Financial Planning for Corporate Executives
We Help Executives and Senior Managers Build Prosperity and Freedom
A senior package can include salary, bonus, deferred equity, super and employer-held cover, each on its own terms and timetable. We’ll help you understand what each part may be worth and plan around what’s conditional.
Our Financial Advice Team Is Here to Help You
We Can Help You
- Understand what your package and bonus are worth after tax
- Build investments that are not tied to your employer
- Consider whether salary sacrifice and packaging suit your situation
- Check whether Division 293 applies to your super contributions
- Understand what a redundancy would mean for you
- Review old employer super accounts and whether consolidating suits you
- Consider cover in your own name that isn’t tied to one role
- Plan a gradual step down before retirement, if that suits you
Who We Help
- Senior managers and executives whose responsibilities have grown quickly
- Employees on base and bonus planning around the part that varies
- Recently promoted professionals with more income and less time
- Company directors carrying the responsibility of a board seat
- Long-tenured employees with super and benefits from years of service
- Dual-career couples coordinating two corporate careers
- Employees in a restructure wanting to know where they would stand
- Executives stepping back and planning what comes next
What we advise on
How Our Advice Works for Executives
Tax & Wealth Strategies
We’ll help you understand how the parts of your package are taxed, and when each one may land.
Different parts of a package can be taxed at different times: salary as it’s earned, a bonus in the year it’s paid, and any equity under its own rules. Timing can matter as much as the headline figure. We look at the package as a whole and work with your accountant on the tax implications before decisions are made.
Together, we’ll work through:
- How each part of the package is taxed, and the year each part lands in
- Any deferred equity, and when a taxing point may arise under your plan’s terms
- Division 293 in a bonus or vesting year, and what it may mean for the contributions concession
- A retention payment, and whether its timing is flexible, with the tax effect checked with your accountant
- Fringe benefits inside the package, and what they genuinely cost you
- Termination payments, and how each component is treated on the way out
- An overseas assignment through your employer, with residency and equity tax questions raised with your accountant
- Where the company’s tax advice ends and your own position begins
Financial Planning & Advice
We can help you plan around events that arrive on somebody else’s timetable.
A restructure, a promotion, a change to remuneration policy or an exit can arrive with little notice. Understanding your position in advance can help you think through those decisions before you need to make them, rather than alongside everything else happening at work.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Planning around promotions, restructures and exits that arrive on somebody else’s timetable
- What a restructure would leave you holding, worked out before one happens
- The savings and income that could make continuing to work a choice rather than a need
- How much of the plan quietly assumes the current role continues
- A board seat or a non-executive path, and how that income could fit your plan
- How a competing offer compares with your current package, once conditions and tax are counted
- Where the company’s arrangements stop and your own planning has to start
- What to prepare before the next remuneration round, so there’s time to consider your options
Property Investment Advice
We can help you understand what a posting overseas may mean for a property you own here.
Australian property generally stays taxable here, whatever your residency. Foreign residents generally can’t claim the main residence exemption when they sell, subject to limited exceptions, and your residency at the time of the contract can matter. We help you plan the decision and work alongside your accountant on the tax rules.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Whether to sell before you leave, or after you return and resume residency here
- How residency at the contract date may affect the exemption, checked with your accountant
- What the main residence exemption may be worth, and how becoming a foreign resident could affect it
- Land tax surcharges that apply in some states once an owner is absent
- Which financial year a sale should land in, given how your package is paid
- Whether unused concessional cap amounts may be available to contribute in the year of a sale
- A relocation package, and what its housing component is worth to you after tax
- What happens to the property if the posting is extended or made permanent
Personal Insurance & Protection
We’ll explain the difference between cover your employer holds and cover you own.
Group cover through an employer or a super fund can have limits, and some of it may end or change when you leave a role. Cover held in your own name is generally assessed on your circumstances when you apply and isn’t tied to an employer. We check what you hold before recommending any change.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Employer-held cover, and what may remain if you leave the role
- Whether a group policy’s limits leave a gap against what your household may need
- Cover you own personally, assessed when you apply and not tied to a role
- How bonus, equity and allowances are counted in a benefit calculation
- Whether group cover has a continuation option, and any time limit attached to it
- Whether your health today would price a new policy differently
- The income protection attached to your employment contract, and what it may pay if you change employer
- A cover review at each promotion, relocation or change in package, so the amounts keep pace
Superannuation
We can show you what super is worth at an executive income, and where the limits sit.
Concessional contributions are generally taxed in the fund rather than at your marginal rate, and Division 293 can add tax above an income threshold. At larger balances, the transfer balance cap and Division 296, which commenced on 1 July 2026, may also affect the calculation. We look at which rules apply to you.
Together, we’ll work through:
- What super is worth at an executive income, and where the limits bite
- Whether Division 293 applies to your income and contributions in a given year
- Employer contributions above the minimum, and which salary components they’re paid on
- What room may be left under the cap once employer contributions are counted
- Leftover concessional room used against a vesting or bonus event, where the balance test permits
- Whether the fund’s option adds to a position already concentrated in your employer
- Whether the balance is on a path towards the Division 296 threshold
- The total super balance test, and the point where non-concessional room closes
Cashflow & Financial Wellbeing
We’ll help you plan household spending around the parts of your income you can rely on.
