Retirement planning in Sydney
The date is only one decision. Income, risk and what you will actually spend are the others.
Hill Private Wealth provides retirement planning advice in Sydney from Level 11, 10 Carrington Street, Sydney NSW 2000. We help pre-retirees and retirees organise superannuation, income design, investment risk and the sequencing of big decisions before and after work ends. Evan Hill (CFP®, AR 404669), Hill Private Wealth Pty Ltd CAR 1302410 of MTN Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 700327.
Carrington Street, Sydney. Limited client numbers. 02 9963 7239 · yourteam@hillprivatewealth.com.au
What retirement planning actually covers
Retirement planning is less about a single product and more about a sequence of decisions: when you stop or reduce paid work, how much you spend, which accounts pay for living costs, how much investment risk you still need, and what happens if markets or health do not cooperate in the first years.
In Australia that almost always involves superannuation rules, contribution and withdrawal settings, tax treatment that depends on your situation, and often Age Pension or other entitlements later. Rules and thresholds change. Check current figures on ato.gov.au and Services Australia when you act.
Who this is for
We work with Sydney-based professionals, business owners and couples who are roughly inside a decade of a major work transition, or already retired and finding the plan was thinner than the PowerPoint suggested.
Typical tensions:
“Can we retire at 60, or is 63 the honest number?”
Super is large, but outside assets and debt are messy
One partner ready, one not
A business exit sits on the critical path
Spending in retirement is a guess dressed up as a budget
If you want a one-page “you will be fine” chart with no assumptions shown, we are the wrong firm.
How we think about the problem
Put it like this. Most retirement anxiety is not about finding a clever fund. It is about whether the moving parts have been put on one page:
Lifestyle cost in today’s dollars, with an honest buffer
Income sources: super, pensions, work, investments, property, eventual sale proceeds
Risk: how much market and longevity risk you are really carrying
Sequencing: what you do in the three years before and after the retirement date
What breaks the plan: health, divorce, adult children, a business that sells late, a concentrated stock
We show trade-offs. Work one more year. Spend a bit less. Change asset mix. Delay a renovation. Keep a small consulting income. The right mix is yours. Our job is to make the options legible.
Super, income and the “next dollar”
Before retirement, the question is often what the next dollar should do: extra mortgage, extra super, investment outside super, cash buffer. After retirement, the question becomes which account funds which expense and how you refill cash without creating avoidable tax or sequencing problems.
There is no universal ranking that fits every household. Marginal rates, super balances, home equity, and risk tolerance change the answer. Personal advice is where those details get modelled properly.
How an engagement runs
Discovery. Are we solving retirement timing, income design, investment risk, or all three?
Foundational work. Organise accounts, benefits, insurance, estate documents at a high level, and spending reality. Build scenarios you can argue with.
Decisions. You choose. We implement what is in scope: super instructions, investment changes, coordination with your accountant.
Reviews. Retirement is not a ceremony. It is a multi-year phase. Plans need maintenance.
Business owners and professionals
If a large share of your wealth is a business or equity compensation, retirement planning is also exit planning. Valuation timing, cash extraction, super contribution capacity and life after the deal all interact. We will say when a specialist accountant or lawyer needs to lead a slice of the work.
Common retirement planning questions
When should I start retirement planning?
When the decisions become expensive to reverse: within roughly a decade of stopping work, after a major liquidity event, or when spending and income no longer match. Earlier education helps; formal modelling matters more as the date firms up.
Do you only advise people who are already retired?
No. Much of the valuable work is in the five to ten years before.
Can you guarantee my money will last?
No. Anyone who guarantees retirement outcomes is not being straight with you. We work with probabilities, buffers and adjustable levers.
Do you manage money in retirement?
Where engaged for investment management, yes, as part of the plan. Structure depends on the letter of engagement.
What about Age Pension?
It can matter for some households later. Eligibility is personal. We treat it as one input, not a marketing hook.
Is this personal advice?
This page is general information. Personal advice requires a proper engagement and fact find.
Sydney base
Level 11, 10 Carrington Street, Sydney NSW 2000. Clients across Greater Sydney, including Eastern Suburbs, Lower North Shore and Northern Beaches.
Related reading
Book a discovery call
Bring a rough spend number, super balances, and the retirement date you keep debating. We will stress the assumptions, not decorate them.
02 9963 7239 · yourteam@hillprivatewealth.com.au
Level 11, 10 Carrington Street, Sydney NSW 2000 · PO Box Q791, QVB NSW 1230
