The Investmate Handbooks

Your fund

Combined super balance all members, all accounts

Cash buffer to keep chapter 24

Fund running costs a year

Contributions into the fund each year employer plus any top-ups — chapter 22

The property

Purchase price

Duty, legal, inspections

Furniture and setup $0 if you're letting it long-term How will you let it?

Average nightly rate

Occupancy % of the year booked

Total holding costs each year strata, rates, water, insurance, management, utilities, maintenance

What it earns

—

Net yield on every dollar you deploy

—

Net income a year

—

Total deployed

—

Most you could spend

—

Cash left over

Twenty-five years, three ways

Orange is your property strategy. Grey is leaving it all in a large fund. The steps are each new property the fund buys.

Where it ends up

Twenty-five years of buying whenever the cash allows, keeping your buffer intact, with rents and prices growing at the rates below.

Growth assumptions

Rent growth % a year

Property growth % a year

Large fund return % before fees

Large fund fee % a year

After twenty-five years

Income is what arrives as rent without selling anything. A large fund gets you a balance you draw down instead.

The occupancy that decides it

Short-stay only wins above a certain occupancy. Below it, a long-term tenant earns more for far less work. Here's where your break-even sits.

Occupancy	Nights	Gross	Net	Net yield	Beats a lease?

Before you buy anything. This is arithmetic, not advice. It can't see your fund's trust deed, your investment strategy, your contribution caps, the body corporate by-laws, or whether short-stay is even permitted at that address. It assumes nothing goes wrong for twenty-five years, which it will. Take the questions in Appendix B to your accountant, and read chapter 28 before you get excited.

The deal

Combined super balance

Purchase price

Loan-to-value ratio %

Rate % a year

Term years

Net yield %

Stamp duty

Legal, bare trust, due diligence

Paying it down

Contributions each year chapter 19

Extra onto the loan each year

Fund running costs a year

Repayment held where it is Untick to see what happens if you let the lender drop the repayment after a lump sum. Chapter 20 — usually the biggest number here.

The vacancy test

Commercial vacancies run three to twelve months and the loan doesn't pause. This is the test that should set your LVR.

Months with no tenant

Year it happens

Does it stack up?

—

Cover ratio — lenders generally want 1.25 or better

—

Asset controlled

—

Out of the fund

—

Net rent, year one

—

Loan repayment a year

Loan down to zero

Grey is minimum repayments only. Orange is your plan with extra repayments. The gap is years you never have to pay for.

Rent back to your own business

Chapter 11. If your business is the tenant, the rent is not a contribution — it doesn't touch your caps. Here's what that moves into super over the life of the lease.

Your business as tenant

Rent review % a year

Your company tax rate %

Rent is deductible to the business and taxed at 15% in the fund, less the interest deduction. It is not a contribution — see chapter 11.

Against contributions alone

Before-tax contributions are capped at $32,500 per member for 2026-27. Rent is not.

What each extra repayment buys

Chapter 18. Your own entry is highlighted.

Extra paid each year

Each year	Cleared in	Interest saved

Cover ratio by LVR

LVR	Loan	Repayment	Cover

Before you offer on anything. This is arithmetic, not advice. It cannot tell you whether the property is business real property under section 66 — and if it isn't, none of these numbers exist. Get that confirmed in writing by a solicitor first. It also can't see your lease, your tenant's covenant, the GST treatment, or your fund's deed. Take the questions in Appendix B to an SMSF-specialist accountant.

Does it even qualify?

Chapters 1 to 3. If this section fails, nothing else on this page matters.

Total land area hectares

House, garden, private area hectares

A genuine primary production business ABN, records, real revenue, intent to profit — not a hobby or a lifestyle block. Tested against TR 97/11.

A member will live in the farmhouse Only permitted if the property qualifies, at market rent, under a proper lease.

The deal

Combined super balance all members

Purchase price

LVR % — rural runs 50–70

Rate %

Term years

Extra a year

Stamp duty $0 if exempt — ch.10

Legal, bare trust, valuation

The two rents

Land lease, a year to the farming entity

Farmhouse, a year at market

Fund running costs a year

Does it stack up?

—

Cover ratio — rent divided by the repayment

—

Farm your balance could buy

—

Out of the fund

—

Buffer left

—

Loan gone in

Loan down to zero

Grey is the minimum repayment. Orange is with your extra each year.

The bad season test

Chapter 14. Rent cut in half for two years while the loan keeps running.