Where part of the package arrives once a year, the everyday position can be tighter than the annual total suggests. We can look at which commitments rely on base pay, what depends on a bonus or vesting, and whether a buffer could help cover the months between payments.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Household spending planned around base pay, with conditional income considered separately
- What a year without a bonus would mean for the commitments you hold
- Any vesting tranche assigned a purpose before the release date reaches your account
- Fixed household commitments mapped against base pay alone, with nothing conditional counted
- How much of the annual package is genuinely discretionary rather than committed
- What a redundancy payment might cover, and how long it could support the household
- The cost of maintaining the current lifestyle through a gap between roles
- How the household could adjust if a restructure affected your role
Retirement & Aged Care
We’ll help you explore when you could stop, and what stepping back in stages could involve.
Some senior careers wind down in stages, such as fewer days, a board seat or consulting work, before a full stop. Each stage can change what the plan needs to provide, and any unvested equity may follow its own timetable. We model the options against the date you have in mind.
Together, we’ll work through:
- When you could stop, and what stepping back in stages would take
- What happens to long-term incentive plans if the role ends before they mature
- Whether a staged finish or a single stopping date suits your plans better
- Turning savings into a retirement income after years of living on a salary package
- Where the transfer balance cap may apply, and what happens to amounts above it
- How a non-executive income changes the shape of the first years
- What the plan needs if the role ends earlier than you intended
- A stopping point tested against the lifestyle you’d like to keep, and how it could change
SMSF
We can help you weigh up what a self-managed fund could add at the balance you’ve built.
A self-managed fund can offer more control over investments and timing, but it also brings costs, administration and legal responsibilities as a trustee. Some larger funds and platforms offer direct investment options. We compare those choices with you and consider whether an SMSF suits your circumstances and the time you have.
Together, we’ll work through:
- What a fund would add that your current arrangements do not already provide
- Whether company shares or one specific holding are driving the interest in a fund
- How much time trustee duties need in a senior role, and the outside support that could cover them
- Insider trading and blackout rules, if the fund would hold employer shares
- How the fixed costs compare with your balance, and whether cost alone is a reason
- How the fund would be administered if you moved overseas for a role
- Whether a wrap or platform account already gives you the control you want
- What would have to change for this to become worth doing
What We’ll Work Through Together
What Your Package Is Worth
Understand how base, bonus and any equity are taxed and when each lands.
Assets Outside Your Employer
Consider investments and cover that don’t rely on one employer.
Where Your Bonus Goes
Plan how any bonus could support debt, super, savings or other goals.
Cover Beyond Your Group Policy
Review whether cover in your own name could fill gaps in group cover.
How a Redundancy Is Taxed
Understand how a genuine redundancy payment may be taxed, with your accountant’s input.
Weighing Up a New Offer
Compare an offer after tax with what you may give up by leaving.
Super From Former Employers
Review accounts from former employers for fees, cover and whether consolidating suits you.
Contribution Caps at High Incomes
Understand Division 293 and whether carry-forward contributions may be available.
Proactive, Holistic, and Experienced Financial Planning
Senior roles ask a lot, and part of what they offer may not be money you can spend this year: a bonus, equity, or rewards that only vest if you stay. It can be difficult to say what any of it is worth to you. We’ll help you understand the package as a whole, then plan what each part could be doing for you and the people you’re working for. Time for that can be hard to find, so we keep it practical.
A role like this can take something from home, and for many people the point of the money is back there. More time with family, fewer hours lost to commuting, and more say over when and how you step back. We’ll help you plan towards those aims deliberately, and we can review the plan with you if the role changes or ends sooner than expected. We can help you build more choice about how long you keep working, and on what terms.
Every financial decision impacts the next
Your Financial Life Is Connected
Great advice starts with understanding the bigger picture. Every stage of life presents new opportunities and challenges, from buying property and changing careers to growing your family, planning for retirement and protecting what matters most. At Ryker, we help connect every piece of your financial world into one clear strategy.
Your
Wealth
- Property & Investing
- Career & Income
- Tax Strategy
- Insurance & Protecting Your Family
- Super & SMSF
- Wealth & Investments
- Life Events & Changes
- Business & Wealth
- Legacy & Future Wealth
- Retirement Planning
Frequently Asked Questions
We’re invested in your long-term success. What we do is personal, and we take it personally.
Your financial decisions connect, so we consider the parts of your financial life that are relevant to the advice you need:
- Property & Investing
- Career & Income
- Tax Strategy
- Insurance & Protecting Your Family
- Super & SMSF
- Wealth & Investments
- Life Events & Changes
- Business & Wealth
- Legacy & Future Wealth
- Retirement Planning
This is how we help you make decisions today with your longer-term goals in view.
