Financial Planning for Farmers
Financial Advice Empowering Farmers to Build Wealth and Freedom
Seasonal income, wealth held in the land, your super and any future handover all affect each other. We can help you plan them together, for the generation farming now and the next.
Our Financial Advice Team Is Here to Help You
We Can Help You
- Plan a farm handover that weighs retirement income for whoever steps back, any successor’s needs and fairness to other family
- Work through how transferring the farm to a family member may affect the Age Pension, before any transfer is made
- Build a household budget around farm income that arrives as a few sale or harvest cheques a year
- Decide where a good season’s money goes, from a farm management deposit or super to investments off the farm
- Time stepping back from farming with any farm management deposit balance in view, and an accountant on the tax
- Build super alongside the land if you farm as a sole trader or partner and no one pays super for you
- Size life, TPD and income protection cover around who would run the farm if you couldn’t
- Weigh whether farmland held in a self-managed super fund suits your plans, its costs and its trustee duties
Who We Help
- Grain and crop growers working through good seasons and dry ones
- Beef, sheep and dairy producers with income tied to stock, prices and the season
- Mixed farmers running crops and livestock on the same property
- Horticulture growers of fruit, nuts, grapes or vegetables
- Farming partners running a farm together as a couple or with family
- The next generation working on a family farm, with a future there in view
- Farmers planning to step back or to hand over the running of the farm
- Farmers selling up and planning a move off the land
What we advise on
How Our Advice Works for Farmers
Financial Planning & Advice
Who will the farm pass to one day, and can it be fair to everyone involved?
Thinking through the handover early can help everyone involved be heard and shape a future for the farm they can all support.
We can map with you a farm succession plan that works through income, who takes over, fairness to family and timing.
A handover can be planned as decisions in order: what anyone stepping back needs to live on, who takes over and on what terms, and what is fair to family members who farm elsewhere or not at all. Fair and equal can differ, and the family decides. Super nominations, insurance and any borrowing for a buy-out sit beside any will. A lawyer prepares wills and agreements, an accountant advises on structure and tax, and a broker arranges any loan.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Income for whoever is stepping back, often worked out first, since other succession decisions can depend on what they need
- A successor’s terms, such as when they take over and whether they buy in, set out in numbers before anything is signed
- Fairness to any off-farm children, weighed with the family, since fair and equal can mean different things
- Who receives your super and any life cover, set out in nominations that match the succession plan and any will
- Any buy-out of siblings or parents, with a broker comparing loans and the repayments planned against the farm’s seasons
- Wills, succession agreements and trust or company documents prepared by a lawyer, with the financial side planned with us
- The tax on any transfer, including whether small business CGT concessions are available, assessed by an accountant
- The plan revisited after a health change, a milestone birthday or a family member coming home to farm
Cashflow & Financial Wellbeing
When a good season comes in, what could it set up for the leaner months ahead?
A household budget built around the seasons, with money put aside in good ones, can help keep bills covered between cheques.
We’ll build one household budget with you for farm income that arrives a few times a year.
Farm income can arrive as a few sale or harvest cheques a year, while household bills come every month. We can set household spending against income you’re confident of, with a buffer sized to your own costs and seasons rather than a fixed figure. Any off-farm income, such as wages or rent, can be part of the plan, and a broker compares and arranges any farm or household loan.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Household bills separated from farm costs, even where both run through the one account, so each can be planned
- A buffer sized to your own household costs and the length of a dry spell you’d want it to cover
- Sale and harvest cheques given a plan when they arrive, covering bills, savings and a tax set-aside checked with an accountant
- Drawings in a lean year planned ahead, so household spending can ease back before the buffer runs low
- Any off-farm income, such as wages or rent, used to steady the household budget between cheques
- A farm management deposit as one way to hold good-season money, with an accountant confirming the tax on each withdrawal
- Large yearly costs, such as rates, registrations and insurance premiums, saved for across the year rather than met from one cheque
- Any farm loan repayments, with a broker comparing loan options and the household budget planned with us
Tax & Wealth Strategies
After a big season, could more of the income work for you and the farm?