Rent reduced to % of normal

For how many years

Cover ratio by LVR

Chapter 5. Farmland yields less than commercial, so the ratios are tighter. Most farm deals get done between 45% and 55%.

What each LVR does

LVR	Loan	Repayment	Cover

Paying it down

Extra a year	Cleared in	Interest saved

Twenty-five years, honestly

Chapter 8. Against simply leaving the money in a large fund. Farmland growth is the variable that decides it.

Assumptions

Contributions a year

Idle cash earns %

Large fund returns % before fees

Large fund fee %

Fund after 25 years

Farmland growth	Your fund	Verdict

Before you offer on anything. This is arithmetic, not advice. It cannot tell you whether the property is business real property under section 66 — only a solicitor can, in writing, and if it isn't then none of these numbers exist. It also can't see your titles, your water entitlements, the duty position in your state, or whether the small business CGT concessions apply to the seller. Take the questions in Appendix B to an SMSF-specialist accountant and a rural solicitor.

The deal

Your fund's balance

Property price

Your fund's share %

Net yield %

Buffer to keep

Structure

It's residential, not business real property Changes what each structure can do later — and it is the whole reason the trust exists.

The long run

Contributions a year

Growth %

Large fund returns %

Idle cash earns %

What a partner buys you

—

Property your fund could reach with this partner

—

Alone, it reaches

—

Your fund deploys

—

Your share of the rent

—

Buffer left

Which structure

What different balances reach

Your fund's share decides how far it stretches. A smaller share reaches a bigger property — and gives you less of it.

Fund balance	Alone	At 50%	At a third	At your share

Before you commit. This is arithmetic, not advice. A 13.22C trust must satisfy every one of its conditions continuously — no borrowing, no charge over its assets, no interests in other entities, no business, and a three-year look-back on prior related-party ownership. One breach makes it an in-house asset permanently. Take the questions in Appendix B to an SMSF specialist before you sign anything.

Your loan today

Current loan balance from your latest statement

Interest rate % a year

Monthly repayment

Money the fund already has

Lump sum today chapter 11

Yearly top-up chapter 12

Index it % a year

Extra on every repayment

Rate reduction won % off, chapter 15

Repayment held where it is Untick to see what happens if you let the lender drop your repayment after a lump sum. Chapter 10 — usually the biggest number on this page.

Doubling down: your own money

Money you put in from your own income and claim as a tax deduction. The fund pays 15% on the way in, and you get your own tax rate back at tax time. Chapter 13.

Before-tax contribution each year even $1,000 shaves years off

Your tax rate on your top dollar

Employer contributions already going in this year

What your plan does

—

Interest that never has to be paid

—

Loan cleared in

—

Years removed

—

If you do nothing

—

Interest if you do nothing

Balance down to zero

Grey is your loan if nothing changes. Orange is your plan. The shaded area is repayments that never have to be made.

What each lever is worth on your loan

Worked out on the balance, rate and repayment you entered, with each lever applied on its own so you can compare them fairly. Your own entry is highlighted.

One-off lump sums

Lump sum	Interest saved	Years cut	Per $1

Paid every year

Every year	Interest saved	Years cut

Your own contributions, on their own

You put in	Real cost	Interest saved	Years cut

Real cost is what leaves your pocket after the tax deduction, at the rate selected above.

Rate reductions, repayment held

Reduction	New rate	Interest saved	Years cut

The break-even line

Chapter 9. The biggest loan your property could service out of its own income — and how far off it you are.

Your property's own numbers

Yearly rent the fund receives from the manager's statements Yearly holding costs, not counting interest strata, rates, land tax, water, insurance, accounting

Monthly committed outgoings repayment + fixed costs

Cash in the fund today

What it tells you

Before you move any money. This is arithmetic, not advice. It can't see your fund's investment strategy, your contribution caps, your liquidity needs or your auditor's view. Money paid onto a super loan generally can't be taken back out — chapter 16. And a contribution is locked away until you can legally access your super. Take the questions in Appendix B to your accountant first.

The project

Fund's available cash

Land

Construction

Consultants, council, holding

Contingency % of build

Expected end value

Months to settlement

Stress it

Chapter 16. Builds run over and markets move. This is the test that should decide it.

Construction over by %

End value under by %

Or build and hold

Rental yield on finished value %

Large fund returns %

The honest return

—

A year, after tax and costs, as trading stock

—

Profit after tax

—

Total invested

—

Cash needed, with contingency

—

Doing nothing returns

Where the money goes

Green is what comes back. Red is what leaves. Orange is what is left.

How sensitive is it?

