Why More Founders Need a Personal Wealth Strategy
Rebecca Klodinsky built two wildly successful brands from scratch. Now she’s urging fellow founders to take their personal wealth as seriously as their business growth.
3 min
When I launched my first business in my twenties, I thought success meant sales, scale, and building a brand with cut-through. And to some extent, it did.
But it took me a little longer to realise that real success — the kind that sustains you beyond your startup — also means financial independence. Not just revenue. Not just growth. But wealth.
We don’t talk about this enough. Founders are often so focused on cash flow, growth targets and reinvesting in the business that they neglect their own financial future.
And for women in particular, that can be a costly blind spot — especially in a climate like this.
Right now, the cost of living is at record highs. Inflation is steadily eroding savings. And Australian women are still retiring with, on average, 25% less superannuation than men. Financial literacy is no longer a nice-to-have — it’s a survival skill.
And founders, of all people, should be thinking about how they’re building wealth personally — not just professionally.
When I started my first business, I was a young solo mum navigating life without a blueprint — financially or otherwise. I didn’t grow up talking about money. I didn’t have a financial adviser on speed dial.
But I taught myself. I bought property. I built multiple income streams. I started investing. And I did it all while bootstrapping.
What I learned is this: you don’t need to be a finance expert to build wealth. But you do need to get intentional about it. Because if your personal finances aren’t growing with your business, you’re more exposed than you think.
Here are three things I’ve learned that I now believe every founder should factor into their strategy:
Wealth is the long game, and revenue isn’t enough
There’s a big difference between making money and building wealth. Your business might generate strong revenue, but if you’re not pulling money out, protecting it, and putting it to work, you’re still operating from a place of risk. I learned to treat my personal finances like a second business — with goals, structure, and long-term thinking. That shift was a turning point.
Diversification applies to life, not just portfolios
As founders, we know the risk of relying on a single product or market. The same logic applies to your personal income. One revenue stream — even a thriving one — is still one point of failure. I started looking for ways to build parallel income early: investing in markets, creating digital assets, and adding secondary product lines. That strategy gave me freedom, not just extra income.
Financial literacy makes you a better founder
The more confident I became with money — understanding debt, interest, returns, tax — the sharper my decision-making got. It wasn’t about becoming an expert.
It was about building fluency. Knowing my numbers gave me leverage — in negotiations, in team conversations, and in moments of pressure. It made me more resilient and more resourceful.
We often hear about “closing the gap” in funding, leadership, and opportunity. But there’s another gap we rarely acknowledge: the financial confidence gap.
And it starts with founders — especially women — being willing to prioritise their own wealth as part of their growth story.
You don’t need to have it all figured out. But you do need to start. Because the goal isn’t just to build a successful business — it’s to build a life that gives you freedom, security, and options long after the business has scaled.
Rebecca Klodinsky is the founder of IIXIIST and co-founder of The Prestwick Place, two multi-million dollar brands built without investors or retail stores. Known for her sharp digital strategy and sustainable, direct-to-consumer approach, she continues to rewrite the rules of modern luxury
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The Federal Budget may have softened some of its proposed tax reforms, but it has exposed a bigger issue: too many families are relying on wealth structures that no longer reflect the realities of modern life.
3 min
For many Australians, the 2026 Federal Budget initially felt like a direct challenge to the way wealth is created, held and transferred between generations.
The headlines were immediate: changes to capital gains tax, reforms to discretionary trusts, restrictions on negative gearing and increased scrutiny of investment structures. Unsurprisingly, affluent families, business owners and investors began asking the same question:
Is the way we hold our wealth still fit for purpose?
In recent days, the government has announced several significant amendments following industry consultation and public feedback, including exempting testamentary trusts from the proposed 30 per cent minimum tax and expanding capital gains tax concessions for small businesses.
The backdown is welcome. But it also highlights something much bigger.
This Budget has accelerated a conversation that many Australian families have been postponing for years.
The conversation is not really about tax. It is about wealth stewardship.
For decades, Australians have built wealth through businesses, property, investments and careful long-term planning. Yet many families have not revisited the legal structures surrounding those assets in years, sometimes decades.
We often see clients who have spent years building significant wealth, only to discover their legal arrangements no longer reflect their current circumstances.
Their children are now adults. They may own multiple properties.
They may have sold a business, entered a second marriage, become grandparents or accumulated digital assets that did not exist when their original estate plans were prepared.
The trust that distributes income may need to be reconsidered. The bucket company may no longer be so attractive.
The Budget has simply exposed a reality that already existed: wealth structures cannot remain static while life continues to evolve.
Importantly, trusts themselves are not the issue.
Trusts are legitimate planning tools that provide flexibility, protection and continuity. When used appropriately, they allow families to adapt to changing circumstances over time.
And neither is tax the issue, really. Getting the fundamentals right is more important for long-term, sustainable wealth than a few favourable tax treatments around the edges.
The real issue is complacency.
Too often, families create structures and assume the job is done. It isn’t.
Estate planning is no longer a document you sign once and file away in a drawer. It is an ongoing process that should evolve alongside your life.
We are also seeing a broader shift in how Australians define wealth itself. It is no longer just the family home and an investment portfolio.
Modern wealth includes businesses, digital assets, cryptocurrency, intellectual property, frequent flyer points and increasingly complex family arrangements.
At the same time, Australians are living longer than ever before, meaning wealth may need to support multiple generations simultaneously. This creates new responsibilities and new risks.
How do you help your children enter the property market without exposing family wealth to relationship breakdowns?
How do you structure wealth so that it remains a source of opportunity rather than future conflict?
These are the questions families should be asking now.
The recent debate surrounding testamentary trusts also serves as an important reminder that policy decisions can have unintended consequences for vulnerable Australians. It is encouraging that the government has listened to feedback and clarified its position.
But the lesson remains: the wealth landscape is changing.
Increasingly, governments, regulators and tax authorities are paying closer attention to how wealth is held and transferred. That means families cannot afford to adopt a “set-and-forget” approach to their structures.
The families who will be best placed for the future are not necessarily those with the greatest wealth.
They are the families with the greatest clarity. Clarity around ownership, succession and governance. And clarity around how wealth will transition from one generation to the next.
Ultimately, preserving wealth is not about avoiding change.
It is about preparing for it.
Because the greatest risk is not change itself.
It is losing the ability to respond to it.
Anthony Hunt is Co-Founder of Wealth Lawyers and former COO of Westpac Private Bank. He advises business owners, investors and affluent Australian families on wealth protection, succession planning and intergenerational wealth transfer
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