Financial Planning for Hairdressers, Barbers and Beauty Therapists
Helping Hair and Beauty Professionals to Build Wealth and Prosperity
Employed, renting a chair or room, or running your own salon: how you’re paid shapes your super, and hands-on work shapes which cover suits you. We help you plan for each set-up, and for any move between them.
Our Financial Advice Team Is Here to Help You
We Can Help You
- Compare super, leave and cover for being employed, renting a chair or working on a commission split
- Plan super on part-time or award pay, including the low income super tax offset and the co-contribution
- Weigh income protection and TPD cover for work done with your hands and on your feet
- Check whether cover in super has started for apprentices and young starters
- Build a cash buffer from busy seasons for the quieter weeks that follow
- Plan the deposit, buffer and cover for buying or opening a salon, with an accountant and a solicitor on due diligence
- Set a budget for an apprentice’s wages, super and any award allowances in your salon
- Review super, cover and income before a move out of hair or beauty work
Who We Help
- Apprentices finishing their training in a hair or beauty salon
- Employed stylists and therapists paid under an award or an agreement
- Chair and room renters paying rent to a salon and keeping their own takings
- Stylists offered a commission split and comparing it with a wage or chair rent
- Barbers employed, renting a chair or running a shop of their own
- Nail, lash and brow technicians working from a salon, a rented room or a home studio
- Salon owners taking on apprentices or their first staff
- Stylists changing direction into teaching, salon management or another career
What we advise on
How Our Advice Works for Hair and Beauty Professionals
Superannuation
What could steady contributions over a career in the salon add up to in your super?
Small, regular contributions and any government top-ups you qualify for can help your super build year after year.
We’ll plan your super with you around how you work: employed, on a commission split or renting a chair or room.
An employer generally pays super for staff aged 18 or over regardless of how much they’re paid, and for under-18s who work more than 30 hours in a week (ATO). On a contract, a business may still have to pay super if you’re paid mainly for your labour. If you rent a chair or room, super is generally yours to arrange.
Together, we’ll work through:
- The low income super tax offset, whose income limit and top payment both rise from 1 July 2027
- Spare money from a busy season paid into super after tax, which may attract a government co-contribution if you meet its tests
- A commission split mostly for your labour, which may mean the salon must pay your super, ABN or not
- Your own contributions if you rent a chair or room, planned as a regular amount from your takings
- A partner’s contributions split into your account, if you have a partner and the partner’s fund allows the request
- Super the ATO pays on government Parental Leave Pay, for a child born or adopted from 1 July 2025
- Accounts in funds from earlier salons, merged only after you know what insurance each one holds
- Super on each pay if you’re employed, which from 1 July 2026 should generally reach your fund within 7 business days
Personal Insurance & Protection
Where would part of your income come from if illness or injury kept you from your clients for a while?
Income protection can replace part of your income after a waiting period, helping with everyday costs while you’re off work.
We can look at cover with you for work done with your hands and on your feet, and any cover you hold.
Income protection usually pays a percentage of your pre-tax income, worked out from what you earned in the 12 months before an illness or injury, Moneysmart explains. When you apply, insurers usually ask about your age and job, along with your health and income. The insurer sets the terms and decides any claim.
Together, we’ll work through:
- TPD defined around your own job in hair or beauty, which Moneysmart says is usually only available outside super
- Any occupation TPD, which looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience, not only salon work
- A longer or shorter wait before benefits start, weighed against your savings and what each option costs
- Earnings that rise and fall with bookings or a split, and how a 12-month look-back may treat a quiet year
- Cover in super for apprentices and other young starters, which may only start once you ask your fund
- Insurance on a fund from a past salon job, compared with your current fund before you close either
- Life cover sized to rent, a loan or family costs others would face, if anyone depends on what you earn
- Trauma policies set up outside your fund, as super can’t hold new ones written from 1 July 2014, compared with income protection
Cashflow & Financial Wellbeing
After a busy December or wedding season, where could any extra you earn go for the rest of the year?
Setting aside part of anything extra busy months bring can help with the quieter weeks and add to savings for your goals.
Together, we’ll set a regular amount to live on, and a buffer that busy months build for quiet ones.
Bookings in a salon can follow the calendar, with Christmas, formals and wedding season often busier than the weeks after. If you rent a chair or room for a set amount, the rent is due whether the book is full or not, and on a commission split your pay moves with what you bring in. A budget built on your quieter weeks can make each month easier to plan.
