Wattle Partners

25/08/2026

The market has a funny way of ignoring everyone's exit plan.

It's one of the most common ways we see people quietly cost themselves years of returns and it usually feels like the responsible thing to do at the time.

The investors who came through the GFC in good shape weren't the ones who predicted it. They were the ones who didn't need to.

Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/6aHdUfov7lU?si=Teiw0NS416V3PPWS

14/08/2026

When markets move up and down, clients feel it.

They know they're investing for the long term. But knowing something and feeling it are two very different things.

At Wattle, that's not exceptional service. It's just what we do. Because retirement isn't only a financial transition, it's an emotional one too.

Markets will keep moving, but our clients won't face that alone.

12/08/2026

Div 296 isn't one tax, it's three tiers of effective tax on your super earnings, and where you sit depends entirely on your balance, anywhere from zero to 40%.

Like income tax brackets, only the amount above each threshold gets the higher rate.

Drew Meredith explains each bracket in the full video: https://bit.ly/4zccj12

Not sure how this affects your position? Contact us today: https://bit.ly/4i2epu9

06/08/2026

Good advice doesn't end at the meeting.

Nhu Pham spends a significant part of her role following up, not because clients forgot to ask, but because real understanding takes more than one conversation.

When circumstances shift, strategy needs to shift too. The last thing we want is a client who nods along and hopes for the best.

That's not advice. That's paperwork.

At Wattle, clients don't just accept recommendations, they understand them. Start your retirement journey with us today: https://www.wattlepartners.com.au/contact-us/

24/06/2026

Headlines today are bigger than the impact.

New borrowings for residential property within SMSFs are out.

Existing arrangements and commercial property borrowing remain untouched, and only one in ten SMSFs borrows at all, representing roughly three per cent of total SMSF assets.

For most of our clients, this changes nothing.

Drew Meredith told AccountantsDaily: "For our clients in retirement it changes little, because borrowing to buy property has never belonged in a retirement plan."

Read the full article:

Some professionals have warned that the changes will destroy trust in Australia's retirement system, while others say the effect on trustees will be minimal.

19/06/2026

If you've spent years building a retirement plan, this week's budget reversal matters.

Drew Meredith says the government's backflip on testamentary trust tax changes is "a huge positive for retirees," and the original proposals had put decades of sound estate planning advice at risk.

His take on the small business threshold change? It stops the budget from "punishing those building wealth through entrepreneurship."

Read the full SMSF Adviser story:

Butler said the announcement is “qualified” and the Government is “playing around with words”. On Thursday morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the government would be exempting “income from all types of discretionary testamentary trusts from the minimum tax, provided they ar...

18/06/2026

Your pension dropped. Your bank balance didn't. Here's the rule nobody told you about.

Most retirees had no idea the deeming rate even existed, until it quietly trimmed their payment in March.

Centrelink assumes your money earns a set return whether it actually does or not. That assumption is the deeming rate, and on 20 March 2026 it went up for the first time in years.

Noah Langerak explains in The Golden Times exactly what happened, why your pension may have moved without warning, and what you can do about it now:

16/06/2026

Generic positioning is invisible positioning, and most advice practices are guilty of it.

Drew Meredith has a direct take in The Inside Adviser:
"It's better to absolutely own one channel and do it really well than to half-heartedly do five different ones."

A wide net catches nothing distinctive.

If you're building an advice practice and wondering why growth feels slow, the answer is usually clarity, not effort.

Read the full article:

Drew Meredith explains why finding a financial advice niche is the simplest and most effective growth strategy for advice practices today.

11/06/2026

Drew Meredith will be on the panel at the Monthly Online Masterclass tomorrow 12 June hosted by The Inside Network.

Alongside Abbey Minogue and Chris Tucker, they'll be discussing the four building blocks of a scalable planning business and how to identify and own a niche, specifically why being "for everyone" limits your growth.

They'll also dive into what a real marketing funnel looks like from brand awareness through to enquiry.

Register now: https://www.theinside.network/inpractice-online-june-2026

09/06/2026

If you're in your early 60s and still working, there's a legal, straightforward way to pay less tax, without reducing your take-home pay or touching your lifestyle.

Drew Meredith breaks it all down in this video. No jargon, just a simple explanation of how the strategy works and what it could mean for you.

If this sounds like it could apply to you, we'd love to help you understand whether this strategy makes sense for where you're at.

Contact us today and start your retirement journey with confidence. https://www.wattlepartners.com.au/contact-us/