For many clients, the five to ten years leading up to retirement is a high-stakes window. It’s a period where the right strategies can significantly accelerate wealth, while the wrong ones can quietly erode it.
As their accountant, you’re not just balancing books. You’re shaping financial futures. This phase isn’t just about saving more. It’s about structuring smarter, investing tax-effectively, preparing for a seamless shift from accumulation to retirement income, and reviewing estate plans.
Why the Final Decade Matters Most
In these years, clients are often earning their highest income, looking after aging parents, holding the most assets, and facing increasingly complex tax and retirement considerations.
What they do now or fail to do will have a critical impact.
- Tax-efficient investing becomes critical as capital gains, income distributions, and franking credits play a larger role.
- Structuring decisions such as whether to use family trusts, SMSFs, or companies can materially affect outcomes.
- Super contributions including catch-ups need to be timed with precision.
- Asset protection becomes more than a compliance checkbox. It’s about preserving legacy and avoiding missteps.
- Transition planning from accumulation to drawdown needs to start early to avoid cash flow shocks and tax inefficiencies.
Practical Ways to Add Value Now
Here are three key focus areas where accountants can deliver significant strategic value to their clients – and where partnering with the right advisory experts can make all the difference.
- Superannuation Strategy
Help clients maximise contributions while still managing thresholds, caps, and timing. The interplay between personal concessional contributions, spouse strategies, and unused cap carry-forward rules can be leveraged powerfully in this window.
- Structure Review
Reassess whether existing entities such as family trusts, SMSFs, or investment companies are still fit for purpose. As retirement nears, strategies may need to shift from asset growth to income smoothing or succession.
This is also the window to consider introducing investment companies and family trusts, not just reviewing them. These structures can be used to cap tax on investment income and capital gains at around 30%, retain access and control, and create greater flexibility, especially for clients intending to retire before age 60. They’re particularly valuable for high-income earners who want to access investment income before reaching superannuation age thresholds and want to avoid locking funds into restricted structures too early.
- Exit Planning
Whether selling a business or reducing work hours, the pre-retirement decade is when CGT small business concessions, rollovers, and estate planning opportunities should be on your radar.
As advisers to accountants, we provide deep support across SMSF, financial planning, and complex tax and structuring matters, so you can confidently guide your clients through this critical phase with clarity and precision.
Ready to Help Clients Make the Most of the Final Stretch?
If you’re an accountant looking to go beyond compliance and into high-impact strategy, this is the moment.
This topic is front and centre at our 2025 Super and Tax Strategies Day – a must-attend event for professionals advising clients at or near retirement.
Reserve your place now to gain an edge and unlock the strategies that matter most in this critical window.
Disclaimer: The information contained is general in nature. Professional advice should be sought before acting on any aspect on this page. Financial planning services provided by TAG Financial Advisors Pty Ltd (ABN 77 154 205 017 AFSL 415632), a wholly owned subsidiary of TAG Financial Services Pty Ltd (ABN 67 075 374 686). Copyright 2025. Please do not reproduce without the expressed written consent of the author.