Life Insurance and Income Protection for Abattoir and Meat Processing Workers
Income Protection for Abattoir and Meat Processing Workers and Their Families
Knife, machine, packing or inspection duties, pay by time or output, how you’re employed and any cover through super shape your options. We help you find and apply for cover, review any existing cover and lodge claims with you.
Financial Advice for Life Insurance and Income Protection
Who We Help
- Abattoir workers on the slaughter floor
- Boners and slicers using knives and cutting equipment
- Labellers and load-out staff moving product to storage and dispatch
- Smallgoods makers producing and packing meat products
- Poultry plant workers in processing and packing roles
- Daily hire and casual workers whose days and hours can change
- Agency staff placed with a meat business by a labour hire firm
- Workers on a temporary visa applying for cover in Australia
- Grading and inspection staff checking product before it leaves the plant
- Meat workers moving into permanent work, a new room or another plant, with any cover they hold looked at first
We Can Help You
- Describe your knife, machine, packing or inspection duties as they are when an insurance application asks about your work
- Ask each of the insurers willing to consider your work which pay it counts: base pay, output pay, overtime or allowances
- Look at your usual days and hours beside the minimum hours some income protection policies require
- Choose an income protection waiting period around your savings, keeping money set aside for any unpaid stand-down separate
- Explain each policy’s definition of disability, and the conditions that must be met before a claim is made
- Compare definitions across income protection and total and permanent disability (TPD) cover for psychological as well as physical injury after a serious incident at work
- Look over the cover in any super fund from earlier plants or agencies, and the job each fund has recorded
- Size life and TPD amounts around a home loan, if you have one, and anyone who relies on your pay from the plant
- Talk through your cover before a step into the boning room, a move to another plant or a permanent job
- Gather payslips, any incentive pay records and a description of your plant work with you, then lodge a claim for the insurer or fund to assess
What we advise on
How Each Cover Works Around Meat Processing Work
Income Protection
During illness or injury, what could keep money coming in while meat processing work stops?
Part of your income could be paid after a waiting period, subject to the policy’s definitions, exclusions and the insurer’s assessment.
We can talk through income protection with you, from the insurers willing to consider your work and around your pay.
Income protection is usually based on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury. Each income protection policy has its own definition of disability, and conditions that must be met before a claim is made. An insurer usually looks at your job and duties when you apply, and this can affect whether cover is offered, the benefit periods (how long a benefit can be paid for) and the amount. Exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities.
What we look at with you on income protection:
- A run of high or low output weeks, if your pay depends on output, and how it affects 12 months of earnings
- Which parts of your pay each insurer counts, from incentive payments to overtime, asked before you apply
- The days you’re usually required at the plant, compared with the minimum hours some policies need for cover
- Casual engagement at the plant, where Fair Work says casuals don’t get most types of paid leave, and the savings a waiting period needs
- Savings for a waiting period after illness or injury, planned separately from any stand-down days without pay
- Disability wording, which differs from one income protection policy to the next, explained to you in plain terms before you choose
- Offsets in the policy wording that can lower a benefit if workers compensation is paid, with each scheme setting who qualifies
- Time off following a serious incident, with the policy looking at physical or psychological injury, and wording that can limit or exclude mental health conditions
Life Insurance
Who at home would need help with the bills and plans your pay supports now?
A lump sum paid to your beneficiaries could go towards debts, daily costs and plans for the future.
We can size life cover with you from any debts and the people who rely on your income.
If you pass away, life cover can pay a lump sum, and some policies include terminal illness cover. Outside super, you nominate your beneficiaries, or the money goes to your estate. In super, the trustee decides who receives it unless a valid binding nomination applies. Insurers usually ask your age and job when you apply.
What we work through with you on life cover:
- Mortgage or rent payments, if you have either, and the weekly bills your meat processing pay covers
- Life cover sitting in old plant or agency funds, if you have any, totalled before deciding what else you need
- Choosing who receives life cover paid from super, with the trustee deciding unless a valid binding nomination applies
- Packaged life and TPD, or life and trauma, where a payout under one may lower the life amount your beneficiaries receive
- Knife, machine, packing or inspection duties at the plant, described with reasonable care when a life application asks
- How long the household would need support, from a few years of bills to school costs, if children rely on you
- Family overseas who rely on your income, if anyone does, counted among the people your cover is for
- Life cover looked at before you start at a new plant or agency, with any cover through your old fund checked
TPD Insurance
Unable to ever work again: how could the plans at home still go ahead?
