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Family Office and Private Client Advisory
Coordinating super, trusts, companies, insurance and estate documents across a family group, alongside the accountant and lawyer you already have.
When wealth outgrows one adviser
High-net-worth families rarely have a single financial problem. They have overlapping structures, competing priorities and advice built up in layers over decades, often without anyone checking whether the layers still fit together.
A family office model brings coordination where there has only been accumulation. It does not replace your accountant, lawyer or investment manager. It works alongside them, so the whole structure works as one system.
Build MyWealth provides private client advisory for families whose wealth has outgrown a single-adviser model. Where legal, accounting or other specialist input is needed, we work with your existing advisers or introduce trusted professionals.
The gap is between the advisers
Most high-net-worth families have a capable team: an accountant for tax, a lawyer who drafted the trust deeds, an investment adviser running a portfolio and an insurance adviser who placed cover years ago. Each does their job well.
The gap is between them. Structures interact in ways no single adviser is asked to monitor. Tax strategies conflict with estate plans. Insurance no longer reflects the asset base. Super and trust structures set up under earlier rules have never been reviewed as a whole.
For wills, trusts and succession, see our estate planning strategy.
Example
A family holds $8 million across super, a discretionary trust, a company and personal assets. The SMSF has a non-lapsing binding nomination to the adult children. The will leaves the residual estate to a testamentary trust for the grandchildren. Life cover is held in the SMSF, sized when the estate was half its current value. Nobody has checked whether the nomination, the will and the trust deed still agree, or what tax the children will pay on the death benefit. The likely result is a six-figure tax bill that could have been reduced, and a family left arguing about what was intended.
A general example only; it does not represent an actual client.
The coordination problem
Six structures, six sets of rules
Each one is usually set up by a different adviser, at a different time. Nobody is asked to check how they fit together.
Super and SMSF
- Governed by
- Trust deed, binding nominations, super law
- Watch
- Division 296, transfer balance cap, death benefit tax
Family trust
- Governed by
- Trust deed, appointor and trustee
- Watch
- Who controls the trust after you, and the vesting date
Company
- Governed by
- Constitution and shareholder agreement
- Watch
- Retained profits, loans to shareholders, buy-sell terms
Insurance
- Governed by
- Policy ownership and beneficiary
- Watch
- Cover sized for an asset base that has since doubled
Personal assets
- Governed by
- Your will and powers of attorney
- Watch
- Joint ownership that bypasses the will
Investment bonds
- Governed by
- Policy terms and nominated beneficiary
- Watch
- Whether the nomination matches the estate plan
Coordinating across structures
Wealth spread across SMSFs, family trusts, companies, investment bonds and personal holdings needs someone holding the full picture. We map the whole structure, find where pieces overlap, conflict or leave gaps, and work with your existing advisers so that:
- Trust distributions fit the family’s tax position across every entity
- Super contributions and withdrawals support, rather than undermine, other strategies
- Insurance reflects current asset values and sits in the right structure
- Investments are considered as one portfolio, not duplicated across entities
- Wills, nominations, trust deeds and powers of attorney work as one system
Example
A business owner has a personal financial adviser, a company accountant and a lawyer who drafted the shareholder agreement. The accountant recommends paying dividends to use franking credits. The financial adviser recommends salary sacrifice into super. The buy-sell agreement relies on insurance that no longer matches the business value. Each piece of advice is sound on its own; together they pull in different directions.
A general example only; it does not represent an actual client.
After a business sale
The sale of a business is often the largest liquidity event a family will have. The proceeds need to serve several goals at once: retirement income, the next generation, lifestyle and often philanthropy, while managing capital gains tax and avoiding the slow drift of capital into cash.
The advice a family needs after a sale is very different from the advice it needed before. We work through that change: small business CGT concessions and the super contributions they allow, trust structure, and an investment framework for the next chapter.
From 1 July 2027, the 50 per cent CGT discount for individuals and trusts is replaced by cost base indexation and a minimum 30 per cent tax on capital gains, so the timing of a sale now needs modelling.
Example
A couple sells their business for $12 million after 25 years. They use the small business CGT concessions to move part of the proceeds into super and put the rest in a family trust. Twelve months later the money is still in cash and term deposits. The returns are lodged and the wills are updated, but nobody has built the investment plan, tested the retirement projection or modelled Division 296 on the super balances they have just created.
A general example only; it does not represent an actual client.
