Susan
From Pay-to-Pay to Pre-Retirement Confidence
About the Client
Susan is a single professional in her early 60s with retirement on the horizon in five years. She owns her home outright, has a meaningful super balance, and earns a salary that places her in the 37% marginal tax bracket.
On paper: very solid. In reality: financially unsettled, relying on credit cards as a cash management tool, no clear system, and no real sense of whether she was on track for the retirement she wanted.
The Problem She Came In With
Susan described her situation as ‘earning well but not getting ahead.’ She had a savings account that would grow for a few months and then get eroded by a large credit card bill. There was no intentional cashflow system — just income arriving, expenses going out, and a vague sense that something wasn’t adding up.
Her superannuation was in a default option she’d never changed. She’d been in the same fund for
over a decade and genuinely couldn’t tell you what it was invested in or why. The allocation didn’t reflect her actual risk tolerance or her retirement timeline.
And she had two competing anxieties: ‘Am I doing enough to retire comfortably?’ and ‘I can’t afford to take risks with what I’ve got.’ Both were valid. Neither had been addressed.
What We Built Together
01
Cashflow from Scratch
We designed a tailored automated banking system. Credit card as a cash management tool? Gone. A dedicated travel savings account funded automatically every week replaced the reactive, guilt-ridden approach to holidays. Within 12 months, Susan had built a $14,000 travel fund without a single moment of financial stress around it.
02
Super from the Group Up
This wasn’t a fund switch. We rebuilt the asset allocation from scratch — bespoke, aligned to her true risk tolerance, and structured for the five-year runway to retirement. The result speaks for itself: her tailored portfolio returned 8.59% over the period compared to 5.38% in her previous default option. On her balance, that difference equated to approximately $18,000 in additional wealth — created purely through better structure.
03
Tax Strategy
We implemented a salary sacrifice strategy aligned to her $30,000 concessional cap. At 37% marginal rate versus 15% inside super, every dollar she salary sacrificed saved her 22 cents in tax. Across the year, this delivered approximately $5,600 in annual tax savings.
04
Mortgage Strategy
Susan had a small remaining mortgage balance. We restructured the repayment approach to save $11,348 in interest over two years without changing her lifestyle. These weren’t massive changes. They were structural improvements that compounded quickly.
High-Level Client Stats
$5,600
Tax Saved Annually
Via salary sacrifice strategy.
$18,000
Extra Super Growth
Better portfolio structure alone.
$14,000
Travel Fund Built
In year one, automatically.
| Key Result | Amount / Outcome |
|---|---|
| Income tax saved annually through super strategy | ~$5,600 per year |
| Home loan interest avoided | $11,348 over 2 years |
| Additional portfolio value from restructure | ~$18,000 year-to-date |
| Travel fund built in first 12 months | $14,000 |
| Super return: tailored portfolio vs prior default | 8.59% vs 5.38% |
Important: These case studies are based on real client scenarios with names and identifying details changed for privacy. They are provided for illustrative purposes and contain general information only. Past investment performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Seek personalised professional advice before making financial decisions.