TPD cover could pay a lump sum if you meet the policy’s definition of total and permanent disability.
We’ll compare TPD definitions with you and the skills your meat processing work has built.
Moneysmart describes own occupation as being unable to work again in the job you were working in before your disability, and says it’s usually only available outside super. Any occupation is the second type. Its test is being unable to ever work again in any job suited to your education, training or experience. A TPD payment may also reduce life cover packaged with it.
What we compare with you on TPD:
- Own occupation TPD for boning, slaughter floor or packing work, whether a policy offers it, and what its test asks
- Skills such as grading, quality assurance or training others, and how an any occupation definition may treat them
- TPD inside super from earlier plants or agencies, each under its own insurer’s definition, listed before you move super to another fund
- Your job as each fund records it, such as slaughterer, boner or packer, compared with the work you actually do
- A TPD lump sum set beside the mortgage, car loan or other debts you carry, if any, and the amount left over
- Pay replacement through income protection beside a TPD lump sum, and how the two fit your household plan
- Years spent leading a team or training new starters, and how a definition may count that experience
- Study for a new qualification later on, and how education and training come into an any occupation test
Trauma Insurance
Should a serious diagnosis mean time away from work, what could help with the costs?
Under a trauma policy, a lump sum could be paid when a listed condition meets its definition and isn’t excluded.
We’ll go over the conditions a trauma policy lists with you, and how a lump sum fits beside income protection.
Each trauma policy lists the conditions it covers, with a definition for each one, and Moneysmart notes those medical definitions can differ between insurers. New trauma cover can’t be held inside super, which has been the rule for policies written since 1 July 2014.
What we look at with you in a trauma policy:
- The list of covered conditions in each trauma policy, and the definition each condition must meet
- Whether a policy pays a smaller amount for an early-stage condition, and how its wording describes that
- Trauma premiums budgeted from take-home pay at the plant, as new trauma policies can’t be held inside super
- Home loan repayments during the weeks before any income protection starts, and whether trauma cover could help
- Time off for treatment without paid leave, if that’s your situation, and how a lump sum could help
- Linking trauma to a life policy, or holding it separately, and how a claim on one may affect the other
- Trauma cover, if you hold some already, and its wording, checked before anything is changed or cancelled
- How much trauma cover to hold, based on travel to treatment, bills at home and time off for anyone caring for you
Cover in Super
Your super may hold cover: does it fit the meat processing work you do?
Your fund statement can show what cover sits in your account and the premiums taken from your balance.
We’ll check each fund’s cover and cost with you before anything is combined or changed.
Cover in super can end or change, for example if your balance is too low, you change fund or you reach an age limit. Default cover inside super can usually be issued without medical checks, though it may carry pre-existing condition rules listed in the fund’s product disclosure statement (PDS). Increasing it is usually underwritten, which means you’ll usually need to answer questions and may need medical checks.
What we check in each fund with you:
- Premiums taken from each balance, if you have funds from earlier plants or agencies, and what they add up to
- New employers generally paying into your existing fund, where any insurance you have will usually stay with that fund
- Your fund’s record of your job, whether slaughter floor, boning room or packing, and contacting the fund to fix an error, as Moneysmart suggests
- Joining a fund through your first plant job before 25, when cover there may only start if you ask, depending on your job and fund
- Default cover amounts compared with your own figures: debts, bills and the people who rely on your pay
- What your fund does with cover when a balance is low, worth asking about in years with fewer paid days
- Increasing cover in super, which is usually underwritten: you’ll usually need to answer questions and may need medical checks
- Moving your super to another fund, where you may lose any insurance that comes with your account
Knife, Machine and Packing Work
Could a clear description of your duties help cover fit the work you do?
Describing your duties accurately can help an insurer understand the work you do.
We’ll write down your duties with you for any application, and check how each fund records them.
