limited.

Pete and Heather joined the thousands of investors who have undertaken the lengthy process of documenting and claiming their losses through the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

Their complaint was against UGC, which remains in liquidation.

In September this year, the ombudsman accepted that Pete and Heather suffered a direct loss of $1,226,753.80.

UGC was ordered to compensate them for $631,500, which is AFCA’s compensation cap.

AFCA acknowledged that UGC “breached its obligation to provide appropriate personal advice in the complainants’ best interests”.

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But there’s a catch.

Because UGC is in liquidation, there is no guarantee the firm can or will comply with any compensation demands.

Pete and Heather complaint may fall within the scope of the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR), which has a cap of $150,000.

“I was happy with the ombudsman’s determination of $1,226,753.80, but not happy that we will only get a single person’s CLSR payment,” Pete said.

“If I had known, I would have made separate claims from the start.

“The financial loss was assessed separately, but when compensation was calculated, somehow two victims became one.”

Starting over again in their 60s

Pete and Heather are yet to lodge their CSLR claim.

There is fading hope their original loss of over $1.2 million will be honoured.

Pete has been a vocal advocate for other investors, along with the founders of SOS Save Our Super, and has contacted every politician he can find an email for.

“Unfortunately, I am the type of person that never gives in, I will keep on trying and it will likely be the death of me,” he said.

The First Guardian and Shield collapse, which wiped out a total of $1.1 billion in retirement savings, resulted in the federal government announcing a suite of reforms to strengthen the superannuation sector.

This includes a ban on unlicensed superannuation lead generators, stricter requirements on consumer consent, a limit on financial advice to existing clients, and increased penalties for breaches of anti-hawking laws.

The reforms will also tighten regulation around SMSFs.

Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino acknowledged in his National Press Club address that SMSF losses have already placed “significant strain” on the CSLR, accounting for more than 90 per cent of costs to date.

For Pete and Heather, it is too little, too late.

They are both back at work and are slowly saving cash for a retirement that will fall devastatingly short of their once-grand plans.

“We are saving, but nowhere near the amount we should be,” Heather said.

“The cost of living makes it so hard to do.”

The couple have sold off assets to cobble together enough money to survive.

“You can’t rebuild a lifetime of retirement savings when you’re already at retirement age,” Pete added.

“I feel betrayed and abandoned. Retirement only comes once, it is not a rehearsal. You only get one chance at it.

“It’s almost like having a nightmare disease – every day from waking to collapsing, exhausted, into bed. Thoughts of how will we survive, what did we do wrong, why is the government abandoning us?

“This is all so wrong.”