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Discretionary trust minimum tax changes

On 28 May I joined Kat Feeney on ABC Brisbane alongside Neal Dallas, a lawyer with Business Depot, to talk about something that has been coming up in a number of conversations I am having with clients at the moment. The Federal Government has announced its intention to introduce a 30 per cent minimum tax on discretionary trusts from 1 July 2028. It was part of the 2026–27 Budget, and I want to be clear: as I write this, it is not yet law. But if you have a discretionar...

When the ground shifts beneath your financial life

Every so often, something happens in the wider world that causes people to pause and look inward. Not at the headlines themselves, but at their own situation. The 2026 Federal Budget has been one of those moments.In the past few weeks, I have sat with clients and families carrying a quiet unease. Not panic. More a dawning awareness. The structures they had put in place, trusts, investment portfolios, future plans, suddenly felt less settled than they had before.  I kept hearing the sam...

The story beneath the numbers

We are taught to think of money as maths. Add one dollar to another and you have two. Subtract one and you have one. Simple. Clean. Rational. But the longer I sit with people and listen, the more I see that money behaves nothing like logic. Money behaves like a story. It carries memory. It carries identity. It carries longing, fear, hope, and history. And the meaning it holds for each person is shaped by their past, their relationships, their culture, and the chapter of life ...

Why family and money are inseparable

There is an old saying in Italian families; “you never come between an Italian and their money, nor an Italian and their children”. I grew up hearing this. And the older I get, the more I understand why those two things, money and family, are spoken of in the same breath. They are not separate. They never really were. In my Nonna's kitchen, I watched this play out quietly and consistently over many years. Women would arrive at her table carrying financial problems that we...

To the mothers, and the women who hold families together

Mother's Day always makes me think about the quiet strength that runs through families. The women who carry so much, often without being asked, and rarely without grace. Whether you are celebrating today, being celebrated, or simply holding someone in your heart, I hope the day brings you a moment of warmth and stillness. From my family to yours, happy Mother's Day. Helen ...

A long weekend, and a moment to pause

Some of my favourite conversations happen when life slows down a little. Over a cup of tea, without the usual rush of the week. The Labour Day long weekend is one of those welcome pauses. Helen Russo Advisory will be closed from Saturday 2 May through to Monday 4 May, returning on Tuesday 5 May.If something is on your mind over the break, a family conversation you have been turning over, or simply a sense that it might be time to talk, you are welcome to leave a message via the contact form...

Why my services evolved beyond traditional financial planning

Over the years, my work has gradually evolved beyond what many people think of as traditional financial planning. When most people hear the words ‘financial planner’, they often imagine someone helping them choose investments or organise their superannuation. Those things are certainly part of the work, but I have come to see them as the final step in a much larger conversation. The real work usually begins much earlier. In my experience, financial planning...

Confidentiality as a personal responsibility

One of the things I understand deeply about living and working in regional communities is that privacy matters.In smaller towns, people know each other. Families have history together. Businesses are connected. News can travel quickly, often without anyone intending it to.Because of this, many people feel cautious about who they speak to when it comes to personal things, especially financial matters.Over the years, I have had many people tell me they delayed seeking advice simply because they we...

A moment to pause this Easter

Easter is often a time to slow down and spend time with the people who matter most.For many families across regional Queensland, it offers a small pause in the year. A chance to gather, reflect, and enjoy a little time together before the busy seasons continue.I will also be taking a short pause over the Easter period to spend time with my own family.The office will be closed from Good Friday, reopening again on Tuesday 7 April 2026.Our team wishes you and your family a safe and restful Easter....

The experience that led me into an advisory career

People sometimes ask how I came to work in financial advice.Like many things in life, it was not a straight path. It really began years ago when I was living in Far North Queensland and working in a bank. People would come into the branch and ask what they should do with their money. At the time my role was quite limited. I could help with term deposits or superannuation, but beyond that there was very little guidance I was able to offer.Still, those conversations stayed with me. I found myself ...

Farming families: more than agribusiness

Much of my work is with multi-generational farming families, where decisions are rarely just about money.On the surface, the conversation might be about succession, inheritance, or restructuring. But in farming families, the land is never just an asset. It’s livelihood, history, identity, and responsibility - often carried across three generations, sometimes more. The seasons leave their mark not just on the paddocks, but on the people too. Good years and hard years shape the way families thin...

Servicing regional Queensland

My office is often a long stretch of highway.My work takes me from the cane fields of Far North Queensland, through Central Queensland cattle country, out to cotton growers and sheep farmers, and into family businesses spread from Ipswich right across to the borders of New South Wales and the Northern Territory. If you do this work properly in regional Queensland, you learn pretty quickly that distance is just part of the job, and so is respect for the land and the people who work it.Every regio...

A new chapter

There are moments in life when change arrives quietly, and others when it lands with real weight. Over the years, I’ve learned that when people come to see me, it’s often because life has shifted, and suddenly money carries more meaning than numbers alone.This next chapter of my work is a natural evolution of what I’ve been doing for more than 28 years: walking alongside rural and regional families and women, as they navigate major life transitions: succession, divorce, retirement, widowho...