4 wealth moves to make before 2027

The second half of the calendar year makes December suddenly feel much closer than it should. August is almost done, and September reminds us that the last quarter is now here.  For many of our clients, particularly business owners and high-performing professionals, the year moves quickly. Business, family and everyday commitments take priority, while personal wealth strategies can quietly sit in the background.

Building wealth rarely comes from one significant decision. More often, it is the result of making good decisions consistently and reviewing your strategy as your circumstances change. With several months remaining in 2026, there is still plenty of time to make some purposeful financial decisions. I am always discussing improvement options with clients, and here are four areas worth reviewing before we enter 2027.

With the 2026 budget amendments to investing, superannuation is now the most powerful investment and wealth-building vehicle for most Australians, yet people pay surprisingly little attention to it. The start of a new financial year provides an opportunity to review contributions, investment allocations, and your longer-term retirement strategy.

Start by looking at what is actually going into your super. The Super Guarantee rate is currently 12%, so employer contributions are steadily building employees’ retirement savings. However, depending on your circumstances, relying on compulsory contributions alone may not produce the retirement outcome you want.

Additional concessional contributions, including salary sacrifice or eligible personal deductible contributions, may provide opportunities to build your retirement savings tax effectively. Contribution caps, your existing balance, income and tax position all need to be considered before acting. For business owners, superannuation should be part of a broader personal wealth strategy rather than viewed in isolation from the business.

Successful people often accumulate wealth in a relatively concentrated way. A business owner may have a significant proportion of their net wealth tied up in their company. Property investors tend to be exposed to residential property, while others may accumulate large amounts of cash or shares in a particular company or sector.

None of these positions is necessarily wrong. The question is whether the concentration is deliberate. Diversification is about spreading risk across different assets, sectors, and investment structures so that your financial future is not overly dependent on the performance of any one investment.

Take some time before the end of the year to look at your entire financial position. Consider your business interests, property, superannuation, shares, managed investments, cash and debt together. It is not so much about diversification for its own sake as about ensuring that the structure of your wealth fits your goals and risk appetite.

A question I regularly consider when developing wealth strategies is: Where should the next dollar go? If your income or business has generated additional cash, there can be several competing options. You might reduce your mortgage or other debt, contribute more to super, invest outside super, retain cash for future opportunities or keep additional liquidity available within the family. The right decision depends on your circumstances.

What matters is that the decision is intentional. Leaving surplus cash sitting in an account because you haven’t decided what to do with it is still an investment decision. It may not necessarily be the most productive one. Consider what you are likely to need over the next few years as well as your longer-term goals. Maintaining appropriate cash reserves is important, but capital beyond those requirements may work harder elsewhere.

Look beyond the numbers. Has anything changed during 2026? Has your income increased?. Your business may be performing differently. You may be thinking about selling a business, reducing your working hours, buying property, helping your children financially, or bringing forward your retirement plans. As life changes, your wealth strategy needs to change with it.

This is also where areas such as asset protection, insurance, estate planning and family wealth structures become important. Building wealth is only one part of financial planning. Protecting it and ensuring it eventually passes according to your wishes are equally important.

There is a tendency to think about financial strategy around June each year, when tax and superannuation deadlines naturally attract attention. I believe wealth management should be more proactive than that. The months ahead provide an opportunity to review what you have achieved so far in 2026 and determine what could be improved before 2027 begins.

At North Advisory, we consider the full financial picture. With wealth management, superannuation, SMSF, accounting and taxation expertise within the broader North Advisory team, we can examine how different financial decisions work together rather than treating them in isolation.