Strong cash flow can open the door to all kinds of opportunities. In many ways, it’s the foundation for all other wealth goals. Beyond this, though, consistency in your cash flow offers peace of mind and everyday convenience.

Here are our top four tactics to improve the consistency of your income and outgoing wealth.

1. Forgetting tax when income planning.

Taxation alone can hinder your ability to create strong cash flow, until you can structure your income sources in a tax-efficient manner. Especially for business owners and franchisees, there are many options and opportunities to restructure your cash flow and save tax — whether it’s through holding companies, inter-company dividends, or income splitting. Overall, your tax strategy, cash flow plan and growth plan should all work together.

2. Income is too variable.

When sources of income are variable during working years, they are often variable in retirement, too, especially for those without pensions. In this case, solutions such as annuities can serve to bolster overall income and cash flow consistency, with guaranteed income and tax-efficient features.

3. Portfolio is unsuitable for your income and growth needs.

Your investment portfolio is another potential source of income that can and should be factored into your overall cash flow plan or approach. In retirement, income from investments often becomes increasingly important as a way to support your lifestyle. Again, for business owners there are different opportunities to manage this income, such as investing within your business.

4. Lifestyle changes are sudden and unanticipated.

The other side of cash flow is the rate of your outgoing capital. Consistent cash flow happens when expenses are planned as carefully as streams of income, so it’s worthwhile to look ahead to potential changes in your life that could alter your spend rate. Retirement is of course one of the major transitions in life that introduces new spending habits, but even things like education planning for children, buying secondary properties, or supporting aging parents can interrupt your normal cash flow.