Ha - I hear ya - though I'm from the school of thought that...

Ha - I hear ya - though I'm from the school of thought that having to pay a lot of tax just means I made a lot of money - there are far worse problems to have!

Of course, the decision may be taken out of our hands if there's an all-cash takeover.

Failing that though - once your CGT 50% discount threshold ticks over (after 12 months), you can take out a fair chunk and only pay tax on half of it. With a large enough parcel, you can probably do that for a few years and still be in with a decent chunk once 88E is paying dividends (and hopefully fully-franked ones!).

For example - if you pull out $360K worth after holding for 12 months, you only pay tax on half ($180K) - which is only about $60K including medicare levy etc. - an effective tax rate of only about 17%.

I dunno about you, but I could probably cut back enough on my lifestyle expenses to get by on $300k after tax each year. Sure it'd be tough, but I'd manage somehow!

GLTAH!