Investment advice for the portfolio you actually have
Keep what works.
Question what does not.
Understand whether your SMSF, direct shares, or private investments are supporting the life you want.
A sophisticated product does not create a sophisticated plan.
As wealth grows, many Australians begin to receive wholesale, sophisticated and private wealth offerings that are not available to everyone.
These may include private credit, private equity, venture capital, structured investments and other restricted-access opportunities.
Some can play a useful role.
Others add illiquidity, fees, valuation uncertainty, capital calls, or redemption limits without making retirement work any better.
The correct question is not “Can we access it?”
It is “What job would it perform, what does it cost, what can go wrong and what flexibility would we give up?”
Direct shares deserve analysis, not a default answer.
A long-held share portfolio may contain good businesses, meaningful franking income and substantial unrealised gains. It may also be too reliant on a few companies, one part of the market or dividends that could change.
Dao Capital assesses:
The role of each material holding or exposure.
Concentration by company, sector, geography and factor.
Income and liquidity requirements.
Capital-gains and ownership consequences of change.
Whether risk can be reduced progressively rather than in one transaction.
When ETFs, managed funds or other exposures may improve the portfolio.
The outcome may be to retain, reduce, diversify, restructure or leave a holding unchanged.
The reasoning should be visible.
Keep the SMSF because it remains useful - not because it is familiar.
An SMSF can provide control, investment flexibility and coordination for a household.
It also carries trustee duties, administration, succession issues and costs.
The question often changes in retirement. The review should consider:
What the SMSF enables that another structure would not.
Investment and pension requirements.
Administration and advice costs.
Trustee capability if one member dies or loses capacity.
Liquidity and benefit-payment needs.
Estate and death-benefit planning intersections.
The tax and transaction consequences of changing or winding down the fund.
Dao Capital works with the client's accountant and solicitor where their professional input is required.
Access is not the same as suitability.
Wholesale status can expand the investments presented to a client while reducing some disclosure and consumer protections. It does not make every opportunity appropriate.
Where Dao Capital is authorised and has agreed to do the work, the review can cover:
The source and reliability of the return.
Leverage, refinancing and liquidity dependence.
Valuation frequency and subjectivity.
Redemption terms, gates and suspension rights.
Every fee layer, including performance, placement or stamping fees.
Whether several investments could fail for the same reason.
Cash-flow timing and capital-call risk.
Governance, reporting and conflicts.
Whether the investment solves a problem already solved more simply.
Want an adviser who understands the portfolio you already have?
If retirement or working less involves an SMSF, direct shares, or private investments, tell us what you are trying to work out.
Dao Capital is designed to build the plan, help put it in place and remain responsible for how the structure and investments support it over time.