Financial Planning for Real Estate Agents
Helping Real Estate Agents to Build Wealth and Prosperity
When your pay follows the market and arrives once the agency is paid, it can shape your super, cover and household budget. We help you plan each one, from a first listing to stepping back from sales.
Our Financial Advice Team Is Here to Help You
We Can Help You
- Build a household budget around commission that arrives only once the agency is paid
- Match super contributions to each commission statement, or plan your own super on an ABN
- Weigh income protection for commission income that changes from year to year
- Plan the cashflow, super and cover side of a move to commission-only
- Plan your budget around commission still to come from an agency you’ve left
- Look at how much of your wealth sits in property, and whether spreading savings and investments beyond it suits you
- Plan a rent roll purchase or agency buy-in, with a broker on the loan and an accountant on value
- Build a retirement plan from super and savings for a sales career with no employer pension
Who We Help
- New agents on a retainer in their first years of sales
- Established agents paid on commission-only
- Contracting agents working on an ABN
- Property managers moving into sales
- Agents changing agencies and starting on a new pay arrangement
- Senior agents offered a stake in the office
- Principals buying or selling a rent roll
- Agents easing out of sales and planning the years after
What we advise on
How Our Advice Works for Real Estate Agents
Cashflow & Financial Wellbeing
What could a strong settlement month go towards, with the budget built on quieter ones?
Basing the household budget on quieter months can let each strong month add to savings, a buffer or a goal you choose.
We can build with you a household budget around pay that arrives only once the agency has been paid.
For employees under the Real Estate Industry Award, commission becomes payable once the agency has received cleared funds from its client, then within 14 days. A listing won this month may only turn into pay months later, and both the number of sales and their prices can move. We can set the budget on quieter months and size a buffer for the gap.
Together, we’ll work through:
- A budget set on your quieter months of sales, with stronger months directed to savings and goals
- A buffer sized to the months between winning a listing and the agency being paid for the sale
- Contract income paid into a holding account, with a set amount transferred to yourself each month
- A slower market planned for ahead of time, with the costs you could pause listed before you need to
- Commission still credited after you leave an agency as an employee, on sales contracted before the exclusive period ended
- Desk or marketing fees, if your contract carries them, counted as fixed costs in the monthly budget
- Lower fees per sale or fewer sales in a quiet stretch, tested against what the household needs each month
- Bigger costs such as school fees or a car loan, if you have them, timed away from the quieter months
Superannuation
Through busy and quiet years in the market, how could you add steadily to your super?
Regular contributions, matched to the way you’re paid, can help your super build in quieter years as well as strong ones.
We can check with you how super is paid on the way you earn, or plan your own contributions on a contract.
Since 1 July 2026, the ATO counts all commissions paid to an employee when working out super. On a contract, a business may still have to pay super if you’re paid mainly for your labour. The ATO’s test also asks whether payment depends on achieving a result, and a contract through your own company or trust carries no agency super.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Each commission statement you receive as an employee, compared with the super reaching your fund
- A move from a retainer to commission-only, and how the super paid for you follows the change in pay
- Years on an ABN without super from an agency, with contributions of your own planned for those gaps
- Part of a large settlement paid into super as a lump sum, sized to the caps, with an accountant on any deduction
- Commission for work entirely outside ordinary hours, which has counted for super since 1 July 2026
- Insurance held through the fund your last agency paid into, checked before contributions stop on an ABN
- Retainer and commission arriving on different days, with super on each matched to your fund statement
- Both partners’ super balances, if you share finances, planned together rather than one at a time
Personal Insurance & Protection
What would keep part of your income coming in if illness or injury took you away from sales for a while?
Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period, helping with household costs while you’re off work.
We’ll look with you at cover for income earned in sales, held inside or outside super.
Income protection usually bases its benefit on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury, Moneysmart says, so a strong or flat year can shape the amount. Commission-only employees are paid leave at no less than the award’s base rate, and contractors have no paid sick leave. The insurer sets the terms and decides any claim.
Together, we’ll work through:
- A very strong or very flat year just before a claim, and how an insurer may treat each one
- Commission from sales already contracted, which may still arrive after you stop work, weighed when picking a waiting period
- Cover reviewed when you move from a retainer to commission-only, since the income a policy insures can change
- Life cover and TPD, if family members share your income, with any rent roll or business loan counted in the amount
- The way a policy describes your occupation, for a role spent on the road, at open homes and on the phone
- Cover in place before a rent roll or agency loan, with a broker arranging the loan itself
- Income protection of your own while contracting, since self-employed work comes with no paid sick leave
- Questions about your work and health answered with reasonable care when applying, as the law has required since 5 October 2021
Financial Planning & Advice
Across the market’s busy and quiet years, which goals would you most like to reach?
