Your Family Trust: The Wealth Headquarters Every Successful Australian Family Needs

At PrimeAdvisory, We Believe Every Successful Australian Family Should Aim For The Same Three-Pillar Foundation

Whether you’re earning $200,000 or $2 million annually, the wealth-building principles remain constant:

Own your home outright (in personal names for the CGT exemption), maximise your superannuation (up to $2.0 million per spouse), and hold all other investments through your family trust structure.

This foundation scales as your wealth grows, maintaining the same core principles at every level. It’s not complex. It’s not exotic. It’s simply the right way to structure family wealth in Australia.

Most families get the first two right. They buy a home, pay it off, and contribute to super. But they miss the third pillar entirely, and that’s where the real opportunities lie.

Your Family Trust: The Wealth Headquarters

Think of your family trust as your financial command centre. This isn’t just for the ridiculously wealthy. A properly structured family trust becomes essential once your non-super investments reach meaningful levels.

Here’s what your wealth headquarters can hold:

• Investment properties and share portfolios
• Business interests (but never operating businesses directly)
• Other passive investments outside superannuation
• Capital growth accumulated over decades

The trust doesn’t just hold these assets, it optimises them. Income can be distributed among family members for maximum tax efficiency. Capital gains can be directed where they’re taxed most favourably. Your hard-earned wealth works harder.

The Corporate Beneficiary: Your Overflow Valve

Alongside your family trust sits what we call a “bucket company.” This corporate beneficiary captures any excess income that cannot be distributed efficiently to family members.

Currently taxed at 30%, it serves as your safety net for income that would otherwise face higher personal tax rates. Some years, you might use it heavily. Other years, not at all. The flexibility exists when you need it.

Together, these structures create what we call the wealth headquarters – your central command for family financial decisions.

For Business Owners: How Your Headquarters Expands

If you run a business, your wealth headquarters becomes even more powerful. Here’s how it works:

Your business operates through its own dedicated entity, typically a company. But your family trust owns the shares in that company. This separation is crucial. That being said, in certain circumstances, we recommend alternate business structures, such as a dedicated Business Trust.

When your business generates profits, they flow up to your family trust as dividends. The trust then distributes this income among family members for maximum tax efficiency, just like it does with investment income.

This structure keeps your business activities separate from your family investments while maintaining the tax and distribution benefits of the trust. If your business faces challenges, your family wealth remains protected. If you sell the business, the capital gain can be distributed through the trust rather than landing entirely in your personal tax return.

The same principle applies whether you own one business or several. Each business gets its own entity, but your family trust owns the shares in all of them. Your wealth headquarters manages everything from a central position.

Find out more about how to properly structure a business, protect your assets and minimise tax LINK

The SMSF Component: When Super Gets Serious

As your wealth grows, many families transition from industry super funds to a self-managed super fund. Your SMSF becomes another division of your wealth headquarters, working alongside your trust structure.

The SMSF holds your retirement savings with investment control and tax advantages. The family trust holds your non-super wealth with distribution flexibility. Both serve the same goal, making more possible with your money.

This isn’t about complexity for complexity’s sake. It’s about having the right tools as your financial situation evolves.

Red Flags

Red Flag One: All investments in personal names. If every investment property title and share registry has your personal name, you’re missing every structural advantage available. Zero distribution flexibility. Zero asset protection. Maximum tax exposure.

Red Flag Two: Not keeping your accountant in the loop. Most families have trusted advisers who watch out for structural opportunities. But your accountant can only help when they know what’s happening in your life. New investments, business growth, and changing family circumstances. These all create structural opportunities. Keep your adviser informed and ask the questions. That’s exactly what you’re paying them for. And if your adviser isn’t asking those questions? Watch out!

Red Flag Three: DIY trust setups. We see families who’ve established trusts without proper advice. The structure exists on paper but operates incorrectly. Sometimes that’s worse than having no structure at all.

The Bigger Picture: Time, Money and Freedom

The structural decisions you make today will impact your family’s wealth for decades. Getting them right creates something more valuable than tax savings or asset protection.

Proper structuring puts your family in a position to say yes to any reasonable request without being restrained by financial limitations. That overseas holiday. Your children’s education choices. The decision to help elderly parents. Career changes that prioritise fulfilment over income.

We get you sorted. Then comfortable. Then thriving.

This isn’t about complex tax avoidance schemes or aggressive structures. It’s about making smart, legal decisions that protect and grow your family’s financial future while maximising what’s possible with your money.

Building Your Wealth Headquarters

Every family’s situation is unique, but the principles remain constant:

• Create distribution flexibility for tax efficiency
• Separate investment risk from personal exposure
• Plan for long-term wealth accumulation
• Maintain simplicity while optimising outcomes

The structural foundation you build today determines whether your wealth merely grows or truly compounds over time.

At PrimeAdvisory, we specialise in helping Australian families navigate these structural decisions. We understand that behind every trust and company is a family working hard to build something meaningful.

Ready to build your wealth headquarters? Simply drop us a line for a confidential discussion about whether your current setup is working as hard as you are.

This article provides general information only and should not be considered personal financial advice. Consider your specific circumstances and consult with qualified advisers before making structural changes to your investments.