Life Insurance and Income Protection for Arborists and Tree Surgeons
Income Protection for Arborists and Tree Surgeons and Their Families
Climbing, ground, EWP or consulting duties, how you’re paid, any gear debts and cover through work and super shape your options. We can help you find and apply for cover, review any cover you hold and lodge claims.
Financial Advice for Life Insurance and Income Protection
Who We Help
- Climbers employed by tree businesses
- Contract climbers paid by the day
- Groundies and trainees starting out on a tree crew
- EWP operators on tree crews
- Line clearance crews clearing trees near power lines
- Contract crews on council or utility tree work
- Sole operators running a stump grinder and their own gear
- Owners with a crew on the books
- Consulting arborists writing tree reports
- Climbers moving onto an ABN or into consulting, with cover from an earlier job
We Can Help You
- Set out climbing, EWP, ground and chipper duties as they are for a cover application
- Describe any line clearance or consulting work accurately on an insurance application
- Read disability wording in a policy for ground work you could do while you can’t climb
- Check partial benefits in income protection policies for a staged return to tree work
- Ask with you, from the insurers willing to consider your work, which day rate and job price income counts for income protection
- Weigh an income protection waiting period against the savings you’d have on an ABN
- Size the income protection you’d need from a household budget, not from a storm run
- Read the cover in each super fund, including the occupation it has on record
- Talk through cover if a move to day rates, your own truck or consulting changes your work
- Lodge a claim with you on a tree worker’s personal cover, for the insurer or fund to assess
What we advise on
How Each Cover Works Around Tree Work
Income Protection
When illness or injury stops tree work for a while, what could help at home?
Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period, subject to the policy’s definitions and exclusions.
Together, we’ll compare income protection from the insurers willing to consider your work, around your duties and pay.
A policy can pay a share of your pre-tax income if you can’t work, usually based on earnings in the 12 months before. Each has its own definition of disability and most offer a waiting period between 14 days and two years, and exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities. An insurer usually looks at your job and duties when you apply, and this can affect whether cover is offered, the benefit periods and the amount. The insurer decides.
What we look at with you on income protection:
- Not being able to climb for a while, and the way some policies test your income-earning duties
- A staged return on the chipper or dragging, where some policies pay part of a benefit for reduced capacity
- Assessing trees or quoting as skills a policy may count, if a long claim moves to any occupation wording
- The income you’d need replaced, worked out from household costs rather than your biggest month of storm invoices
- If you’re self-employed, the savings you could live on before a policy could start paying
- Slow weeks between tree jobs, checked against a policy’s minimum hours, if it has one
- Scheme payments for an injury on a tree job, if you qualify, and how a policy treats them alongside its benefit
- Funding the policy from tree work income or your fund, with tax on each route for an accountant
- Business expenses cover, if you run a crew, and whether it’s available and suitable for you
Life Insurance
Is anyone at home relying on what your work with trees pays for?
Beneficiaries can receive a lump sum from life cover, towards debts, everyday costs and plans you’ve made.
We’ll work out a life cover amount with you from your debts and anyone relying on your income.
Life cover can pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries if you pass away, and some policies include terminal illness cover. Moneysmart notes it can help if you have large debts or a mortgage, and insurers usually ask your age and job when you apply. With no beneficiary named, your estate or the super trustee may decide where the money goes.
What we weigh up with you on life cover:
- Chipper or truck finance, as well as debts at home, added to the amount your family would need
- An EWP or stump grinder loan, and whether it sits in your name or the business’s name
- A home loan, if you have one, and the regular bills your tree work pays for
- Old fund statements read side by side, to show any life insurance sitting in accounts from earlier jobs
- Beneficiaries for a super payout: who can be named, and how a written choice can meet each trustee’s rules
- A package joining life and TPD, and how a claim on one part could lower the other
- Climbing, EWP or ground duties on a life application, answered as your work really runs
- A partner’s cover, if you have a partner, and the household income your tree work brings in
TPD Insurance
Could your plans still go ahead if you could never work again?
TPD cover can pay a lump sum if you can’t work again, as the policy defines it, towards debts and plans.
We can explain how TPD definitions read the skills tree work builds, from climbing to assessing trees.
An own occupation definition looks at your usual job, while an any occupation definition looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience. Own occupation cover is usually only available outside super, and some definitions look at everyday activities instead of work. A TPD payment may also reduce any life cover packaged with it.
