The collapse of Dixon Advisory, one of the nation’s largest wealth managers, has exposed the heavy personal and financial cost of the 36-year-old firm’s highly conflicted business model that steered the retirement savings of thousands of middle-class Australians into its own poorly performing high-fee property fund.

On Wednesday, the parent company of E&P Financial announced that voluntary administrators had been appointed to Dixon Advisory Superannuation Services (DASS), bringing an undignified end to the once-respected advisory firm formed by pensions expert Daryl Dixon to help Australians manage their pensions.