As your wealth grows, financial planning often becomes less about choosing an investment and more about making sure a range of important financial decisions work together.
Tax, superannuation, investments, property, retirement planning and estate planning can become increasingly interconnected. A decision that appears sensible in isolation may have consequences elsewhere.
At Evolution Financial Planning, we work best with financially independent individuals and families who have accumulated meaningful wealth, face important financial decisions and value professional advice to bring the different parts of their financial lives together.
So, how do you know when comprehensive financial advice could be valuable? Consider these three questions.
1. Are you financially independent of the Age Pension?
If you have accumulated significant investable assets outside your family home, including cash, shares, managed investments and investment property, you may be above the relevant upper asset threshold for Age Pension entitlement.
At this point, the focus of retirement planning can change.
Rather than relying on government support, the challenge becomes determining how your accumulated wealth should be structured, invested, managed and ultimately transferred.
How much should you hold in superannuation? How should investments outside super be structured? Where should retirement income come from? And how do tax, risk and your longer-term objectives influence those decisions?
These are rarely questions that should be considered independently.
2. Does your estate plan reflect the wealth you have built?
A Will is important, but for financially independent families, it may be only one part of an effective estate plan.
Depending on your circumstances, a comprehensive approach may involve Testamentary Discretionary Trust Wills, Powers of Attorney, Appointment of Enduring Guardians, superannuation beneficiary nominations and a Letter of Wishes, developed with the appropriate legal advice.
The real issue is not simply whether these documents exist. It is whether your estate planning, superannuation arrangements and broader financial strategy are aligned with what you want to happen.
As family structures and financial affairs become more complex, this coordination becomes increasingly important.
3. Is a significant liquidity event approaching?
Sometimes wealth is accumulated gradually. At other times, your financial position can change substantially following the sale of a property or business, an inheritance or another significant windfall.
These events can create opportunities, but they can also introduce important decisions around taxation, superannuation, debt reduction, investment structures, portfolio construction and estate planning.
Ideally, advice begins before the event occurs, where possible. This creates an opportunity to consider the available strategies before decisions are locked in and proceeds need to be invested.
Bringing the pieces together
Evolution Financial Planning is particularly suited to people whose financial affairs have reached a level of wealth and complexity where decisions should no longer be considered in isolation.
If you are financially independent, have substantial investable assets, want greater confidence in your estate planning arrangements, or are approaching a major financial event, the question may no longer be simply, “Where should I invest?”
A better question may be:
“Do I have a clear strategy connecting my wealth, lifestyle, family and legacy?”
That is where comprehensive financial planning can make a meaningful difference.
