Financial Adviser Serving Greensborough
We provide retirement-focused financial advice for Greensborough households, covering superannuation, retirement planning, investments, cash flow and personal insurance.
Our office is at The Watermans in Bundoora, serving Greensborough and the surrounding Diamond Valley. We can meet you at home, by secure video, or at our Bundoora office. Your first consultation is free.
- Retirement-focused advice
- Home, secure video or office appointments
- First consultation free
- No obligation
How we help Greensborough clients
Retirement planning is different from the financial decisions you make while you are working.
For Greensborough households approaching retirement, we bring your superannuation, investments, spending, insurance and potential Age Pension entitlement into a single plan — and show you what it actually supports.
- Retirement-focused adviceWe specialise in helping people in their fifties and sixties move from building wealth to living on it.
- Based in Bundoora, serving GreensboroughOur office is at The Watermans in Bundoora, about ten minutes west along Grimshaw Street. We work with clients in Greensborough and across the wider Diamond Valley.
- Clear, evidence-based adviceWe explain the reasoning behind our recommendations, model different scenarios and show you the numbers before you make major decisions.
What changes when you retire
Three things reverse at retirement. None are obvious while you are still earning.
Almost all the financial advice you meet across a working life is about building up: contribute regularly, stay invested, ignore the noise. It is sound advice, and it stops being enough the day you start drawing money out.
Markets falling early on
While you are contributing, a fall can even help — you buy in at lower prices.
Once you are withdrawing, money taken out during a downturn never participates in the recovery.
The tax position changes
Through your working life the concessions are on the way in.
In retirement the focus shifts toward how income is generated and how withdrawals are structured.
Your assets get counted
Everything you hold becomes relevant to what the government will and will not pay you.
The family home is generally exempt, though homeowners and non-homeowners face different thresholds.
Most of what you own is the house
Greensborough was built out decades before the estates further north. For households who bought here back then, the mortgage is often finished, the children have moved out, and the house is bigger than the number of people in it.
At the 2021 Census, almost four in ten Greensborough homes were owned outright, against roughly three in ten across Victoria. More than eight in ten had three bedrooms or more.
A paid-off home is a good position and an awkward one. It is worth a great deal and it pays you nothing.
Should you downsize?
A question comes up at this stage that did not come up earlier. Does the move suit you, and does it leave you better off? Those two do not always agree.
Four things decide the money side: what the sale leaves after costs, where that money sits, what it does to your Age Pension, and whether any can go into super. From age 55 there is a contribution built for this — but it has an ownership test, a 90-day deadline, and effects on your pension. Rules are on the ATO site.
We model the before and after, so you decide on numbers rather than a feeling. Selling a long-held family home is hard to undo.
Housing data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
What Greensborough households worry about
These come up again and again at this stage. None of them require you to have anything sorted out beforehand.
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The house is paid off, but it's four bedrooms and there are two of us.
Downsizing is a financial decision and a personal one, and the two do not always point the same way. We model what the move would actually leave you with before anyone calls an agent.
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I have super in three or four places and no idea which is any good.
We check the fees, performance, holdings and insurance in each one, and only combine them where it genuinely helps. Find every account in your name through myGov.
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I want to stop at sixty-two but I don't know if we can afford it.
We answer that with a number, not a reassurance — modelled against a poor first few years, not just an average one.
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Most of what we have is the house. Where does that leave the Age Pension?
Better calculated than assumed. We work it out from your actual position, early, because it usually shapes everything else.
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Our super is in whatever the fund put us in. I've never chosen anything.
A default option is built for an average member, not for you. We reset it against when you actually need the money.
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I don’t know who to trust. Everyone seems to be selling something.
Fair. What you can check: our licence on the ASIC register, a fee in writing before any work begins, and no product recommended in a first meeting.
What we do
What we advise on
We provide retirement-focused financial advice for people in their fifties and sixties across Melbourne, covering superannuation, investments, cash flow and personal insurance.
The practice is built around one transition — the shift from building wealth to living on it. That is a different problem from the one you have been solving for thirty years, and it is the only problem we work on.
Superannuation & retirement planning
What you hold, what it costs, and whether it supports the retirement you have in mind
Investment Advice
Portfolios built from your withdrawal timetable rather than a risk questionnaire
Life Insurance Advice
What still needs protecting now, and whether cover belongs inside super or outside it
Cash flow & budgeting
What you actually spend, which is what every retirement projection rests on
Hear From Our Clients
"My husband and I have been with Plan My Wealth since our retirement and have found all those we have had dealings with to be professional and friendly. They make us feel welcome and take the time to explain what we see as complex processes to make it easy to understand and follow. Great team."