Jobs and Skills Australia lists tasks for meat workers such as cutting and separating meat, fat and tissue from bones, operating meat cutting and slicing equipment, and moving processed meat into storage areas. Since 5 October 2021, the duty when applying for consumer life cover is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, which means answering the questions asked with reasonable care.
What we write down with you about your work:
- Knife work at a boning, slicing or trimming station, with the share of your week spent on it
- Saws and other powered equipment you operate, listed by type and by how often each is used
- Packing, labelling and carton work, including any packing machines you run
- Work in chilled rooms or freezers, noted as the place where your duties happen
- Slaughter floor tasks described plainly, such as operating stunning equipment, a task Jobs and Skills Australia lists
- Grading, quality assurance or inspection duties, if your role includes them, written down beside other tasks
- Leading a team or training new starters, noted as part of your role if you do either
- Moving to another room or role, and whether your fund’s record of your job still matches the work
Daily Hire, Casual and Labour Hire Work
Daily hire, casual, permanent or labour hire: how does the way you’re employed shape your cover?
Knowing how you’re employed and paid can show what to look at in each cover.
We can note down how you’re employed and paid, and look at cover with you before any change.
Under one award, for example, daily hire employees are employed by the day or shift, with the engagement continuing until it’s ended. Casual employees under the same award have a minimum engagement and a casual loading. If you’re placed through labour hire, the agency is usually your employer for pay and super. Fair Work notes that employees stood down without pay under the Fair Work Act can’t use paid sick and carer’s leave.
What we look at with you before a change:
- Daily hire under one award, where you attend each day unless told you’re not required, recorded day by day in your pay history
- A daily hire loading for each day worked, under one award, kept in the pay records an insurer may ask for
- Casual loading and minimum engagement periods, under one award, shown in the payslips you keep
- Moving from casual to daily hire or permanent work, and what changes for leave and for income protection
- Labour hire placements, where the agency is usually your employer, and workers compensation, where each scheme sets who qualifies
- Income records across daily hire, casual and labour hire work, brought together so an insurer can see the whole year
- Fair Work Act stand-downs, absent agreement or contract rules, when you can’t usefully be employed for a cause your employer can’t reasonably be held responsible for
- Moving to another agency or plant, and what happens to any cover in your super when your employer changes
When to Review Your Cover
Would your cover still fit after a change in your meat processing work or at home?
Changes such as a new role, a new plant or a baby can be a good reason to look at cover again.
We’ll compare any policy or fund statement you hold with the work you do now.
Meat processing work can move from casual or daily hire to permanent, from packing into the boning room, or from labour hire to a direct job. Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. A change at work or home is a good reason to book a conversation, and the insurer decides on any new application.
Situations worth raising with us in a conversation:
- Casual or daily hire work becoming permanent, and what changes for leave and for cover through super
- Moving into the boning room or onto the slaughter floor, and how a fund or policy records your new duties
- Becoming a leading hand, with pay and responsibilities that can change what you’d want from cover
- A direct job with a plant after time with an agency, and which fund your super and its cover go to
- Starting at another plant in a new town, and checking which fund your super goes to
- A plant closure, and asking your employer or super fund about cover that comes through work before you finish
- Starting in meat processing before 25, when you may need to ask for insurance in a new fund, depending on your job and fund
- A wedding, a new baby or a separation, if one is ahead, and the cover your household may want afterwards
Making a Claim
If you need to claim one day, how could having help beside you make each step clearer?
Help with the forms and follow-up can make each step clearer while the insurer or fund assesses your claim.
We can lodge your claim together and work through each request while the insurer or fund assesses it.
Moneysmart says to speak first to whoever you bought the cover through, or your employer for cover through an employment arrangement. Insurers can ask for your work duties, including physical requirements, and weekly hours, plus payslips and tax returns. The insurer, or the fund for cover in super, assesses the claim, and a complaint goes first to the insurer or fund, then to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
How we help with a claim:
- Finding who handles the claim first, from the policy papers, a fund statement or your employer
- Your duties and usual hours at the plant, described the way Moneysmart notes an insurer may ask
- Payslips and tax returns, including any output pay or daily hire records, gathered for what the insurer requests
- Each report or document request from the insurer, kept in one place with you for easier tracking
- Workers compensation, whether you’re agency staff or employed directly, a separate process where each scheme sets who qualifies
- Annual leave paid out or any workers compensation payments arriving while the insurer assesses, and how the policy treats that income
- Going back on fewer days or different duties, and what your policy says about working while you recover
- Disagreeing with a decision, where the insurer or fund’s own complaints process comes first, then AFCA
Health Conditions & Illnesses
Could a health condition change the cover an insurer offers you?
