And just like in those films, no single hero can win the “Infinity War” alone. Structures like super, trusts, companies and investment bonds each have their special super powers.
The adviser’s role is to assemble the right team – blending structures to create strength, flexibility and long-term resilience. Real strategy lies in how these vehicles work together to defend clients against complexity, uncertainty and the inevitable plot twists life delivers.
Assembling a diversified ‘squad’ for every client universe
No single structure survives every government policy cycle or family twist – new relationships, blended families, or wealth transitioning across generations. Multi-structure planning may become akin to a natural hedge against market movements, legislative volatility, tax shifts and human behaviour.
Structural concentration carries its own risks. A client with most of their wealth inside super may have limited flexibility before age 60, while relying solely on trusts can introduce governance or control challenges. Spreading wealth across structures gives advisers far more room to manoeuvre as life changes around the client.
The strategic challenge is balancing flexibility, control, accessibility and longevity – and determining how much should be allocated to each structure over time.
High-level goals that often bring this challenge to the forefront include when:
- pre-retirees seek stable compounding and clean estate pathways
- business owners require liquidity and disciplined accumulation
- families navigate complexity for clarity on control, distributions and succession.
As circumstances evolve – a career shift, a second marriage, adult children taking on financial responsibilities – the structural equation evolves, too. That’s why structural reviews are best placed with investment reviews as equal partners in long-term planning.
This is especially critical in generational wealth transfers. Structures often matter more than intentions when families have competing priorities or shared assets across households. Thoughtful design can help reduce friction and help enable wealth transitions with clarity, not conflict.
Ultimately, advisers can build frameworks not for one market cycle, but for multiple lifetimes. Coordinated structures can boost durability to withstand both personal and legislative twists.
And like any strong ensemble cast, each structure brings its own superpower.
Superannuation: the armoured strategist
Superannuation remains the stabilising anchor in most long-term plans. Its power lies in decades of concessional tax compounding that supports disciplined wealth creation. While preservation rules feel restrictive, they are part of what makes super structurally powerful for retirement.
SMSFs extend this with customisation and control, though with added governance responsibilities and costs. The question isn’t whether clients use super, but how to position it so its constraints don’t overly restrict future strategies.
Advisers should consider contribution caps, preservation rules and access timelines carefully, and whether a combination of public offer super and SMSF structures can provide both long-term growth and tactical flexibility for their client’s life stage.
Trusts: the adaptive shape-shifters
If one has spent enough time working with real families – messy divorces, special-needs children, business partners who shouldn’t benefit equally – one quickly understands why trusts exist.
Their appeal is control without ownership. Trusts can help protect assets, split income and adjust distributions each year based on real-life needs. In intergenerational planning, this flexibility is often essential.
But flexibility cuts both ways. Without proper governance, trusts can create compliance headaches. I’ve seen families treat documentation like a suggestion, which can expose them to potential ATO issues down the line.
Keeping trust deeds up to date, documenting decisions, and aligning distributions with evolving family and financial circumstances is critical, especially in blended families that may require multiple layers of flexibility.
Companies: the disciplined operator
Companies bring a different, more “corporate” discipline to wealth accumulation: the ability to retain earnings, smooth income, and operate entities with clearer separation between personal and business assets.
They’re not the right investment option for everyone, since running a company means more compliance costs and administrative overheads. But for clients building something over time, whether it’s a business or a portfolio of investments, the corporate structure can offer tax settings and strategic options that individuals and trusts simply can’t match. It’s about choosing the right tool for the job.
It’s worth evaluating whether a company structure is justified for income smoothing, reinvestment or business continuity goals, and weighing compliance and administrative burdens against the strategic benefits.
Investment bonds: the timewise strategist
Investment bonds are sometimes overlooked in conventional wealth planning. But they provide a consistent tax and ownership framework that can support multi-decade objectives, estate planning clarity or situations where clients value defined control and accessibility. They are particularly useful when goals fall outside superannuation’s timelines or constraints.
While superannuation is brilliant for retirement savings with concessional tax treatment, investment bonds work with different mechanics. Generally, earnings (before any applicable offsets or deductions) are taxed inside the investment bond at a maximum rate of 30 per cent, and after 10 years without withdrawals, the money comes out tax-paid and completely free of any personal tax.
There are no legislated contribution caps, no preservation ages and very little mandated legislative restrictions to overall accumulation. Investors can typically switch between investment options, add money over time (subject to the 125 per cent rule), and access funds as needed.
Because of this flexibility, advisers can use investment bonds strategically for goals that don’t fit super’s timelines – funding educations, funding pre-retirements, supporting intergenerational wealth transfers, or maintaining capital that can continue compounding while remaining accessible for a health crisis, business opportunities or family emergencies. When combined with superannuation or other structures, investment bonds can provide clients with an enhanced framework that balances growth, accessibility, and tax efficiency over multiple decades.
Assemble wisely, advise powerfully
When advisers assemble the right mix of structures, they can give clients something increasingly rare in a world of progressive change: greater confidence in the strength and adaptability of the strategic framework guiding their wealth.
The real superpower isn’t any particular structure. It’s the adviser who knows how to coordinate them, designing the premium plan for clarity, flexibility and resilience across decades of life events, regulatory shifts and generational transitions. By acting as the central nerve centre alongside accountants, lawyers and other professionals, advisers create more than a financial plan; they create clarity, control and continuity – whatever the next plot twist brings.
Felipe Araujo, CEO, Generation Life