Chapter 15. There is far less room in a development than the feasibility suggests, because you cannot borrow to absorb a surprise.

If the end value moves

End value	Profit	A year	Beats doing nothing?

If the build blows out

Construction	Profit	A year

Before you buy any land. This is arithmetic, not advice. A fund cannot borrow to finish a development, cannot take an uncapped contribution to rescue one, and cannot accept free help from a related party without creating non-arm's length expenditure. Profit is taxed as ordinary income with no CGT discount if the fund is carrying on a business. Read SMSFRB 2020/1 and TA 2023/2, and consider a private ruling before you commit.

Your fund at retirement

Total balance

Held as property

Your age now

Net rental yield %

Idle cash earns %

Property growth %

Years to project

Division 296

Realised earnings only. 15% extra above $3m, 25% above $10m. Both thresholds indexed.

Your total super balance

Realised earnings this year

The liquidity test

—

When the fund runs out of cash

—

Minimum pension this year

—

Income this year

—

Gap

—

Liquid you should hold

Minimum pension against income

Orange is the minimum you must draw. Green is what the fund earns. Where orange passes green, you are eating capital.

Year by year

The minimum rises with age. Rent does not rise as fast.

Age	Minimum %	Minimum $	Income	Gap	Cash left

Before you rely on this. This is arithmetic, not advice. Missing a minimum pension payment can cause the ATO to treat the pension as having ceased on 1 July, costing the fund its tax exemption for the whole year. Division 296 is assessed to you personally, not the fund. Take the questions in Appendix B to your accountant.

Your home loan

Loan balance from your latest statement

Interest rate % a year

Years remaining

Home value realistic

Your tax rate incl. Medicare

How you'll attack it

Extra every month chapter 8

One lump every year chapter 9

Held in the offset chapter 6

Rate reduction won % off, chapter 10

Pay fortnightly, not monthly Half the monthly repayment, 26 times a year. That's 13 monthly-equivalents — one extra repayment you barely notice. Chapter 7.

Should you invest instead?

Chapter 20. An established investment property, bought with a 20% deposit, held and then sold — against simply putting the same money on your mortgage.

Purchase price

Years you'd hold it

Growth % a year

Inflation % a year

What your plan does

—

Interest that never has to be paid

—

Loan gone in

—

Years removed

—

If you do nothing

—

Interest if you do nothing

Balance down to zero

Grey is the minimum repayment. Orange is your plan. The shaded area is years you never have to pay for.

What each lever is worth

Worked out on the balance, rate and term you entered, each lever applied on its own. Your own entry is highlighted.

Extra every month

Per month	Cleared in	Interest saved

One lump every year

Per year	Cleared in	Interest saved

Money held in the offset

Offset balance	Cleared in	Interest saved

The free wins

Lever	Cleared in	Interest saved

Your equity, and what you can use

Chapter 14. Lenders generally let you borrow to 80% of the value. Anything above that costs you mortgage insurance.

Where you stand

As the loan comes down

Loan balance	Loan to value	Usable equity

Before you act on any of this. This is arithmetic, not advice. Paying down your own home is guaranteed and tax-free. Borrowing against it to invest is not — if the investment falls, the debt doesn't. The tax figures use the rules that apply from 1 July 2027 and assume the property is not grandfathered. Take the questions in Appendix B to a registered tax agent and your broker.

The property

What you paid for it plus stamp duty and legal

Value when you first rented it the s118-192 date

Years rented so far

What it's worth now

Your tax rate %

You lived in it as your main residence first This is what unlocks both the six-year rule and the cost base reset. If you never lived there, neither applies.

You'll be a foreign resident when you sell Tick this only if it's true. It can remove the exemption entirely — chapter 9.

If you keep holding

Growth from here % a year

Inflation %

Rented for	Sells for	Taxable	CGT

What you'd pay

—

Capital gains tax if you sold today

—

Saved by the six-year rule

—

Growth removed by the reset

—

Years of exemption left

—

Taxable portion

The same sale, three ways

The old rules are shown for comparison only — they no longer apply to disposals from 1 July 2027.

Where the gain went

Green is growth the reset removed permanently. Orange is what actually counts. Grey is the part the six-year rule exempts.

Before you rely on this. This is arithmetic, not advice. Capital gains tax on property turns on dates, valuations, which property you nominated and your residency at the time of sale. The 2026 measures are law but the draft legislation for the 1 July 2027 changes had not been released at the time of writing, so the interaction with the main residence provisions may differ once enacted. Take the questions in Appendix B to a registered tax agent.