For high-earning professionals, financial success often arrives faster than clarity. Income grows. Opportunities multiply. Decisions feel urgent. Yet as 2026 approaches, many individuals earning well into six or seven figures remain more financially fragile than they realize. The reason is not a lack of intelligence or effort. It is a misunderstanding of what long-term financial planning actually requires at the highest income levels.

The coming year brings a convergence of forces reshaping how wealth is built, preserved, and lost. Market volatility remains a given rather than an exception. Tax rules continue to evolve. Income streams are increasingly complex, global, and unpredictable. At the same time, lifestyle expectations rise quickly once money starts flowing. In this environment, traditional planning assumptions break down.

The professionals who navigate this period successfully are not necessarily those who earn the most. They are the ones who approach financial planning as a discipline rather than a reaction. They build systems that anticipate change, enforce restraint, and protect optionality. Much of this thinking reflects lessons drawn from decades of advising high earners across entertainment, sports, entrepreneurship, and professional services. Insights from Eric Fulton, Accountant and Business Manager illustrate how these principles work in practice.

High income is not the same as financial security

One of the most persistent myths among high earners is that income itself creates safety. In reality, higher income often introduces greater risk. Compensation becomes tied to volatile markets, project based work, equity events, or public visibility. Expenses scale up quickly. Commitments become harder to unwind.

Many professionals discover too late that their financial lives are built on assumptions that only hold during peak earning years. A few strong years create the illusion of permanence. Long-term planning, by contrast, begins with the recognition that income may fluctuate dramatically or disappear altogether.

The most resilient plans are designed around sustainability rather than optimization. Instead of asking how much can be spent this year, effective planners ask how today’s decisions perform across multiple economic cycles. That shift in framing changes everything from investment strategy to lifestyle design.

Cash flow discipline matters more than net worth

By 2026, cash flow management has become the core skill separating durable wealth from temporary success. High earners often focus on assets, valuations, and headline numbers while overlooking liquidity. This is a costly mistake.

Irregular income requires excess liquidity. Tax obligations arrive on fixed schedules regardless of earnings volatility. Opportunities often require capital at precisely the wrong moment. Without disciplined cash flow controls, even wealthy individuals are forced into reactive decisions.

Professionals who sustain wealth treat cash flow as a system. They separate operating money from long-term capital. They smooth income across years rather than months. They resist the urge to match spending to peak earnings. This approach creates breathing room during downturns and leverage during periods of opportunity.

Lifestyle inflation is the quietest threat

Few financial risks are as dangerous as gradual lifestyle expansion. It rarely feels reckless in the moment. Each decision seems reasonable. A better home. More travel. Additional staff. Over time, however, fixed costs harden around income levels that may not persist.

One of the most consistent pieces of guidance given by Eric Fulton, Business Manager to clients entering high-earning phases is simple: do not lock in a lifestyle until income has proven itself across time. Early success may be real, but it is often untested. Building flexibility first creates freedom later.

Professionals who delay lifestyle commitments gain optionality. They can take career risks, step back during burnout, or weather industry shifts without panic. Those who scale too quickly find themselves trapped by obligations they assumed would always be affordable.

Tax strategy must be proactive, not reactive

Tax planning in 2026 is no longer an annual exercise. For high earners, it is an ongoing strategic process that intersects with investment decisions, entity structures, geographic considerations, and timing of income recognition.

Reactive tax planning often results in missed opportunities and unnecessary exposure. Effective strategies require forecasting income well in advance and coordinating decisions across multiple domains. This is particularly true for professionals with income from multiple sources, international exposure, or digital platforms.

Experienced advisors emphasize that tax efficiency should never override sound economics. Aggressive strategies that look attractive on paper can introduce compliance risk, liquidity constraints, or reputational exposure. The goal is alignment, not avoidance.

Preparation beats prediction in volatile markets

Market volatility remains a defining feature of the current environment. Attempting to predict cycles has proven less effective than building plans that can withstand them. The professionals who emerge strongest from downturns are usually those who resisted excess during boom periods.