What we compare with you on TPD:
- Whether your job could get own occupation wording, which is usually only found on separate policies bought outside super
- Whether tree assessing, quoting or training others could count as suited work under any occupation wording
- How a fund’s TPD test reads a climber who can still work on the ground
- The occupation on each fund’s file, set beside the climbing, ground or report work you do
- Everyday activities wording in some TPD policies, which looks at daily tasks rather than a job
- A TPD lump sum weighed against any truck, chipper or EWP debt you’d still owe
- Sizing income protection for time away from trees, then TPD for never returning to work at all
- Mostly writing reports or supervising, and how a TPD definition may then read your job
Trauma Insurance
A serious diagnosis can mean treatment and weeks away from work: what could help with the costs?
A lump sum can be paid for a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.
Together, we’ll read what a trauma policy lists and how a lump sum could sit beside income protection.
A trauma policy lists the conditions it covers, and each has its own definition. Moneysmart notes that medical definitions can be different 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 read with you in a trauma policy:
- Each policy’s medical definitions for a named condition, set out one at a time with you
- Partial payments some policies make for an earlier or less severe condition, read before you compare
- Funding this cover from tree work pay, because new policies of this type can’t sit in super
- Bills in the wait before income protection starts, and whether a trauma lump sum could go towards them
- Truck repayments falling due on an ABN, and where a trauma payment could help while you’re off tree work
- A package with trauma and life together, where trauma claims may lower the life amount
- Newer trauma wording compared with an existing policy, if you hold one, before anything replaces it
- Tax on a trauma lump sum: ask an accountant about it before you rely on those funds
Cover in Super
How does cover in any fund from an earlier job suit your tree work now?
Checking each fund before anything changes can show what it holds and what it costs you.
We can list the cover in each fund you hold with you, and check it before anything changes.
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, and increasing it is usually underwritten like any other application. Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. Premiums are deducted from your super balance.
What we check in each fund with you:
- Funds from before tree work or from earlier crews, each listed with its cover
- Tree work on your fund’s file: if it has your job wrong, Moneysmart suggests contacting them
- Joining a new tree company, and which fund its super payments generally go to, if you have one already
- Starting tree work under 25, where cover in a new fund may need asking for, depending on your job and fund
- What your fund’s PDS says about conditions from before you joined, if you claim while in tree work
- What cover costs in each fund, weighed against the climbing or ground work you do now
- Combining funds from several tree jobs, only after reading the insurance in each one
- A higher amount than a fund’s default, which is usually underwritten, for a household relying on tree work
Climbing, EWP and Ground Work
Would setting out your climbing, EWP or ground work help your cover fit the way you work?
Setting out your duties as they are gives an insurer a clear picture of the work you do.
Together, we’ll set out your duties on any application and check how a policy or fund records them.
Jobs and Skills Australia lists tasks for arborists such as lopping limbs, shaping branches with chain or hand saws and examining trees to assess their condition. A crew can split that work many ways, so what you do is worth writing down. 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 tree work:
- Rope and harness climbing, with the share of your week spent on the ropes
- EWP work, including any licence your EWP work needs, listed as a fact of the job you do
- Chainsaws, chippers and stump grinders you run, each named when an application asks about machines
- Ground crew work such as dragging branches and feeding a chipper, described as the share of work it is
- Felling and removal jobs, including how often you do this work, written up in plain words
- Line clearance near power lines, and any qualification your work requires, stated as part of your duties
- Time assessing trees and writing reports, counted separately from time spent climbing or on the ground
- Any tickets or qualifications you hold, listed so the application matches the work you actually do
Day Rates, Contracts and Your Own Gear
Moving from wages to a day rate or your own truck: what could change for any cover?
Looking at cover before you go can show what changes and what you’d like to apply for.
Together, we’ll go through what changes for cover if you take a day rate, buy a truck or hire a crew.
Moneysmart notes that self-employed people don’t have paid holidays or sick leave, and suggests checking how leaving wages affects cover through your super. A business may have to pay your super if more than half the contract’s value is for your labour, you’re not paid for a set result and you can’t delegate the work, but not under a contract with your company, trust or partnership. An ABN doesn’t settle it, and an accountant or the ATO can confirm.
