Chloe KennedyAustralia's best-paid boss does not run a bank or a mining giant from a tower in Sydney — he runs a medical-device company out of San Diego. ResMed chief executive Mick Farrell topped the pay league for an ASX-listed company with a package worth more than A$47 million, a reminder that the biggest cheques in corporate Australia are increasingly written in US dollars for executives based overseas. As the 2026 annual report season approaches and shareholders sharpen their pencils for another round of pay votes, the eye-watering numbers are back in the headlines.
For most Australians the figures feel like they belong to another planet. Yet buried inside those pay packets is a blueprint that ordinary investors can actually copy. The lesson is not the size of the number — it is the structure behind it.
The number that grabbed the headlines
The most recent full-year data on ASX chief executive remuneration showed a US-based leader at the top of the tree, with a package north of A$47 million. Behind him sat a familiar cast: News Corporation's Robert Thomson on around A$42 million, Lovisa's Victor Herrero on about A$39.5 million, and Macquarie Group's Shemara Wikramanayake — the only woman in the top 20 — on roughly A$30 million.
Put in perspective, the median realised pay for the leaders of ASX 100 companies sat at about A$4.15 million, up only modestly from A$3.96 million a decade earlier. Those top-tier chiefs earn around 55 times the wage of an average Australian worker. The gap is exactly why "say on pay" votes have become an annual flashpoint at company meetings.
Why the pay packet is not really a salary
Here is the detail that matters for your own finances: the base salary of a top chief executive is usually the smallest slice of the pie. The bulk of a A$47 million package is not cash in a bank account. It is equity — shares, options and long-term incentives that only pay out if the share price and company performance hit targets over three, four or five years.
In other words, the highest earners in the country are paid to think like long-term owners, not like employees collecting a fortnightly wage. Their wealth is tied to the value of the business, it compounds over years rather than pay cycles, and much of it is deliberately locked up so they cannot cash out on a whim.
That is a strategy, not an accident. And the same three principles are available to anyone with a superannuation account and a modest investment plan.
Three wealth lessons for everyday investors
1. Own equity, don't just earn income. A wage is taxed heavily and spent quickly. Ownership of productive assets — shares, index funds, a stake in your own business — is where durable wealth is built. Executives are handed equity precisely because it grows faster than salary over time.
2. Think in five-year blocks, not pay cycles. Long-term incentive plans force chief executives to stay invested through market noise. Retail investors can replicate that discipline by holding diversified assets for years and reinvesting dividends, rather than trading on headlines.
3. Structure and protect what you build. The wealthy do not just accumulate — they plan for tax, timing and estate. When equity vests it triggers a capital gains event, and how you time and hold those assets can materially change the after-tax result. The Australian Taxation Office sets out how capital gains tax and employee share schemes are treated, and the rules reward those who hold assets for longer than 12 months with a 50 per cent discount. You can read the official guidance on the ATO's capital gains tax pages.
Where a wealth adviser fits in
Most people do not receive a A$47 million equity grant. But almost every working Australian holds a version of the same instruments: superannuation invested in shares, perhaps an employee share plan, maybe a handful of ASX holdings or an exchange-traded fund. The difference between a comfortable retirement and a stressful one often comes down to how those pieces are structured — not how much is earned in the first place.
A qualified wealth manager or financial adviser can help you map an equity strategy that fits your goals: how much to hold in growth assets versus defensive ones, how to use superannuation's concessional tax treatment, when to realise gains, and how to keep a long-term plan on track when markets wobble. These are the same questions a chief executive's own advisers answer — just at a different scale.
For anyone starting out, ASIC's Moneysmart service offers free, government-backed guidance on investing basics before you commit to a paid adviser.
The takeaway from the top of the list
The 2026 pay season will bring more outrage, more shareholder revolts and more headlines about executives collecting more in a year than most people earn in a lifetime. That debate about fairness is legitimate and worth having.
But there is a quieter, more useful story inside the numbers. Australia's best-paid boss did not get there on salary alone. He got there by being paid in ownership, over a long horizon, with a plan for what happens when it pays out. Strip away the zeros and that is a strategy any patient investor — with the right professional advice — can put to work on their own terms.
This article is general information only and does not constitute financial advice. Consider your own circumstances and speak to a licensed financial adviser before making investment decisions.
