Life Insurance and Income Protection for Bus and Train Drivers
Income Protection for Bus and Train Drivers and Their Families
Driving medicals, shift and penalty pay, and any cover through your employer or super can each shape the personal cover that suits you. We can help you review any cover you hold, compare policies and lodge a claim with you.
Financial Advice for Life Insurance and Income Protection
Who We Help
- Bus drivers on split shifts with an unpaid break in the middle of the day
- School and charter drivers on part-year or part-time hours
- Coach drivers on long-distance passenger runs
- Metro and regional train drivers working the passenger network
- Freight rail drivers hauling bulk and container trains
- Tram and light rail drivers working city and suburban lines
- Drivers on medical review wanting to understand any cover they hold
- Second-career drivers who came to driving after other work
- Driver trainers and supervisors moving off daily driving
We Can Help You
- Describe your type of driving, any split shifts and your usual hours on an insurance application
- Read how income protection and TPD definitions treat being unable to drive while able to do other work
- Check whether own occupation TPD is offered for your driving work, and compare any occupation wording for depot, control or training roles
- Check how an income protection policy defines income for broken-shift, early, late and weekend pay
- Plan the waiting period on income protection around how many weeks any accumulated leave and savings would last
- Review any insurance before any change of operator on your routes or any move of your super to another fund
- Look at the life insurance and income protection that may still suit you later in a driving career, with the insurer assessing
- Weigh benefit periods and cover end ages against the age you plan to stop driving
- Keep super nominations pointing to eligible people, and personal policy nominations to the people you choose, as your household changes
- Lodge an income protection or TPD claim with you, with payslips showing penalty and broken-shift pay, while the insurer assesses it
What we advise on
How Each Cover Works Around Bus and Rail Driving
Income Protection
During time out of the cab through illness or injury, what could keep part of your pay coming in?
Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period, helping the household keep up with its bills.
We’ll explain the way income protection works around shift and penalty pay, and a job that comes with medicals.
Income protection usually replaces a percentage of your pre-tax income if illness or injury stops you working, after a waiting period. The benefit is usually based on your earnings in the 12 months before the illness or injury, and each policy has its own definition of being unable to work. Waiting periods can run from 14 days to 2 years, and benefits can be paid for 2 or 5 years or to an age such as 65.
What we work through with you on income protection:
- Sick leave banked at one operator, if you have it, and how many weeks of waiting it would carry
- School runs or charter bookings on casual terms, with savings rather than sick pay covering the wait
- Split-shift penalties and early, late or weekend rates, matched to the earnings definition in each policy wording
- Fewer driving days after a health change, and whether a policy’s partial payment wording reaches reduced earnings
- Day-only or school-run work, and whether a policy’s hours threshold still fits a shorter driving week
- A road or depot injury, and how a compensation scheme’s weekly payments may reduce what income protection pays
- Cover your fund may already include for time off through illness or injury, checked for when it starts paying and when it stops
- Overtime and extra runs worked in the last year, and whether the policy counts them as income
Life Insurance
For the people who count on your driving pay, what would remain to cover the bills if you were no longer here?
Life cover can pay your beneficiaries a lump sum towards any debts, household costs and the plans you share.
We can work out a life cover amount with you from any debts, your household’s needs and any cover in super.
Life insurance can pay a lump sum if you pass away, and some policies also pay on a terminal illness that meets their definition. Insurers usually ask about your age and job when you apply. Where no beneficiary is named, your estate or the super trustee may decide who receives the money.
What we work through for life cover:
- A sum insured revisited as any home loan shrinks ahead of your last year of driving
- Any life amount sitting in a fund from a past operator, depot or other job, totalled with you
- Any partner or family whose budget leans on your penalty and weekend pay, counted when the amount is set
- The people each fund and private policy names, with any super nomination tested against who can legally receive super
- The usual stopping age of 70 for life cover in super, compared with private cover running on its own policy terms
- Linked TPD or trauma inside a life contract, where an earlier claim on either may cut the life sum still insured
- The life amount paid early on a terminal illness, in policies that offer it, and the medical evidence each policy’s definition requires
- Shift-based pay counted at a realistic level when life cover is sized to replace years of driving income
TPD Insurance
Should work end for good, in the cab or out of it, how would your plans still be paid for?
Paid as a lump sum, TPD cover can go towards debts and the years ahead if you meet the policy’s definition.
Together, we’ll read the TPD definitions a policy offers for your work against a career built on driving.
TPD insurance may pay a lump sum if illness or injury leaves you unable to work again, under the policy’s own definition. Own occupation looks at your usual job, while any occupation looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience. Own occupation cover is usually only available outside super, and which definitions are offered depends on the policy and the insurer.