This means maintaining adequate liquidity even when returns are strong. It means diversifying in ways that reflect actual risk rather than theoretical models. It means avoiding over leverage when capital feels abundant.

According to Eric Fulton, Accountant, panic is optional when a plan is built correctly. Preparation creates emotional stability. Emotional stability prevents destructive decisions. Over decades, that discipline compounds more reliably than any single investment strategy.

Reputation risk is financial risk

For high-visibility professionals, your reputation and finances are inextricably linked. Many times, the way you become financially exposed to litigation, poorly structured contracts, or misaligned partnerships occurs before such items are made public. Therefore, when you make long-term decisions, you need to include the risk of those exposures.

In addition, it is necessary to slow down your decision-making process at times when emotions are running high. You should stress-test opportunities against your downside risk and make sure that all advisors are working on a basis of discretion and confidentiality. The foundation for developing a trusting relationship is built through consistent protection rather than through publicity.

In 2026, with the increase in public scrutiny being so high and when there is a misstep with a public figure, your financial repercussions will be much greater than they were previously. Financial plans that do not include the impact of reputation on a financial plan are not complete.

Consistency outweighs brilliance

The experts that maintain their wealth for many years have several things in common. They usually spend less than they earn—even when they afford to live more lavishly—and are careful when deciding whether or not to invest money. They often feel comfortable saying no.

Typically, long-term wealth is not achieved through remarkable insight. Instead, it is typically the result of applying common sense and good habits consistently over an extended period of time. In contrast to the prevailing mindset of most high-income earners (which emphasizes quick results), this way of thinking is among the greatest indicators of sustainable success.

Planning for life, not just money

To create the ultimate financial plan you need to have an eye on how you can help yourself achieve long-term financial goals by considering more than just how much you want to accumulate in your life; you must consider all the factors that will affect your financial well-being (career sustainability, personal values, family priorities, transition to your future). Creating a financial plan is about creating a tool that allows you to manage your money rather than just a way to keep score on how much money you have. Many advisors are beginning to recognize the need for their clients to think differently about their financial futures.

Success should not be measured by one’s wealth, but by how much freedom, stability and peace of mind one has. Financial success is a result of the methodical way in which you build wealth for yourself.

The biggest lesson I have learned in almost 20 years of helping high-income earners achieve their financial goals is that the way in which I help them make decisions is more important than how much money they earn. In a world that is constantly changing and becoming increasingly complex, the only true asset you can have is self-discipline.

Jesper Hatletveit
Vice President of Investor Relations

Good morning, and welcome to the Fourth Quarter 2025 presentation for the Norwegian Group. My name is Jesper Hatletveit and I’m the VP of Investor Relations here at Norwegian. Today’s presentation will be held by our CEO, Geir Karlsen; and our CFO, Hans-Joergen Wibstad. The presentation will be followed by Q&A from the audience and the web. Please go ahead, Geir.

Geir Karlsen
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Jesper. Good morning. Good morning to all of you following this also online. It is a beautiful morning in Oslo. It’s the winter holiday coming up. I heard on the news on the way in here that 80,000 people is leaving Oslo today. And I know that quite a few of them are flying with Norwegian. So, it’s a good day.

Going to the highlights for the quarter and also a little bit on the full year of 2025. EBIT of NOK 21 million. That is an improvement from last year. We have seen passenger growth in both airlines in the quarter. And we are continuing to do well on what we call operational excellence, where we are seeing an improved regularity and punctuality for both airlines compared to the same quarter last year.

On unit costs, as many of you know and remember, we have been guiding a flat CASK for 2025 as a whole, and that’s also where we ended up. That means that the Q4 CASK is slightly up, but for the year, we are sticking to what

SportWest chief executive Troy Kirkham says those within the sport and recreation industry in WA are doing all they can to retain quality staff and maximise facility rationalisation. 