Setting out each goal with its cost and timing can show how good years and quiet ones both play a part.
We can map out a financial plan, or Statement of Advice, around the way you’re paid and where your career is heading.
Retainer, commission-only and contract work each treat super, leave and tax differently, so a change between them is a good time to review the plan. Under the award, commission-only needs a written agreement and 12 consecutive months in the 3 years before in sales or commercial, industrial or retail leasing at Level 2 or higher, or running your own business selling property or businesses, among other conditions. It must end if a yearly review finds earnings under the award’s threshold.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Your pay arrangement, whether a retainer, commission-only or a contract, set as a review point when it changes
- Going commission-only, if your agency offers the option, compared with staying on a retainer for budget, super and cover
- A move to another agency, with any amounts still due and the new pay arrangement both planned for
- The licence step to run an office, which differs between states and territories, costed for time and income
- A stake in the office or agency, weighed against what else the same money could do for you
- How much of your wealth sits in property, including any home, and what sits outside it in super and savings
- Time away from sales, such as travel or study, with the months of lower income costed in ahead
- Parental leave or caring for family, if it’s in your plans, with the effect on income and super shown first
Tax & Wealth Strategies
When a big year of sales comes through, how could more of it go towards your own goals?
Planning for tax through the year can leave more of a strong year for super, savings or investing.
Together, we can plan for tax on income that arrives in uneven amounts, with an accountant preparing and lodging your return.
Ryker’s financial advisers plan tax and set tax structure and strategy, working alongside your accountant, who prepares and lodges your return. Tax is withheld when an employee is paid, while on a contract the ATO decides from your latest tax return whether you pay PAYG instalments, which are different from withholding.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Tax withheld from your pay as an employee, compared with the instalments the ATO may set on contract income
- Contract income split on arrival into spending and tax accounts, with an accountant estimating the tax share
- Commission paid to a company or trust you set up, where the personal services income test is an accountant’s call
- A strong year’s extra income partly directed into super as a deductible contribution, with an accountant confirming eligibility
- How a principal’s office is held, by a company, trust or partnership, set up on an accountant’s advice
- Deductions for work costs, which an accountant confirms, kept apart from the tax planning we do with you
- Commission statements and receipts filed as each sale settles, ready for an accountant when the year ends
- The timing of a large sale near 30 June, and which financial year the income may fall in, checked with an accountant
Property Investment Advice
Where could a home or investment of your own fit among your super, savings and other plans?
Looking at repayments beside your savings and super can show whether a purchase suits the rest of your plan.
We’ll start with your super, cover and cashflow before any property decision, with a broker arranging any loan.
Each lender decides how it treats sales income. We can test repayments against quieter months first, and how much of your wealth would sit in property. 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.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Commission statements and tax returns a lender may ask for, gathered with a broker who compares lenders
- A quiet run of sales in the months before a loan application, talked through with a broker before you apply
- Your income and any investment property tied to the same market, and how much of your wealth that puts in one place
- What a month with no settlements could still pay towards a new loan, worked out before you borrow
- A deposit goal given its own account, topped up from settlement months that beat the budget
- Settlement costs on your own purchase timed away from a slow month for commission
- Ownership of a home or investment, sole, joint or through an entity, decided with an accountant and a solicitor
- Rent roll finance held as business debt beside any home loan, and arranged by a broker
Retirement & Aged Care
Once you hand over your last listing, how would you like the years after sales to look?
Super and savings built towards a target can help you set your own pace for stepping back.
We’ll work out with you a retirement plan for a career where no employer pension is waiting at the end.
With no employer pension behind a sales career, super and savings built across good and quiet years can become the main source of retirement income. 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. The four small business CGT concessions continue after 1 July 2027.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Lean commission years with smaller super contributions, balanced by larger ones planned in strong years
- Fewer days in later years, which may mean leaving commission-only, since the award rules out part-time commission-only work
- Moving into property management or fewer days before stopping, if you’d like to, with the pay each step brings
- Sale proceeds from a rent roll or agency share, planned as retirement income, with tax concessions on the sale checked by an accountant
- Commission from final sales, if any arrives after you stop, counted into the first months of retirement
- Gains accruing after 1 July 2027 on shares or property held outside super, where indexation and a minimum tax generally replace the CGT discount
- A handover of your listings or clients to a successor, planned around the income you’d still need
- Super nominations reviewed after a rent roll sale or a change in your household, so your wishes are current
Your Real Estate Finances, Worked Through Together
Budgeting Between Settlements
A household budget set on quieter months, with a buffer for the wait between a listing and pay.
Super on Every Commission
Each commission statement compared with the super reaching your fund while you’re an employee.