Our guides explain what insurers may ask about common conditions, and a health condition doesn’t necessarily rule out cover.
We can help you prepare an application when you have a health condition or a past illness.
Underwriting is how an insurer assesses an application and decides whether to offer cover, on what terms and at what price. Possible outcomes include standard terms, a higher premium, an exclusion, a request to apply again later, or a decline.
Guides by health condition:
- Cover with a health condition: where to start
- Autoimmune conditions
- Back or joint conditions
- Blood conditions
- Cancer history
- Diabetes
- Digestive conditions
- Eye or hearing conditions
- Heart conditions
- HIV or hepatitis
- Kidney conditions
- Mental health conditions
- Neurological conditions
- Respiratory or sleep conditions
- Weight, smoking or alcohol history
- Women’s health conditions
Your work and your cover
How Your Work Shapes Your Cover
What We’d Look At Together
- Your duties in the plant: Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply. Jobs and Skills Australia lists meat worker tasks from cutting meat from bones to moving processed meat into storage, so it helps to describe your own mix of tasks accurately.
- How your pay is worked out: Income protection is usually based on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury. If part of your pay depends on output, it’s worth asking each insurer how it works out that income.
- Daily hire, casual or permanent work: Moneysmart notes some policies might only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours. How you’re employed, and the days you usually work, are worth describing together.
- Labour hire or direct employment: If you’re placed through labour hire, the agency may be your employer even though you work at a plant. Workers compensation is separate, through a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme, and each scheme sets who qualifies.
- Your visa or residency: When you apply, an insurer may ask about your visa type, how long you’ve been in Australia and your plans to stay. Answering accurately matters, and the insurer decides how your answers come into its assessment.
- Funds from earlier plants or agencies: Cover can sit in more than one super fund if you’ve worked for several employers. Each fund’s statement can show its cover and premiums, and Moneysmart suggests contacting a fund if it has your job recorded incorrectly.
- A serious incident at work: Each workers compensation scheme has its own rules for psychological injury and sets who qualifies, including for labour hire workers. Separately, a claim on any income protection or TPD you hold is assessed against that policy’s own definitions, and its terms can limit or exclude mental health conditions.
- A move to grading, quality assurance or leading a team: TPD cover can use an any occupation definition. Its test is being unable to ever work again in any job suited to your education, training or experience, so grading, quality assurance or leading a team may count.
This list isn’t complete, and nothing on it decides anything on its own. We start by learning about your situation, and any decision on cover is the insurer’s. If you’d like to learn more about how insurers view knife, machine, packing or inspection work, get in touch and we can explain where to begin.
Your options
Why Work With a Financial Adviser for Your Personal Insurance?