Together, we’ll work through:
- A share of December and wedding-season earnings set aside for the quieter weeks that often follow
- Chair or room rent held in a separate account ahead of each due date, ready for a slow week
- Commission that rises and falls with bookings, with regular bills set against a typical quieter fortnight
- Scissors, clippers and other kit you’re asked to supply, and what a salon pays towards them under any award
- Kit, colour stock and replacement tools if you rent a chair, priced into what you charge and set aside from takings
- Apprentice wages and, for apprentices 18 or over or under-18s working more than 30 hours in a week, super on each payday
- A return to work on fewer days, with the budget reset to the new pay before your first week back
- Savings set aside before you change set-up, from employed to renting a chair, a split or a salon of your own
Financial Planning & Advice
Which set-up could suit the next few years: employment, renting a chair, a split or a salon of your own?
Comparing each set-up side by side can show which one fits the life and income you’re aiming for.
We can build a financial plan, or Statement of Advice, around the set-up you have now and any change you’re weighing.
Being employed, renting a chair and working on a commission split each treat super, leave and cover differently. Whether you’re an employee or a contractor is a legal question, and the Fair Work Ombudsman suggests seeking legal advice on it. We can compare the money side of each option with you before you choose.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Employment, a chair and a split compared on super, paid leave and cover before you agree to a change
- Buying an existing salon, with the deposit from savings, a buffer for the first months and cover for any new loan
- The lease transfer, debts on salon assets and three to five years of accounts, checked by an accountant and a solicitor
- The client book in a salon you’re buying, and what your plan would need if fewer clients stay on
- Opening from a home studio or a rented room, with set-up costs and the first months’ income planned ahead
- Running a salon with a partner or a friend, and how each person’s pay, super and cover are planned
- A move into teaching, salon management, sales or a new career, and what changes for pay, super and cover
- Review points at each change of set-up, from an apprenticeship to a chair or a salon of your own
Tax & Wealth Strategies
With busy and quiet seasons through the year, how would you like tax to fit into your planning?
Working through tax as the year goes can help a busy season count towards your goals as well as the tax bill.
We can map your tax and structure decisions with you, while an accountant prepares and lodges your return.
Ryker’s financial advisers plan tax and set tax structure and strategy, working alongside your accountant, who prepares and lodges your return. The ATO says hairdressers and beauty professionals include all the income they receive in their return, including cash or bonus payments and allowances.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Cash, tips and bonuses in your return as the ATO requires, and how insurers and lenders may look at the income it shows
- Work-related expenses, with an accountant confirming what you can claim using the ATO’s hair and beauty guide
- Allowances on your income statement, which the ATO says go in your return as income, with an accountant confirming any others
- Tax set aside from chair takings, since tax generally isn’t withheld when you work for yourself
- A deductible personal contribution compared with an after-tax one that may attract a co-contribution, weighed with an accountant
- Opening a salon as a sole trader or through a company, with an accountant guiding the choice before the lease is signed
- Stamp duty and capital gains questions on buying or selling a salon, answered by an accountant
- Income protection payments, which the ATO lists as income to include in your return if you ever claim
Retirement & Aged Care
Looking ahead to life after the salon, how would you like your days to look?
Planning super and savings early can give you more choice about when to stop and how to spend your time.
We’ll start with what your super could provide after part-time and full-time years, then plan the rest with you.
Years of part-time work can mean a smaller super balance, which makes the later working years and any extra contributions worth planning. Preservation age is 60 for anyone born from 1 July 1964, and super can generally only be accessed once you meet a condition of release, such as ceasing employment at 60 or over.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Cutting back to two or three salon days a week, and what that income adds to the years funded by super
- Teaching or training others as a later-career step, and what a change of employer does to super and cover
- Selling a salon or passing on a client book, and any concession on the gain, which an accountant can check
- Extra contributions in any year with more bookings, which can lift a balance built over part-time years
- Spending you’d like in retirement, such as travel or hobbies, costed and set against projected super
- Super contributions as a salon owner, if you run one, kept going through the years before any sale
- A partner’s retirement plans, if you have a partner, and whether you’d like to stop at the same time
- Money kept apart from super for any gap between your last salon day and preservation age
Property Investment Advice
Thinking about a home, or premises for a salon one day, how could a purchase fit around what your work pays?
Repayments tested against your quieter months can show what a purchase would ask of your budget, before you commit.
We can set out with you a home or investment purchase on salon income, with a broker arranging any loan.
Each lender sets its own approach to commission, chair or casual income, and a broker compares lenders and arranges any loan. Before any application, we can plan with you the deposit, a buffer and repayments tested against a quiet month. Borrowing to invest can magnify losses as well as gains, and the loan must still be repaid if values fall.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Payslips, chair takings or commission statements, and which records a broker may need for each lender
- A deposit saved from the set amount you live on, with any takings for rent and tax kept separate
- Loan repayments sized so a slow January still works, rather than to a fully booked December
- Salon fit-out finance beside a home loan, with what both repayments would cost in January’s slower weeks
- Capital gains questions a home studio may raise when the home is sold, answered by an accountant
- Buying salon premises through a business structure or in your own name, set with an accountant and a solicitor
- A tenanted home, open to negative gearing from 1 July 2027 only if a new build or owned on 12 May 2026
- Buying a home and opening a salon in the same few years, and which one the plan puts first
Your Hair and Beauty Finances, Worked Through Together
Comparing Your Set-Up Options
Employment, a chair and a split compared on super, leave and cover before you choose.