What we compare with you for TPD:
- Depot, control room or timetabling jobs your years of driving might qualify you for, under an any occupation test
- Own occupation terms for driving work, if a policy offers them, a type of cover generally bought outside super
- Each fund’s test for permanent disability, set side by side before any change of operator or any account is closed
- The usual end age of 65 for TPD in super, set beside the year you expect to finish driving
- Wording based on everyday tasks, found in some TPD policies, set against the work-based tests in the same contract
- A combined life and TPD sum, where a disability claim may draw down the amount left for your beneficiaries
- One payment for permanent disability and regular income protection payments for time off, weighed as a pair before you stop driving
- Super’s tax rules on a disability lump sum, including any tax-free portion, worked through by your accountant
Trauma Insurance
Following a serious diagnosis, how could treatment and weeks away from driving be paid for?
Trauma cover can help with costs through a lump sum, for a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.
We’ll start with the conditions a trauma policy lists, and how a lump sum would sit beside income protection.
On diagnosis of a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded, trauma insurance can pay a lump sum. Medical definitions can be different between insurers, and trauma insurance does not cover mental health conditions. 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:
- Medical definitions for each covered illness and injury on a trauma policy, set beside other insurers’ versions
- Lower-tier payouts some trauma policies make when a covered illness is found early
- Time off driving for treatment, and how a one-off trauma payment and monthly income protection could each play a part
- Penalty and weekend rates missed while you’re in treatment, factored into the size of a trauma payout
- New cover for serious illness bought from your take-home pay, since a fund can no longer hold it
- Any trauma contract taken out earlier in your working life, compared clause by clause with anything newer
- A long course of treatment out of the cab, funded from a lump sum, leave balances and savings together
- Whether trauma premiums can be claimed and whether a payout is taxed, both questions for your accountant
Cover in Super
How closely does any cover in your super match your driving work and the years you plan to keep at it?
Reading each fund’s cover before any change can show what you hold and what still suits you.
We can read any super cover with you and set out any changes in a financial plan, or Statement of Advice.
Most funds automatically give life and TPD cover to members aged 25 or over whose balance has reached $6,000, and some also give income protection. 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. Any waiting and benefit periods are the ones your fund’s insurance terms offer or set by default.
What we look at in your super with you:
- Any fund left over from an earlier job, with its life and TPD amounts written down before anything is merged
- Your fund’s record of your job, which may still show work you did before driving, corrected with the fund
- A fund joined later in your career, and any health history terms in its PDS that limit automatic insurance
- Changing funds past 60, when you may not be able to get the cover you want, weighed before any switch
- Insurance costs taken from your super account, which can weigh more in the final years before retiring
- Two funds charging for overlapping life or TPD cover, and which one’s terms suit your driving work
- The age each fund’s insurance usually ends, lined up with the year you expect to drive your last shift
- An operator’s preferred fund, compared with any insurance your current fund gives you before any switch
Medicals and Your Cover
Alongside the medicals that come with driving, how could knowing what any cover’s definitions say help you plan?
Knowing that a driving medical and an insurer’s definition are separate tests helps you see what each one decides.
We can explain how any cover you hold reads alongside a medical finding about your driving.
Rail operators run health assessments for drivers that generally come more often as you get older, and a finding can include being temporarily or permanently unfit, or fit for alternative duties. Bus employers can require periodic medicals about the inherent requirements of the job, and licence medical rules differ between states and territories. An insurer applies the policy’s own definition, so a finding about driving and a claim are assessed separately.
What we read with you around your medicals:
- A medical finding and an insurance definition, read side by side as two separate tests
- Time stood down from driving while a finding is reviewed, and how each policy treats time away from driving duties
- Alternative duties in the depot or control room, and how a policy’s definition of being unable to work reads them
- A permanent finding about driving, and how any occupation TPD wording looks at other work your training suits
- An application’s health questions answered with reasonable care, the duty when applying for consumer life cover since 5 October 2021
- Any health matter monitored at your medicals, described on an application exactly as the questions ask
- Any cover you hold read through at a quiet time, so its definitions are familiar before you ever need them
- A finding that leaves you fit subject to review, and any cover looked at while the review runs
Cover Later in Your Driving Career
With a finishing date in view, what could cover still do for you and anyone at home?
Cover planned around the years before you stop driving can keep your choices open as that date gets closer.
Together, we’ll set out cover that suits the years before you stop driving, with the insurer assessing any application.
An insurer usually asks about your age, job and health when you apply, and decides whether to offer cover and on what terms. If you’re over 60 or have a pre-existing medical condition, changing funds may mean you can’t get the cover you want. 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.