| A Ryker financial adviser | Directly from an insurer | An online broker or comparison site | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type of advice | Personal advice Personal adviceAdvice tailored to you. Like most financial advice, it’s given under an Australian financial services licence.Personal, not general. General advice is a recommendation or opinion that doesn’t consider your circumstances. Personal advice is tailored to your objectives, financial situation and needs.In your best interests. When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests.In writing. You’ll usually receive a Statement of Advice that explains the strategies and cover recommended to you, and why.On the public register. Financial advisers who give personal advice on life insurance, super and investments must be on ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register. See our financial advisers on the register:Ray RegmiRicky (Rajiv) RegmiJack OinezaDean DesoukeyRyker’s financial advisers are authorised representatives of Synchron Advice Pty Ltd, AFSL 243313. | Usually general advice | Usually general advice |
| Advice that considers your health, family, work and goals | Yes, as part of your advice | Not with general advice | Not with general advice |
| Choice of insurers | The insurers willing to consider your work | That insurer’s policies only | A panel of insurers, side by side |
| Help preparing your application | Yes, alongside you | The insurer’s own process | Varies |
| Advice on holding cover inside or outside super | Part of your advice | Not with general advice | Not with general advice |
| Support if you need to claim | Yes, we’re in your corner | The insurer’s claims team | Varies |
| Cost of advice | 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. Choose: | No separate advice fee | No separate advice fee |
Type of advice
- Ryker financial adviser
- Personal advice Personal adviceAdvice tailored to you. Like most financial advice, it’s given under an Australian financial services licence.Personal, not general. General advice is a recommendation or opinion that doesn’t consider your circumstances. Personal advice is tailored to your objectives, financial situation and needs.In your best interests. When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests.In writing. You’ll usually receive a Statement of Advice that explains the strategies and cover recommended to you, and why.On the public register. Financial advisers who give personal advice on life insurance, super and investments must be on ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register. See our financial advisers on the register:Ray RegmiRicky (Rajiv) RegmiJack OinezaDean DesoukeyRyker’s financial advisers are authorised representatives of Synchron Advice Pty Ltd, AFSL 243313.
- Direct from an insurer
- Usually general advice
- Online broker or comparison site
- Usually general advice
Advice that considers your health, family, work and goals
- Ryker financial adviser
- Yes, as part of your advice
- Direct from an insurer
- Not with general advice
- Online broker or comparison site
- Not with general advice
Choice of insurers
- Ryker financial adviser
- The insurers willing to consider your work
- Direct from an insurer
- That insurer’s policies only
- Online broker or comparison site
- A panel of insurers, side by side
Help preparing your application
- Ryker financial adviser
- Yes, alongside you
- Direct from an insurer
- The insurer’s own process
- Online broker or comparison site
- Varies
Advice on holding cover inside or outside super
- Ryker financial adviser
- Part of your advice
- Direct from an insurer
- Not with general advice
- Online broker or comparison site
- Not with general advice
Support if you need to claim
- Ryker financial adviser
- Yes, we’re in your corner
- Direct from an insurer
- The insurer’s claims team
- Online broker or comparison site
- Varies
Cost of advice
- Ryker financial adviser
- 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. Choose:
- Direct from an insurer
- No separate advice fee
- Online broker or comparison site
- No separate advice fee
Your Cover for Meat Processing Work, Worked Through Together
Meat Processing Duties Described
Knife, machine, packing and inspection duties described with you as they make up your week.
Output Pay Explained for an Insurer
Base pay, output pay, overtime and allowances described with you, with each insurer asked which it counts.
Waiting Period Choices Talked Through
Savings and leave looked at with you before a waiting period is chosen.
Cover in Each Fund Compared
Cover, premiums and the occupation on record in each fund, compared with you before any change.
TPD Wording Compared With Your Skills
Own and any occupation definitions compared with you against grading, quality assurance or team leading skills.
Life Cover Amounts Worked Out
Life cover sized with you from any debts and the people who rely on your income.
Cover Looked at Before a New Plant
Cover through super or work checked with you before a move to another plant or agency.
A Meat Worker’s Claim Lodged With You
Duties, hours and pay records prepared with you while the insurer or fund assesses a claim.
This has really changed our lives
Ray and his team has been incredible, they look after my entire family including my brother in law. Over the years he has helped us with investments, tax and other advice. This has really changed our lives.
Read moreDean Desoukey is changing lives!!
From the very beginning he was warm, patient, incredibly knowledgeable, and genuinely cared about helping us make the right decisions for our future. The positive impact they've had on our family financially and the peace of mind he's given us has been huge.
Read moreI felt heard, understood, and respected
I can't speak highly enough of the service I received from Dean Desoukey. Financial conversations can often feel overwhelming, but he created a space where I felt heard, understood, and respected. He took the time to really listen, explained things clearly, and never rushed me through decisions.
Read moreKnowledgeable, patient and caring
I cannot recommend Ray highly enough. He is an exceptional financial adviser: knowledgeable, patient and caring. From the very beginning, he took the time to truly understand my goals and helped me to create a clear structured financial plan. I never feel rushed or pressured.