What we look at with you before the change:
- Sick leave if you’re self-employed, which Moneysmart notes you won’t have, set against how long savings could last
- Insurance through your super, checked before you leave wages for a day rate or your own truck
- Whether a tree company has to pay your super: paid mainly for labour, not a result, on work you can’t delegate
- Your own company, trust or partnership as the contracting party, where the hirer doesn’t have to pay your super
- Saws, a chipper or an EWP included in your price, and how the ATO treats equipment in a contract
- Which income an insurer may count for income protection after a move to day rates or job prices, asked of each insurer
- Life and TPD amounts set against a truck or chipper loan, with any finance through a broker
- Public liability, tools and vehicle insurance, which a general insurance broker can advise on separately from personal cover
When to Review Your Cover
What might a move in tree work or a change at home mean for any cover you hold?
Changes at work or at home can be a good reason to read your cover again.
We can go through what you hold, if anything, beside the tree work you do and your life at home.
Tree work can move from the ground to climbing, from wages to a day rate, or from climbing to consulting. 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 we can read through a policy or fund statement with you. The insurer decides on any new application.
Situations worth raising with us in a conversation:
- Ground crew to climbing, and the occupation on your fund or policy papers
- Climbing to consulting, and how income protection and TPD definitions may read report writing as your usual work
- Moving from wages to contract climbing, and your income if you’re hurt on the job: each workers compensation scheme sets who qualifies
- A first chipper or truck loan, and how much life or TPD you’d weigh against that debt
- Line clearance work or a new utility contract, and how your fund or insurer records the job
- Finishing with a tree business, and the cover questions worth asking before you go
- Starting on a crew before 25, and asking your fund whether insurance starts automatically for your job
- A home loan, a baby or a separation, if that’s your situation, and what your household now needs from cover
Making a Claim
Would it help to have someone beside you for the forms and follow-up in a claim?
Help with forms and follow-up can make a claim easier while the insurer or fund assesses it.
We’ll lodge a claim with you and follow each step while the insurer or fund assesses it.
Moneysmart says to contact whoever you bought the cover through first, and 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, or financial statements if you’re self-employed. The insurer, or the fund for cover in super, assesses the claim, and a complaint goes first to the insurer or fund, then to AFCA.
How we help with a claim:
- Where a claim starts, from each policy’s papers or your fund statement, so you know the first step
- Your climbing, ground, EWP or report duties and normal weekly hours, written up as your work was before you stopped
- Tree company payslips, or your own invoices and books if self-employed, whichever records an insurer wants
- Climbing, dragging or chipper work your doctor is asked about, and the reports an insurer may want
- A tree job injury, and how any workers compensation decision by a scheme sits apart from the insurer’s decision on a policy
- Scheme payments or other money while you can’t do tree work, which a policy may count against its benefit
- Getting back on the chipper before the ropes, and the partial terms some policies set
- Contesting the outcome for your tree work, from the insurer or fund through to 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
- Climbing, EWP or ground work: Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply. Jobs and Skills Australia lists tasks for arborists, and one crew can share them out in different ways, so the mix in your week is part of describing your work accurately.
- Saws, chippers and machines: Chainsaws, chippers, stump grinders and any EWP you use are part of your duties, so it helps to set them out as they are.
- Line clearance and work near power lines: If you clear trees near power lines, that work and any qualification it requires belong in the description of what you do.
- Tree assessments and reports: Time spent assessing trees and writing reports is worth setting out beside any climbing or ground work. A TPD any occupation definition may also take this experience into account.
- Wages, day rates or your own invoices: On wages, paid leave and cover through your employer and fund, if you have them, are the starting point. Under one award, for example, casuals receive a loading instead of annual leave and personal/carer’s leave. If you’re self-employed there’s no paid sick leave, and an insurer can ask for financial statements at claim.
- Storm runs and slower stretches: Income protection usually works from your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury, and some policies only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours. Moneysmart suggests doing a budget to work out how much cover you need.
- Your own truck and gear: Buying a truck, chipper or grinder adds debts and changes your income records. It’s worth asking each insurer how it works out income, and setting life and TPD amounts against what you’d owe.
- Back on the ground for a while: Some policies pay a partial benefit when you work in a reduced capacity and earn less than before. Workers compensation is separate, each scheme sets who qualifies, and other payments may reduce an income protection benefit.
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.
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 Tree Work, Worked Through Together
Tree Work Duties Set Out
Climbing, EWP, ground and chipper work described as it makes up your week on any application.
Line Clearance and Report Work Described
Line clearance, tree assessments and reports set out accurately before you apply.
Disability Wording Read for Ground Work
How a policy treats ground work you could still do, read with you before you apply.