Everybody’s situation is different, so we listen first, understand what matters to you and explain your options clearly before we make a recommendation.
Group cover held through an employer may end or change when you leave, and any option to continue it can carry conditions and time limits. Cover held in super may continue for a time, depending on the fund’s rules and your account.
Your health may have changed since you were first covered. Cover you own personally is generally assessed when you apply, and it isn’t tied to who employs you while the premiums are paid.
We’d review what you hold before you leave and consider whether some cover in your own name suits you, so a change of role is less likely to leave a gap.
Your accountant and financial adviser bring different expertise to the same decisions. Your accountant can advise on tax reporting, structures and consequences; we help you plan how cashflow, debt, super, investments and protection work towards your goals. We can coordinate before important decisions.
What an accountant does
- Prepares and lodges tax returns, BAS and financial statements
- Advises on tax structures such as companies, trusts and partnerships
- Manages bookkeeping, payroll and ATO compliance
- Provides tax advice on the consequences of a transaction
What a financial adviser does
- Sets a long term strategy across retirement, investing and cash flow
- Builds wealth from early in a working life, starting with cash flow, a first home and super
- Recommends specific super funds, investments and personal insurance
- Operates under an Australian Financial Services Licence, which is required to give personal advice on financial products
- Handles retirement planning, Centrelink and aged care strategy, and estate planning considerations
Professional roles and authorisations matter. We provide financial advice within our authorisations and work with your accountant for specialist tax advice and lodgements.
Where they work together
- Tax position. Your accountant confirms your marginal rate, deductions and carried forward losses, which shapes decisions on super contributions, investment structures and the timing of asset sales.
- Business and entity structures. Your accountant advises on the structure itself and your financial adviser works within it for investments, insurance and succession planning.
- Cash flow. Your accountant’s figures can help us understand what’s available for debt repayment, protection and longer-term goals.
- Before key decisions. We can coordinate with your accountant on contributions, asset sales and other material choices in time to consider relevant tax consequences.
Treat them as conditional until they vest or are paid.
The two questions are what has to remain true for you to receive them, and what they may be worth after tax, which your accountant can help confirm. Anything conditional on staying can act as a cost of leaving, so it’s worth understanding that figure before an opportunity appears.
Committing to fixed household costs against income that hasn’t vested can add risk. We can plan around your base pay and treat conditional amounts as possible extras, each with a decision attached.
It depends on what you’d spend, what your assets could produce and how long the money may need to last.
At senior level, stepping back isn’t always a single date. Fewer days, a board seat or some consulting before a full stop is one possible shape, and it can change both income and tax across several years.
We can model a staged finish alongside a single stopping date, so you can compare how each fits your goals.
Understand what the payment is made of before deciding what to do with it.
A genuine redundancy payment can include parts that are taxed differently, and unused leave has its own treatment, so the amount on the letter may not be the amount you keep. We work with your accountant to confirm the tax position before decisions about the mortgage, super or a gap between roles.
Redundancy is one of the specialisations recorded against Ray on ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register.
It can be a useful resource, although it may not provide personal advice.
Workplace platforms often provide general information and tools designed for a whole workforce. Features vary, and some may not take into account what you hold outside the company or what leaving could mean for you.
Use it for the general education. We can work with what it shows you and bring your package, equity, cover and other assets into one advice plan.
It’s worth understanding rather than avoiding.
Above an income threshold, Division 293 applies additional tax to some concessional contributions, which reduces the tax concession on contributing to super. It reduces the concession rather than removing it, so salary sacrifice may still suit you, depending on your circumstances.
Timing is worth planning. Income that lands unevenly, such as a bonus or a vesting event, can affect whether it applies in one year and not the next. We can model this with you and your accountant.
Certainly. Tell us about your role, your package and what you’d like to understand better, and we can start there.
There’s no cost for the initial conversation. Recent payslips, bonus or equity documents, super statements and details of any cover you hold will all be useful as we get started.
Setting the whole package out in one place is often a useful first step.
Who We Help
Advice for All Stages of Life
From first job to retirement, we help you build wealth, protect it, and live well.
Starting Out
First jobs, first home, first super, HECS debt, budgeting and more.
Growing Families
First home buyers, new parents, school fees, single incomes, young families and more.
Medical & Health
Doctors, dentists, pharmacists, allied health, nurses and more.
Professional Services & Tech
Lawyers, accountants, brokers, engineers, consultants and more.
Trades & Business Owners
Electricians, plumbers, builders, sole traders, franchisees and more.
Corporate & Executive
Executives, senior managers, directors, board members and more.
Public Sector & Defence
Police, firefighters, paramedics, ADF personnel, teachers and more.
Approaching Retirement
Pre-retirees, transition to retirement, Age Pension, aged care, estate planning and more.
Other Stages
Any income, any stage, career changers, separation, second opinions and more.
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Grow & Protect Your Wealth Today
Whatever’s on your mind, we’re here to help. You’ll speak with an authorised financial adviser who’ll listen first and get to know what matters to you.
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