Three months into a new financial year might not feel like a major milestone.
June 30 is still a long way away. Tax time has only recently passed. And for many Australians, the focus has already shifted back to work, family, business and everyday life.
But September is actually one of the best times to ask a simple question:
Is your financial plan for 2026–27 still on track?
At Nationwide Financial, we often see people become highly focused on their finances around the end of the financial year. They review tax, super contributions, business expenses and investment decisions, often with only weeks left to act.
There is a better approach.
Good financial year planning for 2026–27 shouldn’t start in May or June. By reviewing your position now, you have most of the financial year ahead of you to make informed adjustments.
Here are some of the areas worth looking at.
1. Start with what has changed since July
A financial plan isn’t something you create once and then forget about.
Life changes. Businesses change. Markets change. And sometimes our priorities change too.
Think back to the beginning of July.
Perhaps you started the financial year planning to save more, reduce debt or increase your super contributions.
Maybe your business expected stronger revenue.
Perhaps you were considering an investment property, refinancing your home, purchasing equipment or preparing for retirement.
Three months later, ask yourself:
Are those goals still realistic and are you actually making progress towards them?
You don’t necessarily need to change your strategy because you’ve had a difficult month or an unexpected expense. But if your financial position has materially changed, your plan may need to change with it.
September gives you time to identify those issues early.
2. Don’t wait until tax time to think about tax
This is particularly important for business owners and investors.
Tax planning shouldn’t simply be about finding deductions in June.
Good tax planning is about understanding your likely position early enough to make informed decisions throughout the financial year.
For example, business owners should have a reasonably clear picture of revenue, expenses, profitability and cash flow.
If you’re paying PAYG instalments, it’s also important to understand whether they continue to reflect your circumstances. PAYG instalments effectively prepay tax on business and investment income during the year rather than leaving the entire amount until your tax return is lodged.
There are also changes relevant to the 2026–27 year. For example, the GDP adjustment factor used in calculating certain quarterly GST and PAYG instalment amounts is 5% for 2026–27, up from 4% in the previous year.
The important point isn’t simply knowing the number.
It’s understanding what your upcoming obligations could mean for your cash flow.
At Nationwide Financial, we would much rather have these conversations with clients now than discover an unexpected problem nine months from now.
3. Take an honest look at your cash flow
Whether you’re running a business or managing a household, cash flow remains one of the foundations of financial wellbeing.
You can earn a good income and still feel financially stretched.
Likewise, a business can be profitable on paper but struggle when payments and expenses don’t line up.
Look at what’s happened over the first few months of the financial year.
Are your expenses higher than expected?
Have insurance premiums, loan repayments or other commitments increased?
For business owners, are customers paying on time? Are margins where you expected them to be? Do you have sufficient cash available for tax and other upcoming obligations?
And importantly:
Do you actually know where your money is going?
You don’t need to analyse every coffee you’ve purchased since July.
What matters is understanding the bigger picture and identifying areas where your actual results are moving away from your plan.
4. Review your super before June arrives
Superannuation is another area where Australians often leave decisions until late in the financial year.
September provides considerably more breathing room.
The Superannuation Guarantee rate is now 12%, and the general concessional contributions cap is currently $30,000, although individual circumstances and contribution rules need to be considered carefully.
Rather than simply asking, “How much can I put into super?”, I think there are more useful questions:
- Am I on track for the retirement I want?
- Is my super invested appropriately for my circumstances?
- Could additional contributions form part of my broader strategy?
- Do I have multiple super accounts that need reviewing?
And for business owners:
- How does my super fit alongside the value of my business, investments, property and eventual exit strategy?
Super is not just something to think about when you’re approaching retirement.
For many Australians, it will become one of their largest financial assets. It deserves to be part of the conversation much earlier.
5. Ask whether your debt is still structured appropriately
Debt isn’t automatically good or bad.
What matters is what the debt is for, what it costs you and how it fits into your overall financial position.
If you have a mortgage, investment loan, business lending, vehicle finance or multiple debts, September is a useful time to review them.
Ask yourself:
Is the interest rate still competitive?
Could the loan structure be improved?
Are repayments putting unnecessary pressure on cash flow?
Does your debt strategy still align with your financial goals?
Has your income, property value or financial position changed since the loan was established?
This doesn’t mean refinancing is automatically the right answer.
There can be costs, lending criteria, tax implications and longer-term considerations involved. But reviewing your lending can tell you whether your current arrangements still make sense.