Planning before the financial year ends can let more of a good season go towards the farm, the household and your goals.
Together, we’ll plan how income averaging and farm management deposits fit your wider plan, with an accountant advising on the tax.
Ryker’s financial advisers plan tax and set tax structure and strategy, working alongside an accountant, who prepares and lodges your return. The ATO says income averaging can even out tax over a maximum of 5 years, and opting out affects the next 10 income years and can’t be revoked. Farm management deposits are deductible in good years, if you’re eligible, and assessable when withdrawn.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Income averaging, which can even out tax over up to 5 years, with an accountant confirming whether it applies to you
- Opting out of income averaging, which applies for the next 10 income years and can’t be revoked, weighed with an accountant first
- Farm management deposits made in a good year, with an accountant confirming whether they’re deductible in your circumstances
- The off-farm income limit on deductible farm management deposits, worth raising with an accountant if you earn wages or rent
- A deposit withdrawn within 12 months, which is generally not deductible unless an exception such as severe rainfall deficiency applies
- Linking a farm management deposit to a farm loan through an offset, open to sole traders and partnerships if conditions are met
- Any farm management deposit balance, which can be treated as repaid and assessable once you stop farming for 120 days or more
- Government grants and natural disaster relief payments, which the ATO doesn’t count as primary production income, with an accountant on the tax
Retirement & Aged Care
When you stop farming, would you like to stay on the land or move somewhere new?
Mapping income from super, savings and the farm can help you choose when to stop, and where you’d like to live.
We’ll go through with you how retiring on the farm or moving off it could work, including the Age Pension.
If you transfer the farm to a family member without a fair price, Services Australia says it may be a gift, and the farm’s value can still count in the Age Pension assets test. Unpaid farm work by the close relative who receives the farm can count as forgone wages and reduce that gift. The extended land use test may exempt a whole property if conditions are met, including 20 years or more as your principal home. Services Australia decides.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Retiring on the farm or moving to town, compared on income, living costs and who will run the farm
- Retirement income drawn from the farm, planned beside what any successor needs to keep the land in one piece
- A transfer to family for less than a fair price, which Services Australia may treat as a gift for the Age Pension
- Any amount gifted above the gifting free areas, which Services Australia counts in the assets and income tests for 5 years
- Unpaid farm work, care or improvements by the close relative receiving the farm, which can count as forgone wages and reduce the gifted value
- The extended land use test, which may exempt a whole farm used to capacity and lived in as your home for 20 years or more
- The years between stepping back and reaching preservation age, if you stop early, funded from savings or farm income
- A staged step back, such as handing over day-to-day work first, with the income each stage could provide
Superannuation
Is your super building alongside the farm, or has most of your money gone into the land?
Adding to super in the stronger seasons can build savings beside the farm and widen your choices later.
We’ll start with whatever super you hold now, then plan contributions in the seasons that can carry them.
The ATO says sole traders and partners don’t have to pay super for themselves, so if you farm that way, contributions on your own farm income are yours to choose. If a farm company or trust pays you wages, an accountant can confirm how compulsory super rules apply. From 1 July 2026 the general concessional cap is $32,500, and caps are indexed. Super doesn’t automatically form part of your estate (Moneysmart), so beneficiary nominations belong in any succession plan.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Personal contributions planned for a sole trader or partner, since the ATO says you don’t have to pay yourself super
- Earlier years’ unused cap, available in a strong season while your total super balance is under the limit for carrying unused amounts forward
- Super built as a second asset beside the land, so retirement income can come from more than the farm’s sale or transfer
- Tax deductions for personal contributions in a high-income season, with an accountant confirming you’re eligible to claim
- A binding nomination, if your fund offers one, which the fund must follow while it’s valid, set to match the succession plan
- Insurance in any super account you no longer add to, and whether its premiums are worth what it covers
- Super for a family member paid to work on the farm, with an accountant confirming how compulsory super rules apply
- A spouse’s super, if you have one, planned beside your own where you both work the farm
Personal Insurance & Protection
Who would keep the farm running if illness or injury kept you off it for a while?
Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period, which can help pay for household costs and farm help.
We can weigh life, TPD, trauma and income protection with you around who would run the farm if you couldn’t.
Safe Work Australia names agriculture as one of the most dangerous industries, with hazards such as tractors, quad bikes, chemicals, animals and working alone or in remote areas. Insurers ask about your job, so your farm duties are described accurately when you apply. Income protection usually bases the benefit on your earnings in the 12 months before illness or injury, so a lean year can shape it. The insurer sets the terms and decides any claim.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Your occupation and farm duties, such as machinery, livestock or chemical work, described accurately when you apply
- Income protection on earnings that swing with harvests and prices, with the cover amount reviewed after a lean season
- Cover sized to pay for someone to run the farm if illness or injury kept you from the work
- Life cover that can help balance an estate between a successor and other family members, with the insurer setting the terms
- A buy-sell arrangement between farming partners, if you farm with others, funded by cover and drafted by a solicitor
- TPD cover, as the policy defines it, weighed for physical work you may not be able to return to
- Farm buildings, machinery and livestock, arranged through a general insurance broker as a separate cover
- Policies for farm work placed in super or outside it, with new trauma cover always outside and premiums set against the farm’s cashflow
SMSF
Would holding farmland in your own super fund suit your plans, or add more than it gives?
Weighing the costs, duties and rules against your plans can show whether a fund of your own is the right fit.
We can compare holding farmland in a self-managed super fund with the alternatives, costs and duties included.
The ATO says farmland can be business real property, even with a home on no more than 2 hectares, if the main use of the whole property isn’t private. A fund can buy it from a related party only at market value, and income from dealings not at arm’s length can be taxed at the highest marginal rate. A self-managed fund brings trustee duties and costs, and you lose access to AFCA for complaints about the fund.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Farmland as business real property, which a fund can hold if the land is used wholly and exclusively in a business
- A homestead on no more than 2 hectares, which can still qualify if the property’s main use isn’t private
- Buying land from a related party, which a fund can do for business real property only at market value
- Leasing the land back to the farm business, with rent and terms at arm’s length, as for an unrelated tenant
- Income from dealings not at arm’s length, which can be taxed at the highest marginal rate
- One large, hard-to-sell asset in a fund that still has to pay members’ benefits when they fall due
- Members from more than one generation in one fund, and how each member’s balance and benefits could be paid
- Trustee duties and yearly running costs, with every trustee responsible, weighed against staying in an APRA-regulated fund
Property Investment Advice
Could buying property off the farm help spread your wealth beyond the land?
Testing a purchase against good and lean years can show whether it suits your budget and the farm’s plans.
We can look with you at property off the farm as one way to hold wealth outside the land.
Buying more farmland is a farm business and lending decision, and a broker compares and arranges any loan. Borrowing to invest can magnify losses as well as gains, and the loan must still be repaid if values fall. From 1 July 2027, negative gearing on residential property is limited to new builds, though property held on 12 May 2026 is exempt. For gains accruing after 1 July 2027, indexation and a 30% minimum tax generally replace the 50% CGT discount.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Property off the farm, weighed as a way to hold some wealth outside the land and the season
- Buying more farmland, a farm business decision with a broker comparing any loan, set beside the household plan
- Repayments on any off-farm investment loan, planned to be met from household income in a dry season too
- A rental’s running costs, such as rates, insurance, repairs and agent fees, planned into the household budget beside the farm
- Off-farm property weighed against other uses of a good season’s money, such as super or paying down any farm debt
- A house in town for later years, bought ahead of a move off the farm, if that suits your plans
- Net rental income from property off the farm, which counts towards the off-farm income limit for farm management deposits
- Selling off-farm property later, with an accountant on the CGT change for gains accruing after 1 July 2027
Your Farm and Household, Worked Through Together
Handing On the Farm
A succession plan that weighs income, a successor’s terms and fairness to other family.