Division 296 and high-balance super
Division 296 applies from 1 July 2026. For members with a total super balance above $3 million, an extra 15 per cent tax applies to the share of super earnings that relates to the balance above $3 million, and a further 10 per cent above $10 million. Both thresholds are indexed.
For families who have used the small business CGT concessions to contribute large amounts, Division 296 changes the balance between super and other structures. We model it as part of the whole structure, not on its own.
For the mechanics and a worked example, see our Division 296 tax strategy.
Governance across generations
Family wealth is more often lost to poor planning, family conflict and structures nobody understands than to markets. The cause is rarely one bad decision. It is the absence of an agreed framework for how wealth is managed, distributed and governed as the family grows. That usually covers:
- Who controls each trust, company and SMSF after the current generation
- Bringing the next generation into financial decisions before they inherit
- Family investment committees, distribution policies and decision rules
- Estate plans that allow for blended families and differing needs
We do not impose a governance model. We help families design one that reflects their values and their complexity.
Does every adviser to your family work from the same plan?
The first step is a single map of every structure, every adviser and every document.
The Five-Point Private Wealth Architecture Review
Structural mapping
Every entity, account, policy and holding across the family group: who owns what, where it sits and how it connects.
Advisory alignment
The advice each professional has given, and where strategies conflict, overlap or leave gaps.
Tax and legislative exposure
Division 296, the contribution caps, the transfer balance cap, the CGT changes from 1 July 2027 and trust taxation.
Estate and succession integrity
Whether wills, nominations, trust deeds, shareholder agreements and powers of attorney work together, and where a single point of failure sits.
Intergenerational readiness
Whether structures, governance and family communication are ready for the next transfer of wealth or control.
As published in the Australian Financial Review: Wealth transfer and women inheriting wealth · Inheritance traps and family legacy
Why a boutique practice
Large advice firms are built for scale, and for families with straightforward needs that model works well. For families with multi-entity, multi-generational wealth, what matters more is continuity of the relationship, depth of knowledge across the whole structure, and the ability to coordinate across disciplines without being tied to a single product shelf.
That is how Build MyWealth works. See how bespoke mandates work.
Common questions
What is family office and private client advisory?
It is advice that coordinates a family’s whole structure: super, trusts, companies, insurance, investments and estate documents, working alongside the family’s accountant and lawyer rather than replacing them.
How is it different from standard financial advice?
Standard advice usually addresses one need at a time. Private client advisory starts with a map of every structure and adviser, and keeps the whole structure aligned as circumstances and laws change.
Do you replace our accountant or lawyer?
No. We work with your existing advisers. Your accountant continues with tax and compliance, your lawyer with legal documents. We coordinate the financial strategy across them.
When does a family need this kind of advice?
Usually when wealth sits across several entities, after a business sale or inheritance, when super balances approach Division 296 thresholds, or when control of trusts and companies needs to pass to the next generation.
How does Division 296 affect family wealth planning?
For members above $3 million, it changes how much should sit in super against trusts, companies and investment bonds. That decision needs modelling across the whole family structure.
What happens in the first meeting?
A 30-minute online conversation with Sangram Rana about your structures, your advisers and what you want the wealth to achieve. If a mandate makes sense, the scope is confirmed in writing before any work starts.
Related strategies
Advice led by Sangram
Sangram Rana
Principal Financial Adviser. Qualified accountant and registered tax agent.
Strategy and key advice meetings are led by Sangram, with the Build MyWealth team supporting analysis, preparation and implementation.
Sangram Rana is a 2026 Australian Wealth Management Awards finalist for Adviser of the Year, Estate Planning, and an IFA Excellence Awards finalist for Risk Adviser of the Year in 2022, 2023 and 2025. Build MyWealth is a 2026 IFPA Australian Financial Industry Awards finalist for SMSF Practice of the Year.
Coordinate your family’s structure
Request a consultation to discuss your family’s structures and advisers. Your first meeting is a 30-minute online conversation with Sangram Rana. We reply within one business day.
General advice warning: any advice on this site is general in nature only and has not been tailored to your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on this information, consider whether it is appropriate for you and seek personal advice.
Build MyWealth is a trading name of Accounting Cloud Pty Ltd. Accounting Cloud Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 1306106) and Sangram Rana is an Authorised Representative (No. 1251526) of Lifespan Financial Planning Pty Ltd (AFSL 229892). This page contains general information only and does not constitute personal financial advice. Financial Services Guide available at lifespanfp.com.au.
Rates and thresholds should be confirmed on ATO published pages at the time of implementation, as indexation and legislation changes can occur.