Retirement and Wealth Planning for Melbourne Doctors
Doctors tend to start earning seriously later than other high-income professionals — medical school, internship, and specialist training push the real income years back by a decade or more. That late start makes the compounding advantage of superannuation less powerful, and it means the gap between income and accumulation needs to be bridged with a more deliberate plan.
We work with Melbourne doctors on wealth and retirement planning that integrates with their tax structure — because the decisions made at the practice level directly affect how much flows through to building long-term financial independence.
Superannuation for doctors
Superannuation is the highest-leverage tax structure available to most Australian doctors. Concessional contributions are taxed at 15% inside the fund, compared to your personal marginal rate of up to 47%. For a high-income doctor, that’s a difference of 32 cents in every dollar.
The concessional contribution cap is currently $30,000 per year (2025-26). For doctors who haven’t maximised contributions in previous years, carry-forward provisions allow you to catch up on unused cap space going back up to five years — provided your super balance is below $500,000. Many Melbourne doctors who were completing training in those years have significant catch-up capacity.
Non-concessional contributions (after-tax money) allow you to add up to $110,000 per year, or $330,000 over three years under the bring-forward rule. Once inside super, this money earns returns at 15% (0% in pension phase).
SMSF for doctors. A self-managed super fund can hold commercial property — including the premises your practice operates from. This is a common strategy: the SMSF purchases the building, leases it to the practice at commercial rent, and builds an asset that is eventually sold or held in pension phase (potentially tax-free). This requires careful structuring and compliance, but it works well for doctors considering buying their practice premises.
Investment structures outside superannuation
Super alone isn’t always enough, particularly for doctors who start maximising contributions later in their careers. Investment structures outside super provide access to capital without the preservation rules that apply inside a fund.
Options we work with for Melbourne doctors include investment portfolios through a company or trust (investment income earned through a structure can be managed more tax-efficiently than income earned personally), property investment (property held personally qualifies for the CGT 50% discount after 12 months), and debt management and equity recycling (using investment borrowing to convert non-deductible home loan debt into deductible investment debt can significantly improve the after-tax cost of capital over time).
The Wealth Acceleration System
We have a framework we call the Wealth Acceleration System — it integrates income, tax, debt, investment, and superannuation into a coordinated annual plan rather than treating each element as a separate issue. For Melbourne doctors, this means looking at the full picture: what the practice is earning, how it’s structured, what you’re paying in tax, what you’re saving, what you owe, and what you want to have at retirement. Then we model the pathway from where you are to where you want to be.
Related services
- Accounting and tax for doctors — full overview
- Practice entity structuring for doctors
- Commercial property as a medical centre
- CGT on the sale of a medical practice
Frequently asked questions
I am 45 and have not focused on super — is it too late to catch up?
Not at all. Melbourne doctors in their 40s are typically in their peak earning years. Maximising concessional contributions, using carry-forward provisions for unused cap space from previous years, and structuring investment income efficiently from now forward still produces meaningful results. The carry-forward alone can add $50,000 to $150,000 in additional super contributions over five years for doctors with available cap space.
Can Melbourne doctors hold their practice premises in a self-managed super fund?
Yes, subject to the SMSF rules around business real property. An SMSF can purchase commercial property and lease it back to your practice at commercial rent. This is a common strategy for doctors who plan to own their practice building long-term. It requires careful structuring and compliance but works well in the right circumstances.
What is the current concessional superannuation contribution cap for doctors?
The concessional contribution cap for 2025-26 is $30,000 per year. For doctors who have not maximised their contributions in previous years, carry-forward provisions allow you to use unused cap space going back up to five years, provided your super balance is below $500,000.
Contact us on 1300 212 663 or at our Melbourne CBD office.