Despite many agricultural and socio-economic studies conducted in other parts of Indonesia, there is a scientific gap among researches focused on small scale farmers in North Sumatra. The article presented is based on the Sustainable livelihoods framework established in the 1990’s by the Department for International Development (DFID) with special emphasis on financial capital. The main objective was to identify the state of the financial assets of small scale farmers in the Toba Samosir and Samosir regencies. Another aim of the study was to identify gender issues and related problems if relevant. We selected the Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) as an appropriate set of methods. Semi-structured questionnaires as part of RRA were used for primary data collection as well as observation and in depth interview. Eventually, data were statistically processed by SPSS/20. The applied statistical methods were the descriptive ones, as well as Bivariate Spearman´s correlation, Independent and Paired Samples T. Concerning financial capital, respondents in both regencies reported an imbalance in incomes and expenditures. People do not save money and are frequently indebted. Regarding possible gender issues, women have surprisingly quite a big decision making power and responsibility for most of activities. On the other way, men are often those who enjoy the economic benefits.