The Pension and a Transfer
How a transfer to family may affect the Age Pension, worked through before it’s made.
A Buffer for Dry Years
Savings sized to your household costs and the seasons you’d want them to cover.
A Good Season’s Money
Where a strong season’s income goes, from a farm management deposit to super or investments.
Tax Across Uneven Years
Income averaging and farm management deposits planned with an accountant advising on the tax.
Super Beside the Farm
Contributions planned in stronger seasons, with nominations that fit the succession plan.
Cover for Farm Work
Life, TPD and income protection weighed around who would run the farm if you couldn’t.
Farmland in Your Super Fund
Holding farmland in a self-managed fund, weighed on its rules, costs and trustee duties.
Proactive, Holistic, and Experienced Financial Planning
Farming means early starts, long days and seasons nobody can control. Many farms are built up over years of work, some across several generations. We’ll take the time to understand what you want from the farm and from the rest of your life, and help you plan for the decisions ahead, from a good season or a lean one to the day you choose to step back, so each choice can be weighed against what matters most to you.
Your household, your super and the farm itself can sit in one plan, reviewed with you as the seasons and your circumstances change. That plan can include life away from the farm too, such as travel, time with family and friends, or interests you’d like more hours for. Whether you keep farming for years yet, bring someone else into the business or move off the land one day, we’ll help you plan towards the future you have in mind for yourself and the farm.
Every financial decision impacts the next
Your Financial Life Is Connected
Great advice starts with understanding the bigger picture. Every stage of life presents new opportunities and challenges, from buying property and changing careers to growing your family, planning for retirement and protecting what matters most. At Ryker, we help connect every piece of your financial world into one clear strategy.
Your
Wealth
- Property & Investing
- Career & Income
- Tax Strategy
- Insurance & Protecting Your Family
- Super & SMSF
- Wealth & Investments
- Life Events & Changes
- Business & Wealth
- Legacy & Future Wealth
- Retirement Planning
Frequently Asked Questions
We’re invested in your long-term success. What we do is personal, and we take it personally.
Your financial decisions connect, so we consider the parts of your financial life that are relevant to the advice you need:
- Property & Investing
- Career & Income
- Tax Strategy
- Insurance & Protecting Your Family
- Super & SMSF
- Wealth & Investments
- Life Events & Changes
- Business & Wealth
- Legacy & Future Wealth
- Retirement Planning
This is how we help you make decisions today with your longer-term goals in view.
Everybody’s situation is different, so we listen first, understand what matters to you and explain your options clearly before we make a recommendation.
It can. Services Australia says if you retire and transfer the farm to a family member without a fair price, it may be a gift, and the farm’s value can still count in your assets test. Any amount gifted above the gifting free areas counts in the assets and income tests for 5 years.
Two other rules matter. Unpaid farm work, care or improvements by the close relative who receives the farm can count as forgone wages and reduce the value of the gift. If you keep the farm, the extended land use test may exempt a whole property if conditions are met, including 20 years or more as your principal home.
Services Australia decides. We can plan the order of any transfer, with a lawyer preparing the documents.
Your accountant and financial adviser bring different expertise to the same decisions. Your accountant can advise on tax reporting, structures and consequences; we help you plan how cashflow, debt, super, investments and protection work towards your goals. We can coordinate before important decisions.
What an accountant does
- Prepares and lodges tax returns, BAS and financial statements
- Advises on tax structures such as companies, trusts and partnerships
- Manages bookkeeping, payroll and ATO compliance
- Provides tax advice on the consequences of a transaction
What a financial adviser does
- Sets a long term strategy across retirement, investing and cash flow
- Builds wealth from early in a working life, starting with cash flow, a first home and super
- Recommends specific super funds, investments and personal insurance
- Operates under an Australian Financial Services Licence, which is required to give personal advice on financial products
- Handles retirement planning, Centrelink and aged care strategy, and estate planning considerations
Professional roles and authorisations matter. We provide financial advice within our authorisations and work with your accountant for specialist tax advice and lodgements.