Through Alora Finance, Nationwide Financial’s in-house lending division, our team can assist with Home Loans, Investment Loans, Refinancing, SMSF Lending, and Motor Vehicle & Equipment Finance.
The important thing is that lending isn’t considered in isolation from the rest of your financial position.
6. Check your insurance before you need it
Insurance tends to be one of those things we don’t think about until something happens.
That’s precisely why it should be reviewed before something happens.
Consider whether your circumstances have changed over the past year.
Maybe you’ve taken on a larger mortgage.
Had a child.
Started or expanded a business.
Changed jobs.
Increased your income.
Purchased an investment property.
Or accumulated more assets.
Changes like these can affect the level and type of cover you may need.
For business owners in particular, there’s another question worth considering:
What happens to the business if you, your business partner or another key person can’t work?
Insurance should form part of your broader risk-management strategy rather than simply being another annual bill.
7. Business owners: look beyond the numbers in your bank account
For business owners, financial year planning 2026–27 should go further than checking whether there is money in the business account.
By September, you already have useful information from the first part of the financial year.
Use it.
Compare actual revenue against your forecast.
Review gross margins and expenses.
Look at outstanding debtors.
Understand upcoming tax and super obligations.
Consider whether planned equipment purchases, borrowing or investment still make sense.
And perhaps most importantly, ask:
Is the business helping me achieve my personal financial goals?
This question gets overlooked surprisingly often.
A successful business should ultimately support the life and financial future of its owners. That’s why we believe business accounting and personal financial planning shouldn’t always be treated as two completely separate conversations.
8. Revisit the goals you set at the beginning of the year
This may be the simplest part of the review, but it’s one of the most valuable.
What did you want to achieve this financial year?
Perhaps it was:
- paying down your home loan;
- building an emergency fund;
- improving business profitability;
- investing outside the family home;
- growing your super;
- buying a property;
- restructuring debt;
- protecting your family;
- preparing your business for succession; or
- moving closer to retirement.
Now ask:
What have I actually done since July to move towards that goal?
If the answer is “not much”, that’s useful information.
You still have plenty of time to change course.
Financial planning works better when the pieces work together
After more than 35 years working with Australian individuals, families and businesses, one thing we’ve consistently seen at Nationwide Financial is that financial decisions rarely exist in isolation.
Your tax position can affect your cash flow.
Cash flow can influence how you manage debt.
Your lending can affect your ability to invest.
Your business structure can have tax and asset-protection implications.
Your super strategy affects retirement planning.
And your insurance helps protect what you’ve worked to build.
That’s why Nationwide Financial has developed an integrated approach across Accounting & Taxation, Financial Planning, Insurance, Superannuation, Lending and Property Structuring.
Rather than having different professionals looking at individual pieces of the puzzle without understanding the rest, our goal is to help clients see the bigger picture.
Sometimes the most valuable outcome isn’t discovering a new investment or financial product.
It’s identifying that two or three parts of your financial life aren’t working together as effectively as they could.
Don’t wait until June to find out you’re off track
There’s a reason I like reviewing financial plans at this time of year.
There is still time.
If cash flow isn’t where it should be, there is time to address it.
If your tax position needs attention, there is time to plan.
If your super strategy needs reviewing, you don’t have to make rushed decisions in June.
If your lending is putting pressure on your finances, you can investigate your options.
And if your goals have changed, your financial strategy can change with them.
The end of the financial year is when many people look backwards and ask, “What happened?”
September gives you an opportunity to look forward and ask:
“What do I want the rest of this financial year to look like?”
That’s a much more useful question.
Is your 2026–27 financial plan still on track?
If you’re not sure, this is a good time to find out.
At Nationwide Financial, we’ve spent more than 35 years helping Australians make sense of their finances and make informed decisions about what comes next.
Whether you’re a business owner, investor, family or approaching retirement, our team can look at your financial position as a whole, from Accounting & Taxation and Financial Planning through to Superannuation, Insurance, Lending and Property Structuring.
Book a financial health check with us at Nationwide Financial and let’s see whether your 2026–27 plan is heading in the right direction.
Sometimes a conversation now can give you considerably more options than waiting until June.
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This article contains general information only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It should not be considered financial, taxation, superannuation, legal, insurance or lending advice. Tax and superannuation rules can change and eligibility depends on individual circumstances. Please speak with an appropriately qualified Nationwide Financial professional before acting on this information.