With cost-of-living pressures and FIFO employment rising, Mr Kirkham told Business News talent retention was imperative in order for it to remain competitive.

“We are really trying to make sure that we are retaining key individuals, administrators and volunteers, within the sector,” he said. 

“That’s always a big challenge. Particularly in WA when you’re in a mining state, where some of the salaries you can get for FIFO (work).

“It’s one of those things we really need to be mindful of as an industry that we’re still retaining the people that we need to retain within the sector.”

However, a document due to be released soon could aid this process.

“We’ve got a remuneration and benefits report that we do every couple of years,” Mr Kirkham said. 

“We’re just in the final stages of finalising that now with CCIWA, so that’ll be a good one for the industry as well about where the benchmarking is around salaries and benefits for the industry.”

During last year’s SportWest annual WA Sport Industry Conference, the ability for AI to play a greater role in assisting with tasks and potentially reducing both volunteer burnout and workload was discussed in great detail.

Mr Kirkham said it was a hot topic throughout the sector. 

“It’s definitely one that I know a lot of the sports are asking us a lot of questions about as well,” he said.

“They’re looking to get educated and make sure that they stay at the forefront of AI advancements.

“So that’s definitely something that I know the industry is keen to explore and we’ll continue to support them on that.”  

The importance of facility rationalisation has increased over the past decade, due to not only to a rise in population, but also greater focus in providing quality facilities for both male and female players at junior and senior level.

“Some of the big challenges which sit there are still infrastructure,” Mr Kirkham said.

“Making sure we have the right infrastructure in place or rationalising the infrastructure and using it in the right way – not falling into models of delivery that are almost within the past.”

Later this month, SportWest will also host the 2025 WA Sport Awards at Crown Perth, with the event having been held for almost seven decades.

“It’s the preeminent sport awards within WA – and the fact that it recognises everyone from grassroots club level right through to our international and Olympian performers week-in, week-out… it’s one of those awards where you almost pinch yourself because you’re involved with it,” Mr Kirkham said.

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The net profit of Rs 301.73 crore in October-December — the third quarter of the current 2025-26 financial year — compared to Rs 88.1 crore earnings in the same period of the previous fiscal, the company said in a statement.

In an investor presentation, EIL said while pre-tax earnings from consultancy business were largely unchanged at Rs 104.3 crore, those from executing turnkey contracts saw a surge to Rs 273.68 crore in Q3 from Rs 18.92 crore a year back.

Turnover rose to 59 per cent to Rs 1,194 crore as revenue from the turnkey business doubled.

For the nine months ended December 31, 2025, net profit more than doubled to Rs 487 crore, while revenue from operations increased 45 per cent to Rs 2,951 crore.

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The company’s order book stood at Rs 12,538 crore at the end of the third quarter, comprising 60 per cent consultancy and 40 per cent turnkey projects, EIL said.
With new mega assignments secured subsequently, the order book has expanded to around Rs 15,670 crore — an all-time high — providing strong revenue visibility going forward.EIL is a leading public sector engineering consultancy and EPC company that provides design, engineering, procurement, construction and project management services across sectors, including oil and gas, petrochemicals, refineries, pipelines, infrastructure, fertilizers, water and waste management, and renewable energy.

The company undertakes consultancy assignments as well as turnkey projects in India and overseas.

In the investor presentation, EIL said it has invested Rs 491 crore for the 26 per cent stake it has picked in the Rs 6,388 crore Ramagundam fertilizer project.

Other partners in the project include National Fertilizer Ltd (26 per cent), Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd (11 per cent), GAIL (14.3 per cent) and the Telangana government (11 per cent). The remaining 11.7 per cent is with HTAS Consortium (comprising HT Ramagundam A/S, IFU and Danish Agribusiness Fund, Denmark).

EIL has also taken a minority 4.37 per cent stake in Numaligarh Refinery in Assam for Rs 838.42 crore.