Read moreThank you Ray for protecting me and my family
Ray has been my trusted financial adviser for over 12 years. He is highly knowledgeable and passionate about making sure his customers have the right insurance to secure them and their family. I was recently sick and Ray was there right away when needed most.
Read moreHe went above and beyond
I recently dealt with Ricky Regmi at Ryker Capital, and I couldn't be more satisfied with the service I received. Ricky was incredibly patient and supportive throughout the entire insurance process. He went above and beyond, coordinating with my accountant and doctor to ensure everything was in order.
Read moreIt never feels transactional
We've been working with Jack for the past two years, and it's been an incredibly positive experience. He takes the time to build genuine relationships and really gets to know his clients beyond just the numbers. It never feels transactional; it feels like he truly cares about our wellbeing.
Read moreImmensely professional and diligent
Ray has been immensely professional and diligent in my most recent SMSF restructure and insurance review. He not only tweaked it to make it work more for me and my future goals but recommended future strategies to help build my wealth. Cannot recommend him enough.
Read moreHolistic and Experienced Financial Advisers for Abattoir and Meat Processing Workers
Food on Australian tables relies on people who know their work. Skill, speed and care go into every cut, carton and check, and much of it is done as a team, where each person’s pace matters to the people beside them. We’d like to hear about your own life as well: the people who matter to you, what you enjoy outside work and where you’d like to be in a few years. Then we’ll build a plan with you around how you’re paid and what you want.
Planning around the pay you can rely on can help your money reach further than the next payday. It might go towards a first home, time with family, a holiday, a new role or more choice about when you step back from work. Anyone who relies on your pay can be part of that plan too. Through ongoing advice, we look at the plan with you each year, so it changes as your work and life change.
If illness or injury kept you from work in meat processing, income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period, subject to the policy’s definitions, exclusions and the insurer’s assessment. Personal cover can also include life, TPD and trauma cover, each with its own terms. We can advise on cover alone, without a full financial plan, explaining each one in plain language and comparing cover with you from the insurers willing to consider your work. The insurer decides on any application.
Every financial decision impacts the next
Your Financial Life Is Connected
Great advice starts with understanding the bigger picture. Every stage of life presents new opportunities and challenges, from buying property and changing careers to growing your family, planning for retirement and protecting what matters most. At Ryker, we help connect every piece of your financial world into one clear strategy.
Learn more about Financial Planning and Advice for Abattoir and Meat Processing Workers
Your
Wealth
- Property & Investing
- Career & Income
- Tax Strategy
- Insurance & Protecting Your Family
- Super & SMSF
- Wealth & Investments
- Life Events & Changes
- Business & Wealth
- Legacy & Future Wealth
- Retirement Planning
Frequently Asked Questions
Ryker’s financial advisers are licensed to give personal advice under Synchron Advice’s Australian financial services licence (AFSL 243313). We start with you: your meat processing work, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
Meat processing work can mean knife, machine, packing or inspection duties, paid by time or output, whether you’re employed directly, on daily hire, as a casual or through labour hire. Each can affect how an insurer assesses an application and how a policy’s definitions apply to a claim, so your duties, hours and pay are what we look at.
With a financial adviser, you also have:
- Access to the insurers willing to consider your work, each with its own way of assessing an application
- Help preparing your application and answering the health questions with care
- Advice on whether to hold cover inside or outside super, and the trade-offs
- Annual reviews of your cover through ongoing advice, with your health, family and work in mind
- Someone in your corner if you ever need to claim
Going directly to an insurer can mean no separate advice fee, but you’ll only see that insurer’s policies, and you’ll generally receive general advice only, which doesn’t consider your personal circumstances.
Going through an online comparison site or broker, you may see more options side by side, but they also generally provide general advice only, which doesn’t consider your whole financial picture.
When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests, which we take personally. The insurer still decides whether to offer cover and on what terms.
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.
Moneysmart says income protection usually bases the benefit on your annual earnings in the 12 months before your illness or injury. How output pay, overtime and allowances are counted is a question to ask each insurer before you apply, because each works out income in its own way.
Keeping payslips and tax returns together helps if an insurer asks for them at claim. We can compare with you how the insurers willing to consider your work approach it, and the insurer decides on any application.
