Financial Planning for Dental Assistants

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.

From the first full pay period starting on or after 1 April 2026, the award that covers many dental assistants employed in the health industry classifies them by qualification and industry experience. Fair Work says some employees will receive another increase from 1 January 2027.

Your employer, payroll or Fair Work can confirm your level and pay. What we plan with you is what the pay does next:

• A buffer for the household
• Debts to pay down, if you have any
• Super contributions of your own
• A goal such as a home, a course or a trip

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.

One award that covers many dental assistants lists these at a higher level than a Certificate III: a Certificate IV or equivalent qualification, or equivalent experience to a Certificate IV qualification as assessed by the employer. The national training record for the Certificate IV notes that dental radiography work must only be performed by a person with a radiation user licence granted by the relevant state or territory regulatory authority.

The ATO says self-education has a sufficient connection to earning your employment income if it maintains or improves the specific skills or knowledge you require for your current employment activities, and an accountant can confirm how that applies to you. We can plan the fees, study time and working days with you.

Plan for any weeks that may be unpaid. Under one award that covers many dental assistants, if a practice intends to shut down for a period and wants to require staff to take paid annual leave during it, it must give 28 days’ written notice, or any shorter period agreed with the majority of relevant employees. The employer can direct you in writing to take paid annual leave you’ve accrued, and the direction must be reasonable. For any part of the shutdown not covered by a direction, you and your employer may agree in writing to leave without pay.

Fair Work says casuals don’t get most types of paid leave, and it can explain what applies to you. We can size a buffer with you from your household costs.

The Dental Board of Australia registers dental hygienists, dental therapists and oral health therapists, so this is a step into a registered role. It’s worth planning for:

• Course fees, and compulsory HELP repayments if you use a HELP loan, which apply in any year your repayment income is above the minimum repayment threshold
• Fewer working days while you study, and the budget that goes with them
• Cover looked at before your hours drop, if you hold income protection or are considering it

The ATO says you can’t claim self-education expenses for a course that enables you to get new employment or change employment, and an accountant can confirm how that applies to you. We can plan the rest with you.

Fewer hours can mean smaller employer contributions, since super is worked out on qualifying earnings. The ATO lists casual loading and shift penalties (including public holiday penalties) as qualifying earnings, and from 1 July 2026 employers pay super for each payday instead of quarterly.

A few things could add to your balance:

• Your own contributions, before or after tax
• Unused concessional cap amounts carried forward to a year when your days rise, if you’re eligible
• Super the ATO pays on government Parental Leave Pay, for a child born or adopted from 1 July 2025
• A partner’s contributions, if you have a partner

We can map these with you, and an accountant can confirm the tax side.

Fair Work’s Pay and Conditions Tool can be a useful place to check pay rates, and Fair Work can answer questions about the award or agreement that applies to you. What we add is personal advice on what that pay does: a budget around your days, super across funds, cover for illness or injury and the cost of your next course. We bring it together in a financial plan, or Statement of Advice, and the decisions stay yours.

Yes. A working life in dental assisting can mix full-time years, part-time days and perhaps a move into a registered dental role, and each shapes the super you build. We can plan with you:

• The age you’d like to finish, and whether relief days at a practice could come first
• Catch-up contributions in years when your pay rises, if you’re eligible to use unused concessional cap amounts
• A later registered role, if you take that path
• Plans you share with a partner, if you have one

We begin with what your super and savings could provide. You can read more about our retirement advice.

We’re a national service, so you can meet with us by phone or video from anywhere in Australia. We also have offices in three cities:

• Sydney: offices in Sydney CBD, Parramatta, Seven Hills, Ingleburn and Narellan, servicing areas including the City of Sydney, Eastern Suburbs, Inner West, North Shore, Northern Beaches, Sutherland Shire, Blacktown, Liverpool, Campbelltown and all surrounding suburbs.
• Melbourne: our St Kilda Road office, servicing areas including the City of Melbourne, Port Phillip, Boroondara, Monash, Casey, Wyndham and all surrounding suburbs.
• Brisbane: our Eagle Street office, servicing areas including Brisbane City, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Logan, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and all surrounding suburbs.

Yes. Trainees, newly qualified dental assistants and those with many years in the job are all welcome to start with us.

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’s useful to bring a recent payslip and a super statement, plus details of a course you’re considering or a policy you hold. We can work out the rest together.