Super on Part-Time Pay
Contributions planned around the hours you work, with any government top-ups you’re eligible for.
Government Super Top-Ups
The low income super tax offset and the co-contribution checked against your income and fund details.
Cover Weighed for Salon Work
Income protection and TPD weighed for work with your hands and on your feet.
Cover for Young Starters
Cover in super for apprentices reviewed, and started through the fund if it suits.
Savings for the Quiet Weeks
A share of busy-season earnings set aside for the slower weeks that follow.
Buying or Opening a Salon
The deposit, buffer and cover planned before you buy, with an accountant and a solicitor on due diligence.
Your First Apprentice
Apprentice wages, super and any award allowances planned into the salon’s budget.
Proactive, Holistic, and Experienced Financial Planning
Work in hair and beauty is built one appointment at a time, on skill, care and clients who come back. Along the way come decisions about how you work: staying employed, renting a space, or opening a salon of your own. We’ll take the time to understand what you want from your work and from life outside it, then help you plan the money side of each choice as it comes.
The reasons behind the work are often personal: time with family, travel, a home, or the freedom to set your own hours. We’ll listen to what matters most to you and to anyone you plan alongside, and help you build a plan around it. Whether you stay in a salon, go out on your own or step back one day, we can review it with you as things change, so the plan still reflects the reasons you do this work.
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.
If you rent a chair or room and keep your own takings, super is generally yours to arrange, since no salon is paying you for your work. A commission split can be different: on a contract, a business may still have to pay super if you’re paid mainly for your labour, ABN or not.
Whether you’re an employee or a contractor is a legal question, and the Fair Work Ombudsman suggests seeking legal advice on it.
If super is yours to arrange, a regular amount from your takings can keep it building through busy and quiet weeks alike. An accountant can confirm whether any of it is deductible, and we can plan the amount and timing with you.
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.
If you’re employed and 18 or over, part-time hours earn super whatever the amount you’re paid. Government top-ups may add to it: the low income super tax offset, if you’re eligible and your fund has your tax file number, and a co-contribution on after-tax amounts you add, if you meet its eligibility tests. From 1 July 2027, the offset’s income limit rises to $45,000 and its maximum payment to $810.
If you have a partner, some funds allow the partner’s contributions to be split into your account. The ATO also pays super on government Parental Leave Pay for a child born or adopted from 1 July 2025.
We can work through which of these could suit you.
The personal side is worth planning before you commit. Points to work through:
- A deposit from savings, and a buffer for the first months of trading.
- Cover on any new loan, and income protection for you as the owner.
- Contributions to your own super, planned from the start.
- The household budget if takings build slowly at first.
Business.gov.au suggests checking whether the landlord will transfer the lease, any debts on assets registered on the Personal Property Securities Register, and three to five years of financials. An accountant and a solicitor handle that due diligence, and a broker arranges any loan. We can plan the personal side with you.
Moneysmart says insurers usually ask about your age and job when you apply, along with your income, health and lifestyle, and the answers can shape the terms and price an insurer offers.
The TPD definition matters for skilled work. Own occupation cover, for the job you did before, is usually only available outside super. Any occupation cover looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience.
We can explain the definitions with you, compare suitable options and help you apply with reasonable care. The insurer sets the terms and decides any claim.
Default cover in super can be a useful starting point. Moneysmart says insurance through super does not start automatically if you’re a new member under 25, or your balance is under $6,000, unless you ask your fund, and the fund sets the amounts and definitions.
Advice looks at whether those suit work done with your hands and on your feet: own or any occupation TPD, any income protection waiting period and benefit period, and whether some cover could sit outside super.
We can compare what you hold with suitable options. The insurer sets the terms and decides any claim.
Where the Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 applies, it sets minimum rates for hairdressing and beauty apprentices, with Fair Work publishing the current figures. Super is generally paid for apprentices aged 18 or over, and for under-18s once their weekly hours pass the ATO’s threshold. From 1 July 2026, super must generally reach the fund within 7 business days of payday.
We can plan the apprentice’s wages, super and any tool allowance into the salon’s budget with you, alongside your own cover and savings as the owner. An accountant can advise on payroll and tax.
Yes. Apprentices, stylists on a split and salon owners of many years all start the same way: a conversation about where things are now.
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.
It helps to bring recent payslips or your last tax return, a super statement, any chair rental or split agreement, and details of any cover you hold. Meetings can be in person or online.
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