Income Protection Sized From a Household Budget
What you’d need worked out with you from household spending, rather than a storm run, for the insurer to assess.
Day Rate Income Laid Out for an Insurer
Day rates, job prices and records set out, with each insurer asked how it works out income.
Each Fund’s Cover Read
The cover and recorded occupation in each super fund, read with you before anything changes.
Cover Looked at Before a Day Rate or a Truck
Any cover you hold read with you before you take a day rate or buy a truck.
A Tree Work Claim Lodged With You
Your duties, hours and pay records set out with you while the insurer or fund assesses any 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 Arborists and Tree Surgeons
Tree work is a skill few people have, and it takes real care and a good eye. The trees you look after shape streets, parks and backyards, and many will be standing long after the job is done. Our first step is getting to know you: how you work, what matters to you and the people around you. From there, we’ll help you build a plan around the way you’re paid and the life you’d like.
Good runs of work can go further than this month’s bills. They can put something towards a home, time away with the people you love, a truck or a crew of your own, or more freedom later on. Anyone who relies on your income can be part of the plan as well. Whatever you’re working towards, we can review the plan with you each year, so it keeps up with the goals you’ve set.
If illness or injury kept you from working with trees, 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 Arborists and Tree Surgeons
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 work with trees, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
Work with trees can mean climbing, EWP, ground or consulting work, as an employee, a contractor or an owner. Each can affect how an insurer assesses an application and how a policy’s definitions read 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.
The policy’s definitions come first. Each income protection policy has its own definition of disability. Some pay a partial benefit when you work in a reduced capacity and earn less than before.
At claim, an insurer can ask about your work duties, including physical requirements, the hours you work each week and your pay records. We can read the wording with you before you apply, and the insurer decides on any claim.
Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply, and two people on one tree crew can do very different work. It helps to set out the share of your week on each: climbing, EWP, chipper, ground work or reports.
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. Each insurer assesses applications in its own way. We can help you set your work out as it is, and the insurer decides on any application.
Moneysmart says income protection usually bases the benefit on your annual earnings in the 12 months before your illness or injury. On day rates, that can take in busy stretches and slower ones, and how gear in your invoices is treated is a question to ask each insurer.
An insurer can ask for tax returns or financial statements at claim, so it helps to keep records up to date with an accountant. We can compare with you how the insurers willing to consider your work approach this, and the insurer decides on any application.
Workers compensation is separate from personal cover. It runs through a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme, and each scheme sets who qualifies, so being on a contract doesn’t settle the answer either way. The scheme decides any workers compensation claim.
Income protection, if you hold it, has its own terms, and scheme payments may reduce an income protection benefit. We can read your cover with you and plan your finances around where you stand, and the insurer decides on any claim on your policy.
Start with the policy wording. Cover you already hold was issued on its own terms, and the policy wording sets when they can change, so it’s worth reading before you change or replace it. For cover in super, Moneysmart suggests asking what happens to the cover if you change jobs.
A TPD any occupation definition looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience, so assessing trees may come into it. Any new application needs your new duties set out. We can go through this with you, and the insurer decides on any application.
Start with what you’d owe and who would be left to pay it. List your truck, chipper, grinder or EWP finance, and whether each loan is in your name, the business’s name or both. A broker or accountant can explain the loan itself.
Moneysmart notes life cover can help if you have large debts or a mortgage. From there, we can work out amounts with you for business debts and household costs together. Cover in a package may be reduced by a claim on another part, so that’s worth reading too. The insurer decides on any application.
Going from ground crew to climbing, taking a day rate, buying a truck and chipper or moving into consulting can each be a good reason to book a conversation.
At home, a new loan, a baby or a separation can be too. We can read a fund statement or policy with you beside the work you do now, and compare new cover you could apply for. The insurer decides on any application.
Our ongoing advice clients have an annual review with us.
A quote form can be a quick way to see what one seller offers. It may not show how a day on the crew splits between climbing, EWP and dragging, how day rates and job prices move your income, or what sits in your super.
With personal advice, we talk through those things first, read what you hold and compare cover with you from the insurers willing to consider your work. The insurer decides on any application.
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. We start with what you do now, whether you’re a trainee on the chipper, a contract climber or a consulting arborist.
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 helps to bring recent payslips or invoices, your latest tax return, a statement from each super fund, any policy papers you have and a short note of how your week splits across climbing, ground and other work.
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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