It’s a question many Australians ask, especially as retirement starts to feel closer or when the share market becomes unpredictable.
With superannuation being one of the most tax-effective ways to save for retirement, it’s easy to see why this question comes up so often. But before you make any big moves, it’s important to understand what’s really involved, from capital gains tax to super contribution limits and the impact on your overall investment strategy.
The right answer isn’t the same for everyone. It depends on your goals, tax position, and stage of life. In this blog, we’ll explore the key factors to consider so you can decide whether selling your shares and moving the money into super is the right move for you.
1. Think About Your Investment Strategy, Your Goals and Risk Profile
The first step is to get clarity on what you want your money to achieve, whether it’s growing wealth for retirement, generating income, or keeping access to funds for flexibility. Once your goals and risk tolerance are clear, you can consider how moving money from shares into super fits your strategy.
Moving money into super doesn’t mean leaving the market, you can still invest in shares, ETFs, managed funds, and other growth assets. The key is balancing your goals versus strategy:
- Super offers structure and tax efficiency, but funds are locked away until preservation age and investment choices can be limited depends on the super fund type.
- If you prefer hands-on investing and flexibility, keeping some shares outside super may make sense.
The best decision is the one that matches your personal risk tolerance, objectives, and retirement goals.
See also: A Homeowner’s Guide to Selling a House Quickly in Hawaii
2. Consider concentration risk OR single company risk
Quite often, owning direct shares can quickly result in a single share or basket of better performing shares, growing disproportionately large in value, relative to the other shares you own. This can be a good reason to consider trimming or selling a share you own, to help manage your risk.
Concentration risk arises when an investor’s portfolio is heavily weighted toward a single asset or sector, increasing vulnerability to adverse events. Single company risk is a form of concentration risk where investment is focused on one firm, exposing the investor to its specific financial, operational, or market challenges.
This means your portfolio could be disproportionally exposed to risk, that either the sector or company you have an overweight position too, could dramatically underperform their respective asset class or worse – Fail altogether!
When considering the decision of whether you sell shares, to put it in super, you should assess your concentration risk and single company risk, to help inform your risk management decision framework.
3. Understand the Tax Implications
The next key consideration is tax, and it can have a significant impact if you don’t plan carefully. When you sell shares, you may trigger capital gains tax (CGT), depending on how much your investments have grown in value. If you’ve held your shares for more than 12 months, you might be eligible for a 50% CGT discount, but you’ll still need to factor in how that gain affects your overall taxable income.
Say for example you sell a share worth $100,000, that has been held for longer than 12 months and that has grown from your purchase price of $70,000. The capital gain is $30,000. However, with the 50% CGT discount applied, the assessable gain reduces to $15,000 and is added to your assessable income for that year, which will determine the tax you pay.
Sometimes paying CGT now can make sense if you’re moving funds into a more tax-efficient environment like super, but it’s worth calculating the numbers with professional advice before selling.
4. Check Super Contribution Limits
Superannuation offers some of the best tax advantages available in Australia, but there are also strict limits on how much you can contribute each year. Going over these caps can trigger extra tax, so it’s worth understanding the rules before you move any funds.
As of 2025, the contribution limits are:
- Concessional contributions (before-tax): up to $30,000 per year, taxed at 15% in your super fund and can be an effective way to manage tax implications of a share sale or transfer into superannuation.
- Concessional catch-up contributions (before-tax): allows eligible individuals to make extra pre-tax superannuation contributions by using unused portions of their annual cap from previous financial years, helping boost retirement savings and can be an effective way to manage tax implications of a share sale or transfer into superannuation.
- Non-concessional contributions (after-tax): up to $120,000 per year, or up to $360,000 using the three-year bring-forward rule
It’s also important to note that if your transfer balance cap is already reached, set at $2 million for the 2025–26 financial year, your non-concessional contribution cap becomes zero. This means you won’t be able to add extra after-tax money into super without facing penalties.
Because these rules can get complex, especially when combining different contribution types or using multiple accounts, it’s best to plan the timing and amount of your contributions carefully.
5. Consider Your Age and Retirement Timeline
Your stage of life plays an important role in deciding whether to sell shares and move the money into super.
If you’re nearing retirement, consolidating your investments into super can provide a number of benefits. It can help with tax-efficient income planning, reduce the risk of managing multiple accounts, and make it easier to structure your retirement income in a way that maximises your savings while staying within contribution and transfer balance caps.
On the other hand, if you’re still in the wealth-building phase, keeping some of your investments outside super may offer more flexibility and access to your money. Superannuation funds are generally locked away until you reach preservation age, so while moving funds into super can grow your retirement savings efficiently, it also limits your liquidity and may restrict your ability to respond to unexpected expenses or investment opportunities.
So, before you sell your shares and shift the money into super, think about when you want to retire, life expectancy and what kind of income you’ll need to live comfortably.
6. Get Personalised Financial Advice
There’s no universal answer to whether you should sell your shares and put the money into super. Your goals, risk tolerance, tax position, and super balance all play a part in finding the right approach.
Before making any big financial decisions, it’s worth speaking with experienced financial advisors in Melbourne who can model different scenarios, explain the tax implications, and help you decide what strategy best aligns with your long-term plans.