"Highly recommend Manny, he was very knowledgeable and took time to explain everything so I could understand, he made me feel like a valued client rather than just a number."
"Working with Manny has been an excellent experience. He's professional, friendly, and takes the time to make complex financial matters easy to understand. His guidance has given me real confidence in managing my finances. I highly recommend him to anyone looking to take control of their financial future."
Financial advice for Greensborough
If you are approaching retirement and are unsure whether your current arrangements will provide the retirement you want, the first step is understanding where you stand. No cost. No obligation. Just an honest conversation about your position and whether advice could be useful.
Greensborough is about ten minutes from our Bundoora office.
Areas we serve near Greensborough
Greensborough sits at the centre of the Diamond Valley. We work across it, and west toward the Bundoora office.
You do not have to travel to us
Wherever you are in the Diamond Valley, we can meet three ways.
At your home
We can come to you. For many people approaching retirement it is the simplest option, particularly when the paperwork is already there.
By secure video
Everything runs through cloud-based systems, so a video meeting covers the same planning and modelling as an in-person one.
At the Bundoora office
The Watermans, Level 2, 1/3 Janefield Drive, with parking on site. There if you want it, never required.
Not seeing your suburb? See every area we serve.
Questions answered
Frequently
Asked Questions
Questions Greensborough households ask most often, and a few about how we work. If yours is not here, ask us — the answer usually takes a minute.
Are you actually based in Greensborough?
No. Our office is at The Watermans, Level 2, 1/3 Janefield Drive, Bundoora — about ten minutes west along Grimshaw Street. We work with Greensborough households regularly, and we can meet at your home, by secure video, or at the office.
We would rather say that plainly than imply otherwise.
Do I have to travel to your Bundoora office?
No. We can meet at your home in Greensborough, by secure video, or at the office — whichever suits you. Most Greensborough clients start with a home visit or a video call.
We bought in Greensborough years ago and the mortgage is finished. Is there anything left to plan?
Usually more than people expect. Finishing the mortgage answers one question and opens several others — how much you can afford to spend, when you can stop, how your super should be invested now, and what the Age Pension might add. The earlier you understand your position, the more options you generally have.
The kids have moved out and the house feels too big. Should we downsize?
That is two questions wearing one coat — whether the move suits you, and whether it improves your financial position. They do not always agree. Financially, the things to weigh are what the sale would net after costs, where the proceeds would sit, what that does to your Age Pension assessment, and whether any of it can go into super. We model the before and after so the decision rests on numbers rather than instinct. Selling a long-held family home is rarely reversible, so it is worth doing that work early.
Does our Greensborough home count toward the Age Pension?
Your principal residence is generally exempt from the assets test regardless of its value. It can still affect the overall outcome, because homeowners and non-homeowners are assessed against different thresholds.
Where the home represents most of a household’s wealth, the broader retirement position can look quite different from holding the same value in financial assets. Current thresholds are published by Services Australia.
Do you work with people in Montmorency, Lower Plenty, Eltham and Watsonia?
Yes, along with Watsonia North, Macleod, Yallambie and Viewbank. Greensborough is simply the centre of that stretch.
We also advise clients across Melbourne and Australia-wide by secure video.
What happens after I get in touch?
We will get back to you within one business day to arrange a time. The first meeting runs about an hour and can take place at your home, at the office, or by video.
If advice would be useful, we send you a written scope and a fixed fee afterwards. Nothing to sign on the day.
What does financial advice cost?
The first meeting is free and carries no obligation. If advice would be useful, we send you a written scope of work and a fixed fee afterwards, and you decide whether to proceed.
Fees are set by the complexity of the work rather than the size of your balance. Our fee arrangements are set out in our Financial Services Guide.
I have several old super accounts. Should I combine them?
Not automatically. Combining accounts can remove duplicate fees and simplify your finances, but closing an account can also cancel insurance held inside it.
We assess each fund first and check the insurance before recommending whether anything should move. You can see every account in your name through myGov.
When can I access my superannuation?
Access depends on your preservation age and whether a condition of release has been met. For many people reaching preservation age, retirement is one of the relevant conditions.
Age Pension age is separate and is currently 67.
How do I confirm an adviser is properly licensed?
Search the ASIC Financial Advisers Register by name or authorised representative number. It shows qualifications, licensee and advice history, and it is free to use.
Manny Tran’s authorised representative number is 423115.