Financial Advice for Veterans and People Leaving the ADF

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.

Yes, the death and invalidity cover provided while you serve ceases when you leave the ADF, and Defence suggests having any private cover in place before your transition date. You or your family may also be eligible for DVA benefits, which DVA assesses separately.

Default cover inside super can usually be issued without medical checks, though it may carry pre-existing condition rules set out in the fund’s PDS. Any cover you apply for beyond a fund’s default cover is assessed on your health when you apply, and the insurer decides. We can work out the cover you’d want after service and help you apply, ideally before your separation date.

It depends on your income needs, goals, debts and how you’d use a lump sum, and neither option suits everyone. If DVA offers permanent impairment compensation, it’s paid fortnightly unless you choose a lump sum, or a combination where your level of impairment allows, within six months of the offer. DVA can extend that time in special circumstances, and the choice is final.

DVA says these payments are tax-free. At 50 or more impairment points, DVA can reimburse the cost of advice on the choice up to the set limits, and any amount above those limits can’t be reimbursed. We can compare each option against your cashflow, goals and retirement before you decide.

Online checklists and calculators from Defence, DVA and super funds can be a useful starting point for seeing what’s ahead and estimating a payment or a balance. Each one generally covers its own part of the move, and its results may not bring your cover, super, any DVA payments, health cover and civilian income together.

Advice puts those into one plan for your situation. We can work from the statements and letters you have, and test each decision against your cashflow, goals and retirement.

You may be eligible, depending on the choice you’re making. DVA can reimburse advice costs, up to set limits, for some choices its legislation requires, such as between a lump sum and fortnightly permanent impairment payments, or between a Special Rate Disability Pension and incapacity payments. Any amount above those limits can’t be reimbursed. We can explain how this may apply to you, and the scope and fee of any advice are agreed with you in writing first.

They’re assessed separately, and a super invalidity benefit can change what DVA pays. Whichever fund you chose, the military super trustee behind the invalidity cover you held while serving looks at how conditions present at discharge affect your capacity for civilian work, while DVA compensation is based on different principles, so the two can reach different results. DVA payments can be offset by super invalidity benefits, and super back pay can mean a DVA overpayment. The trustee often pays this to DVA directly from the back pay, and DVA is usually required to recover any amount the back pay doesn’t cover.

An invalidity pension is generally taxed, and an accountant can confirm how. We can plan your cashflow around both, while the trustee and DVA decide eligibility.

The Medicare levy generally applies once you leave, because its full or half exemption depends on being entitled to free Defence medical care. You can register with Medicare before you leave, ready to use once you’ve transitioned out, and without private hospital cover the Medicare levy surcharge can apply above an income threshold.

If you leave after the 1 July following your 31st birthday, you generally have 1,094 days from discharge to take out hospital cover at the base rate, before a Lifetime Health Cover loading applies. We can plan any health cover into your civilian budget.

Yes, and questions about super, cover, DVA payments and retirement can come up at any stage after service. Since 1 July 2026, all new compensation claims are decided under one set of rules, whenever you served.

We can bring your super, cover and any payments, including any closed scheme pension, into one plan, and work through any choice that has a time limit before that time runs out. If a claim is part of the picture, an ex-service organisation advocate can help you prepare it.

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.

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.

Absolutely, and you can start wherever you are in the move out of service. Tell us your separation date if you have one, what’s changing and what you’d like help with first.

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. We’ll explain how we can help and what we’d look at first. Useful documents include a separation or discharge letter, super statements, recent payslips and any letters from DVA or your fund.