Financial Planning for Aged Care and Disability Support Workers

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 be, and the answer depends on your income, your employer and what you’d package. Some charities and not-for-profit providers can offer packaging under a capped tax exemption or rebate, while for-profit providers don’t have the same concessions, and packaging providers may charge fees.

Moneysmart notes that packaging is usually more effective on middle to high incomes. Packaged benefits above a set threshold also count in some income tests, including the ones for government contributions to your super, so less tax can sometimes come with a smaller top-up.

We can weigh up the whole picture with you, with an accountant confirming the tax.

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 may, if you’re eligible. If your income is under a set level, the low income super tax offset pays an amount into your super based on the before-tax contributions made for you. If you also make an after-tax contribution yourself, the government may add a co-contribution.

Both have income tests and other conditions, and both generally exclude anyone who held a temporary visa during the year. Neither needs an application, but your fund must have your tax file number, and the ATO works out the co-contribution after you lodge your tax return.

We can check where you stand with you, and plan any contributions if money is available.

Possibly. The ATO treats a contractor paid mainly for their own labour as an employee for super purposes, and having an ABN doesn’t change that. Whether this applies depends on your arrangements and on who pays you, such as a participant, a plan manager or a platform. An accountant or the ATO can confirm your position.

If nobody has to pay super on that work, you can still contribute yourself. A tax deduction may be available if you give your fund a notice and receive an acknowledgment, and claiming it can affect a co-contribution, so check with an accountant first.

We can then plan super, tax set-asides and cover around the work you invoice.

Any online tools your fund offers, such as a retirement calculator, can be a quick way to see roughly where your balance may be heading, based on the assumptions each tool uses. They’re a useful place to start.

Advice looks at how the pieces fit together: more than one account if you have them, any salary packaging, government contributions, insurance in super, any ABN work and your everyday budget.

It’s worth trying the tools first. We can then help you bring those pieces into one plan, and revisit it as your work changes.

Your latest super statement or your fund’s online account should show any life, total and permanent disability (TPD) or income protection cover on the account, and what it costs. If there’s none, cover may not have started: insurance through super generally doesn’t start automatically for new members under 25 or with a balance below a set amount, unless you ask for it.

Premiums come out of your balance, so it’s worth knowing what you’re paying for.

We can review what you hold with you, and the insurer decides the terms of any new cover.

Start with the hours you can rely on. If you’re part-time, that may be the agreed hours in your contract. If you’re casual, a cautious average of recent weeks can be a starting point.

Rent, bills and other regular costs can sit on that base, with extra shifts, sleepovers and any broken shift allowance treated as variable. A buffer for short weeks or a cancelled shift can be built from the busier weeks.

We can build the budget with you from your own payslips and costs, and review it when your hours or provider change.

Start with super and tax. Each employer generally pays super on the wages it pays you, so your payslips and your fund’s records together show what has arrived. Giving each employer the same fund’s details keeps contributions in one account.

For tax, the ATO says you generally claim the tax-free threshold from one payer only, usually the one paying the highest wage. If the tax withheld across both jobs looks too low, an accountant can help you check it before tax time.

If you hold more than one fund, check the insurance on each before any account is closed. We can bring your pay, super and cover from both roles into one plan with you.

Yes, whatever your hours, your role or how long you’ve worked in care.

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.

Payslips from each provider, your super details and any NDIS invoices are handy to have, though you can start without them. We’ll talk through how your weeks usually run and what you’d like to work towards, then agree with you where to begin.