Super on an ABN
Contributions of your own planned for contract years when no agency super is paid.
Cover for Commission Income
Income protection and a waiting period weighed for earnings that change from year to year.
Retainer or Commission-Only
An offer of commission-only weighed for cashflow, super and cover before you agree to it.
Wealth Beyond One Market
How much of your wealth sits in property, weighed against super and other investments.
Buying a Rent Roll
Household budget, cover and super planned around a rent roll purchase, with a broker on the loan.
Stepping Back From Sales
A retirement plan from super and savings for when you stop selling, at a pace you choose.
Proactive, Holistic, and Experienced Financial Planning
Real estate work is built on relationships, long weekends of open homes and results that depend on the market as much as on your effort. Some months everything seems to settle at once, and others are quieter than you planned. We’ll take the time to understand how you’re paid and what you want your work to lead to, then help you build a plan that suits both kinds of month.
Behind the listings and the phone calls, there’s usually a reason for all the work: a home of your own, more time with family, or the freedom to choose how your years are spent. We’ll keep that reason at the centre of your plan, for you and for anyone who shares your goals. Whether you stay in sales, run an office one day or step back, we can review the plan with you at each stage, through good years and quieter ones.
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 depends on how you’re paid. Since 1 July 2026, the ATO counts all commissions paid to an employee when working out super, whether you’re on a retainer plus commission or on commission-only.
On a contract, a business may still have to pay super if you’re paid mainly for your labour, and the ATO’s test also asks whether payment depends on achieving a result. If you contract through your own company or trust, the agency doesn’t have to pay super for you.
Whether you’re an employee or a contractor depends on your arrangement, and an accountant or the ATO can confirm it. We can plan your contributions with you either way.
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.
It’s a decision about cashflow, super and cover as well as pay. Under the Real Estate Industry Award, commission-only is open to employees with at least 12 consecutive months in the 3 years before in property sales or commercial, industrial or retail leasing at Level 2 or higher, or running their own real estate sales business, under a written agreement, among other conditions. Residential property management doesn’t count.
Commission-only can’t be part-time or casual, leave is paid at no less than the award’s base rate, and the arrangement must end if a yearly review finds earnings under the award’s threshold.
We can weigh the money side with you: a budget for quieter months, your super and your cover. Fair Work or a solicitor can help with the agreement’s terms.
Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period if illness or injury stops you working. Moneysmart says policies usually base the benefit on your earnings in the 12 months before the illness or injury, so a very strong or very flat year can shape the amount. The insurer sets the terms, decides how your earnings are counted and decides any claim.
On commission-only, paid leave under the award is at no less than its base rate, which may sit well below what you usually earn. On a contract, there’s no paid sick leave.
We can compare suitable policies with you, including how each one treats income that varies, and set a waiting period against any savings you hold.
Your knowledge of property is a real strength, and it can help with your own home or investment decisions. Advice looks at what sits around the property: your super, your cover, your cashflow through quieter months, and how much of your wealth is tied to the same market that pays you.
Spreading some savings or investments beyond property is one option worth weighing, with its own benefits and risks. We can work through each of these with you, so a property decision is weighed alongside your super, cover and cashflow.
A purchase like this ties your household and the business together, so it helps to plan both before you commit. A broker can compare lenders and arrange the finance, an accountant or valuer can look at what the rent roll or stake is worth and how to structure the purchase, and a solicitor can review the contract.
We can plan the household side with you: the budget around repayments, cover for the loan and your income, super contributions alongside the repayments, and how the purchase fits your retirement plans.
Yes. From a first year of sales on a retainer to years running an office, the conversation starts with 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.
Useful things to have with you: a recent commission statement or payslip, your agreement or contract, a super statement showing contributions and any cover, and details of any cover you hold outside super. Meetings can be in person or online.
Who We Help
Advice for All Stages of Life
From first job to retirement, we help you build wealth, protect it, and live well.
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First jobs, first home, first super, HECS debt, budgeting and more.
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First home buyers, new parents, school fees, single incomes, young families and more.
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Doctors, dentists, pharmacists, allied health, nurses and more.
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Lawyers, accountants, brokers, engineers, consultants and more.
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Electricians, plumbers, builders, sole traders, franchisees and more.
Corporate & Executive
Executives, senior managers, directors, board members and more.
Public Sector & Defence
Police, firefighters, paramedics, ADF personnel, teachers and more.
Approaching Retirement
Pre-retirees, transition to retirement, Age Pension, aged care, estate planning and more.
Other Stages
Any income, any stage, career changers, separation, second opinions and more.
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Whatever’s on your mind, we’re here to help. You’ll speak with an authorised financial adviser who’ll listen first and get to know what matters to you.
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