A redundancy or career change brings decisions that need to be made quickly — often at a time when you're least equipped to make them well. Clear advice early can protect what you've built.
Redundancy or a major career change can arrive without much warning. One week you're running a division or managing a portfolio of clients; the next, you're holding a termination letter, a payout figure, and a list of decisions that need to be made inside a timeline someone else has set.
For Sydney professionals and executives, this moment is rarely simple. Large redundancy payments, unvested shares, salary packaging arrangements, multiple super accounts, income protection policies — there's more to unravel than most people realise, and the window to act is short. Making the wrong call in the first few weeks can cost far more than the inconvenience suggests.
At Ferncourt Advice, we've guided many clients through exactly this situation. Our role is to take the pressure off, lay out what actually needs to happen and in what order, and make sure you come out of this transition in a stronger financial position than you went in.
Redundancy payments look straightforward on paper, but the tax treatment is rarely what people expect. Genuine redundancy payments receive concessional tax treatment up to a threshold that varies with years of service — but amounts above that threshold, or payments that don't qualify as genuine redundancy, are taxed differently. If your package includes unused annual or long service leave, those components are taxed as income and can push you into a higher bracket for the year.
If your role came with a salary sacrifice arrangement, income protection insurance, a company car, or other benefits, each of those unwinds in its own way. Share options or performance rights that vest on termination — or that you choose to exercise — add another layer of complexity, particularly if there's a CGT event in the same year as a large payout.
Getting the structure right before you agree to anything, or before you sign off on final paperwork, can make a material difference. This is one area where the advice pays for itself quickly.
A career gap is one of the few times you can make certain superannuation contributions or consolidations with genuine strategic benefit — but the rules are unforgiving and time-sensitive. Concessional contribution caps, carry-forward provisions, and total super balance thresholds all interact, and many professionals don't know exactly what headroom they have until they look.
If you're over 50 and stepping away from a senior role, a transition-to-retirement strategy may also be worth examining — particularly if your income for the current financial year is lower than expected. The right contribution made at the right time can be one of the most tax-effective decisions you make this year.
Many professionals also discover they've accumulated super in three or four funds across their career. A consolidation review at this point — done properly, with attention to insurance held inside those funds — is far better than doing it in a hurry six months down the track.
When employment ends, most group insurance — income protection, life cover, total and permanent disability — ends with it. For people who relied on their employer's policy and haven't maintained personal cover, this creates an exposure that begins the day they stop working.
If you're between roles for any period, or moving into consulting or self-employment, the gap can persist for longer than expected. Personal income protection policies have waiting periods and definitions of income that don't always suit someone whose earnings are irregular or deferred. Getting the right cover in place before you need it matters more than most people appreciate.
We review what you held through your employer, assess what's needed given your current situation and timeline, and make sure nothing important is left uncovered while you navigate the transition.
Career transitions often coincide with a reassessment of what you actually want from work — and from the next decade of your life. For some clients, redundancy is a forced prompt to retire earlier than planned. For others, it's an opportunity to move into consulting, change sectors, or start something new. Each path has different financial implications that are worth modelling before committing.
How long can you sustain your current lifestyle if you take twelve months to find the right role? What's the impact on your retirement projections if you draw down on investments rather than selling the family home? These are questions that benefit from a clear-eyed financial view rather than a rushed decision made in the first anxious weeks.
Alastair's approach is to sit with clients through this thinking — not to push a product or a predetermined answer, but to map out the realistic options and help you make a decision you'll be confident in five years from now.
The cognitive and emotional load of a major career change is real. Research consistently shows that people make worse financial decisions under stress — and the redundancy period, with its compressed timelines, competing advice from well-meaning colleagues, and uncertainty about what comes next, is a high-stress environment by any measure.
Our clients consistently tell us that the single most valuable thing we did was take the complexity off their plate. You don't need to become an expert in employment termination tax or super contribution strategies in the next three weeks. You need someone who already is one, and who will make sure your interests are protected while you focus on what comes next.
If you're facing a job change or redundancy — whether it's just happened or you can see it coming — get in touch early. The earlier we can look at the numbers, the more options you have.
Book a Consultation with AlastairBook a no-obligation initial consultation — an honest conversation about where you are today and where you want to be.