Begin by describing how you’re employed and the days you usually work. Moneysmart notes some policies might only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours, so that’s worth comparing before you apply.
Fair Work notes casuals don’t get most types of paid leave, so if you’re casual, savings matter when you choose a waiting period, the time before payments can start. If you’re on daily hire, the days you’re usually required are worth noting too: under one award, for example, daily hire staff are employed by the day or shift. We can compare this with you, and the insurer decides on any application.
An insurer usually asks about your job, and your duties help it understand the work. List what you actually do: knife work at a station, saws or other powered equipment, packing and labelling, work in chilled rooms, inspection or leading a team, with a rough split of your week.
The duty when applying for consumer life cover is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation. In practice, that means answering the questions asked with reasonable care. Insurers each assess an application their own way, and we can go through the questions with you.
Questions about residency can be part of an application. An insurer may want to know your visa subclass, how long you’ve been in Australia and whether you plan to stay, and it decides how those answers come into its assessment.
Give accurate answers to each question. We can help you prepare the application and compare cover with you. Questions about the visa itself are for a registered migration agent or a legal practitioner.
Income protection and TPD look at whether an illness or injury, physical or psychological, stops you working as the policy defines it. Each policy’s terms shape how a claim is assessed and can limit or exclude mental health conditions.
Workers compensation sits apart from a policy in your own name. Each scheme sets who qualifies, its own rules for psychological injury and who decides any claim, and a labour hire agency that places you may be your employer rather than the plant.
We can help you understand how cover and its conditions treat a mental health condition linked to a serious incident at work.
Free, confidential support is available from Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 and Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Begin with cover that comes through work or super. Any cover that comes through your employer may not continue once you leave, so it’s worth asking your employer or fund before your last day. If you stay with the same super fund as you move between jobs, any insurance you have there will usually stay with that fund.
If you move your super, you may lose any insurance that comes with your account. If you hold a policy outside super, it was issued on its own terms, and the policy wording sets when those terms can change, so it’s worth reading before you change or replace it. We can go through it with you.
That comes down to the definition. Moneysmart describes own occupation as being unable to work again in the job you were working in before your disability, and says it’s usually only available outside super.
Any occupation is the other type. Its test is being unable to ever work again in any job suited to your education, training or experience, so skills such as grading, quality assurance or training others may come into it. We can compare the wording with you before you apply, and the insurer decides on any claim.
Moving from casual or daily hire to permanent work, stepping into the boning room or a leading hand role, or starting at another plant can each be a good reason to book a conversation.
Changes at home count too, such as a new home, a baby or a separation. We can go through your current cover with you, if you hold some, and look at new cover you might apply for. The insurer decides on each application.
Our ongoing advice clients have an annual review with us.
Quote tools can show a price quickly, based on the questions they ask. They may not show how output pay, daily hire or labour hire shapes your income, how your duties are described, or any cover in your super.
Advice starts from your payslips, your duties and your funds. From there, we compare cover with you from the insurers willing to consider your work, and each insurer makes its own decision. A conversation with us is a good place to learn more about the next step on cover.
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.
Yes. Starting out in meat processing, on daily hire or casual, or many years in: we start from the work you do now.
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.
Useful to have on hand: a few recent payslips, last year’s tax return, each super statement, insurance documents if you hold cover, and any letter or contract that shows how you’re employed.
Reviews
Testimonials from Our Clients
Client Success Stories
A Property Sale Became a Full PlanEstimated long term financial benefitApprox $448,000
A Plan to Keep the Family HomeLife cover established$1.2 Million
Cover in Place and Fees LoweredImmediate value$1,055 a year
Super Fees More than HalvedProjected retirement uplift$416k
Income Covered for a New MortgageImmediate value$975 a year
A 13-Year Mortgage Paydown PlanPlanned mortgage paydown13 years
A First Home and Family CoveredImmediate value$1,346 a year
Age Pension Kept After an InheritanceProjected uplift at 90More than $642,000
Grow & Protect Your Wealth Today
Whatever’s on your mind, we’re here to help. You’ll speak with an authorised financial adviser who’ll listen first and get to know what matters to you.
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