Retirement
Retirement Advice in Sutherland Shire
Have you been focusing on accumulation without a strategy for the distribution phase? If you are approaching your final day of work or have already finished, I provide the technical framework to convert your life savings into a sustainable, tax-effective income stream that lasts during your retirement years.
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Not Sure Where to Start with Retirement Advice?
Moving from a salary to drawing on super raises new questions. How much can you spend each year? Which account do you draw from first? How do the transfer balance cap and the Age Pension tests apply to you? In one session at my Caringbah office or on video, we set a drawdown plan with a yearly spending figure.
What Retirement Advice Do I Offer?
Turning Super into an Income
An account-based pension pays a regular income from super, with tax-free earnings up to your transfer balance cap. I set it up to meet the minimum drawdown and your spending needs.
Age Pension & Seniors Health Card
Your assets and income set your Age Pension, and your income sets your eligibility for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card. I structure your assets so you keep every entitlement the rules allow.
Protecting Against an Early Market Fall
A market fall in the first years of retirement does the most damage, because you sell investments to fund withdrawals. I hold enough cash and defensive assets to cover the next few years of withdrawals.
Estate and Nominations
A binding death benefit nomination and a reversionary pension decide who receives your super and how. I check that both match your will and your wishes for your partner and children.
Downsizer and Late Contributions
From 55, you can put up to $300,000 each into super from selling a home owned 10 years or more. I time downsizer and other contributions so they stay within the rules.
How Long Your Money Lasts
I project your balance against your essential spending, your lifestyle spending, and different inflation and return scenarios. You see how long your money lasts at each spending level before you set a budget.
Personalised Plans | No External Influence | No Templates
Why Do Clients Choose Me for Retirement Advice?
Get understandable, unbiased advice on perplexing financial scenarios. Here is why you might enjoy working with me:
Completely and Fiercely Independent
I own my business. I don’t work for a bank or a corporate entity. That means no product quotas to hit and no boss telling me what to recommend. My advice is focused entirely on your goals, values, and the life you want to live.
Work With One Person Throughout
Big firms swap advisers around every few years. If you choose to work with me, you won’t have to re-explain your life to a new person every time you book an appointment. I’ll still be the one in your corner ten years from now.
Explanations in Simple English
Super rules and tax options are confusing and unexciting to non-financial people. With words and a whiteboard, you will see, and not just hear, where you are today and how you’ll get to where you want to be.
Easy to Reach, Quick to Respond
“Call the office and leave a message” isn’t how anyone wants to reach their adviser. You won’t have to leave messages with the front desk or wait days for a reply. Stay in touch with me through text, email, or in person.
Honest Answers from Day Zero
If I can help you, I’ll tell you how straight up without a sales pitch or the pressure of obligation. If I’m not the right person for what you need, I’ll tell you that too and point you toward someone who is.
Locations
Suburbs
I’m based in Caringbah and opening a second practice in Inner West. Most of the people I work with live right here in the Shire or Inner West, which makes it easy to catch up in person when you need to.
Sutherland Shire
- Alfords Point
- Audley
- Bangor
- Barden Ridge
- Bonnet Bay
- Bundeena
- Burraneer
- Caringbah
- Caringbah South
- Caravan Head
- Como
- Como West
- Cronulla
- Dolans Bay
- Engadine
- Grays Point
- Greenhills Beach
- Gundamaian
- Gymea
- Gymea Bay
- Heathcote
- Illawong
- Jannali
- Kangaroo Point
- Kareela
- Kirrawee
- Kurnell
- Lilli Pilli
- Loftus
- Lucas Heights
- Maianbar
- Menai
- Miranda
- Oyster Bay
- Port Hacking
- Royal National Park
- Sandy Point
- Sutherland
- Sylvania Heights
- Sylvania Waters
- Taren Point
- Warumbul
- Waterfall
- Woolooware
- Woronora
- Woronora Dam
- Woronora Heights
- Yarrawarrah
- Yowie Bay
Inner West (opening early 2027)
- Alexandria
- Annandale
- Ashbury
- Ashfield
- Balmain
- Balmain East
- Birchgrove
- Camperdown
- Croydon
- Croydon Park
- Dulwich Hill
- Earlwood
- Enmore
- Erskineville
- Forest Lodge
- Glebe
- Haberfield
- Hurlstone Park
- Leichhardt
- Lewisham
- Lilyfield
- Marrickville
- Newtown
- Petersham
- Rozelle
- St Peters
- Stanmore
- Summer Hill
- Sydenham
- Tempe
If you don’t see your suburb listed, that doesn’t rule you out because I also work with clients across Sydney and the CBD who prefer an adviser close to home in the Shire or Inner West.
Set Up Your Retirement Income Before Your Last Day at Work
The first months of retirement shape your income for decades. That’s when you choose which pension to start, how much to draw, and what to keep in cash. Book a free 15-minute call and we’ll work out your numbers.
Questions
Retirement Advice FAQs
Transition to retirement advice is for people still working who draw on super while they reduce their hours. Retirement advice is for people who have stopped work and met a condition of release. It covers moving super into retirement phase, setting your drawdowns, and making the money last.
It’s the lifetime limit on how much super you can move into tax-free retirement phase. The general cap rose to $2.1 million on 1 July 2026. Your personal cap depends on when you first started a retirement income stream. I track your cap so you don’t exceed it and pay excess transfer balance tax.
You can lodge a claim up to 13 weeks before you reach Age Pension age, which is 67. The planning starts years earlier. I review how your family home, super, and investments are assessed under the means test before you apply.
I project your balance against two budgets: what you need to spend and what you’d like to spend. The model includes inflation and conservative return assumptions. You see how long your money lasts at each spending level, and what changes if markets have a poor year.
Yes, within age and balance limits. If you’re under 75 and your total super balance is below $2.1 million, you can make non-concessional contributions (opens in a new tab) of up to $130,000 a year from 1 July 2026. You may also be able to bring forward two future years of caps, up to $390,000. A downsizer contribution doesn’t count towards these caps. I time contributions so they stay within the rules.
The bucket strategy splits your money into three parts. Cash covers the next year or two of income. Defensive assets such as bonds cover the medium term. Growth assets such as shares cover the long term. That way you don’t have to sell shares in a market fall to pay your living costs.
At least once a year. Changes to inflation (opens in a new tab), your health, or the Federal Budget (opens in a new tab) can each change how much you should draw or how your money is invested. I review sooner if something changes.
It depends on your loan rate compared with your expected super returns, and on your tax position. Paying off the mortgage gives a return equal to the interest you no longer pay, with no market risk. It also lowers the income you need each month, and money in your home stops counting in the Age Pension assets test. But money taken out of super leaves the tax-free environment, so I model both options first.