Most financial advice is built for people on a steady salary. Tech pay isn’t like that.
Base salary. Commission or bonus. RSUs that vest every quarter. Maybe an ESPP. It arrives in big, uneven pieces, and most of it is tied to one company.
After 18 years in financial planning and more than 300 plans at Delta, I’ve found it comes down to five decisions. Get these right and the rest is detail.
1. What you do with your shares
For most of my clients, company shares are the biggest asset after the house. And the biggest risk.
My rule is to sell 50 to 70% of every vest, and keep any single company to no more than a third of your net worth. Set the tax aside first. RSUs are generally taxed as income when they vest.
More in I just vested $500K of RSUs. What now?
2. How you use your home equity
Many of the tech execs I meet in Sydney have $1M or more of equity sitting in their home, doing nothing.
Debt recycling turns non deductible mortgage debt into deductible investment debt, one step at a time. You pay down the home loan, redraw it to invest, and the interest on that part generally becomes tax deductible.
From 1 July 2027, negative gearing is limited on established property bought after Budget night. Shares and ETFs keep the current rules, so debt recycling still works. See the numbers in debt recycling strategy: a worked example.
3. How hard you use super
Super is still the most tax effective place to build wealth for retirement. Contributions are taxed at 15%, or 30% if your income is over $250K. That’s still well under 47%.
Use your full $30K concessional cap every year. If your balance is under $500K, check for unused caps from the last 5 years. Then look at after tax contributions of up to $120K a year, or $360K at once under the bring forward rule.
Once you retire after 60, income from a pension account is generally tax free. More on my super advice page.
4. Your cash flow system
Big earners can still feel broke. Pay goes up, spending goes up, and the RSUs quietly fund the lifestyle.
I set clients up with a simple system. One account for bills, one for spending, and everything else swept to the offset or investments automatically. Your savings rate matters more than your income. See cash flow management.
5. Your retirement number
Most people in tech have a vague plan to retire in their 60s. Very few know their number.
The tech execs I work with usually want $15K to $25K a month in retirement. A rough rule: you need about 20 times your yearly spending in investments, outside the family home. $20K a month is $240K a year, so about $4.8M.
That sounds like a lot. With shares, home equity and super all pulling the same way, it’s often closer than people think. I explain the method in how much money will I need to retire comfortably?
What ties it together
Each decision changes the others. Selling shares changes your tax. Your tax changes how much goes to super. Your debt changes your cash flow.
That’s why I build them into one plan. My Early Retirement Blueprint maps your shares, your equity, your super and your cash flow into one plan, built with you in 30 days.
Want to read first? The free Lifetime Income Playbook walks through the whole approach.
Create an income for life
Find out when work could become optional for you.
15 minutes. No cost, no obligation. Not ready yet? Start with the free Lifetime Income Playbook.
Get my weekly email
Real client case studies, RSU and tax moves, and a free resource every Friday. Join over 4,000 tech professionals planning to retire early.