Where they work together
- Tax position. Your accountant confirms your marginal rate, deductions and carried forward losses, which shapes decisions on super contributions, investment structures and the timing of asset sales.
- Business and entity structures. Your accountant advises on the structure itself and your financial adviser works within it for investments, insurance and succession planning.
- Cash flow. Your accountant’s figures can help us understand what’s available for debt repayment, protection and longer-term goals.
- Before key decisions. We can coordinate with your accountant on contributions, asset sales and other material choices in time to consider relevant tax consequences.
A farm management deposit is deductible in the year you make it, if you’re eligible, and assessable when you withdraw it, so it can move income into a leaner year. Eligibility includes a limit on your off-farm income. A deposit withdrawn within 12 months generally isn’t deductible, unless an exception such as severe rainfall deficiency applies.
Super is built for retirement: money you contribute is generally preserved until you meet a condition of release. From 1 July 2026 the general concessional cap is $32,500, and caps are indexed.
An accountant confirms the tax for your circumstances, and we can weigh the split with you. This is general information that doesn’t take into account your goals, finances or needs, so consider whether it suits you before acting on it.
The ATO treats a farm management deposit as repaid once you stop carrying on a primary production business for 120 days or more. If you claimed a deduction when you made the deposit, the repayment is assessable income, and it’s included in income averaging unless you’ve opted out.
So the timing of stepping back, handing over or selling can affect the tax on any deposit balance. It’s worth raising early in a succession plan, alongside income for the years ahead and any transfer of the farm.
An accountant can estimate the tax, and we can plan the timing with you so the balance is part of the wider plan.
Start with the household’s fixed costs for a full year, then set them against the income you’re confident of across good and lean seasons. Money from a strong sale can be held back and drawn on month by month, with a buffer sized to your own costs rather than a fixed figure. Any off-farm income can steady the plan between cheques.
In harder years, other help is available. The Rural Financial Counselling Service is an Australian Government program offering free, confidential financial counselling to eligible farmers experiencing, or at risk of, financial hardship. Farm Household Allowance is a Services Australia payment and support for eligible farmers and their partners in financial hardship.
We can build the budget with you and review it as the seasons change.
A template can help a family record its decisions: who takes over, when and on what terms. It may not work through the numbers behind those decisions for your situation.
Advice looks at the numbers together: income for anyone stepping back, how a transfer may affect the Age Pension, super and beneficiary nominations, cover, any farm management deposit balance, and how each choice affects the next. A lawyer still prepares any will and agreements, and an accountant advises on tax and structure.
We can work through the financial side with you first, so the decisions a template records have a plan behind them.
Yes, within rules. The ATO says farmland can be business real property even with a home on it, if the home sits on no more than 2 hectares and the main use of the property isn’t private. A fund can buy it from a related party only at market value, and income from dealings not at arm’s length can be taxed at the highest marginal rate.
A farm can be a large, hard-to-sell asset in a fund that must pay benefits. You also take on trustee duties, running costs and time, and lose APRA’s prudential oversight and the ability to complain to AFCA about the fund.
This is general information that doesn’t take into account your goals, finances or needs, so consider whether it suits you before acting on it.
Yes. Whether you’re farming now, planning to step back or working on a family farm, the conversation starts with your own position.
There’s no cost for the initial conversation. Any advice after that is a paid service, with its scope and fee agreed with you in writing first.
Useful things to have with you: your last two tax returns or notices of assessment, any farm management deposit statements, super statements showing any cover, details of any other insurance you hold, a will if you have one, and how the farm is owned, if you know. Meetings can be in person or online.
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