What we plan with you as your finishing date comes closer:
- An income protection benefit period weighed against the age you plan to stop driving
- Cover you already hold, read on its own terms before anything is replaced with a newer policy
- Any policy taken out before you started driving, read for how it describes your occupation now
- Life cover looked at against any debts that remain and what your household would need
- Cutting back to part-time before retiring, and how lower earnings in the 12 months before any illness or injury could shape a benefit
- Cover after any partner retires, with the household’s income and needs looked at again
- A fresh application assessed on your health, age and job today, with the insurer deciding any terms
- Premiums on level or stepped cover compared over the years left before you stop driving
Making a Claim
From the first form to the insurer’s decision, how could a claim be made easier to follow?
Support with the paperwork and the follow-up can give you more time for your health and family while the insurer assesses.
We’ll lodge a claim with you and keep in touch with the insurer while it assesses the claim.
Moneysmart suggests that if you bought cover through an insurance broker or financial adviser, you speak to them first. An insurer can ask for medical reports, details of your work duties, including physical requirements, and the hours you work each week, along with payslips. The insurer assesses the claim, and a complaint goes first to the insurer or, for cover in super, the fund, then to AFCA if it isn’t resolved.
How we help with a claim:
- A claim made while stood down from driving, with the operator’s paperwork kept separate from the insurer’s
- Your routes, lines, vehicles and shift spread written up for the period before the illness or injury
- Pay records showing split-shift and weekend rates, collected with you so the insurer sees your usual earnings
- Hospital and clinic reports on your fitness to drive, which the insurer will ask your permission to see
- A road or depot injury, where the scheme runs the workers compensation side and we handle the insurer’s forms with you
- Any part payments while you drive fewer shifts or work in the depot, with current hours and pay reported to the insurer
- Insurer forms that keep arriving through a long stretch away from driving, filled in with you
- Overtime and shift swaps worked in the months beforehand, shown in any roster records the insurer asks for
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 driving work: Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply. Route, school, charter and coach driving, and suburban, freight and tram driving, can make for quite different days, so your day-to-day duties are part of describing your work accurately.
- Your shifts and hours: Early starts, late finishes and broken shifts can all be part of a driving week. Some policies only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours each week, which is worth checking before any cut to your hours.
- How you’re paid: Income protection is usually based on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury. How each policy defines income decides whether penalty, weekend and broken-shift pay are counted in that figure.
- Your medicals: Driving can come with health assessments, and for rail drivers they generally come more often as you get older. A finding about driving and an insurer’s definition are separate tests, and application questions are answered with reasonable care.
- Cover through the job: Any cover that comes with the job, whether through your employer, an agreement or super, has its own terms. It’s worth knowing what that cover is, and whether it would continue after a change of employer, before relying on it. Any workplace accident and illness program is explained by its provider, and we take what you hold into account when planning personal cover.
- A new operator or employer: A contract change can mean a new employer, and sometimes a choice about your super fund. Sick leave is generally recognised when there’s a transfer of business, while any cover through the old employer may not continue.
- Other duties or fewer shifts: Alternative duties, a move into training or the depot, or part-time hours can change your working week. An insurer may ask about your current duties and hours, so how a policy records your occupation is worth reading.
- Your finishing date: Income protection benefit periods can run to an age, cover in super usually ends at set ages, and premiums paid from super can matter more as retirement gets closer, so the age you plan to stop driving shapes each choice.
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 | A wide range | 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
- A wide range
- 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 Bus and Rail Driving, Worked Through Together
Driving Duties and Shifts Described
Your type of driving, shift pattern and weekly hours described accurately on any application.
Medicals and Definitions Side by Side
What a driving medical decides and what a policy’s definitions look at, read through with you.
Shift and Penalty Pay Documented
Broken-shift, early, late and weekend pay set out for an income protection application.
Fund Cover and End Ages Listed
The cover in any super fund, with the age each cover usually ends, listed in one place.
Cover Checked Before an Operator Change
Any employer and super cover looked at before any change of operator on your routes or lines.
Benefit Period Weighed Against Retirement Plans
The periods a policy offers for income protection, weighed against the age you plan to stop driving.
Nominations Reviewed With You
Beneficiary nominations looked at again, in each fund against super’s eligibility rules and in each policy with you.
Claims Followed Through With You
Paperwork for any claim lodged with you, and the insurer followed up until it decides.
Proactive, Holistic, and Experienced Financial Planning
Knowing what each cover does, in plain words, comes before any decision. We begin by hearing how your driving work and shifts run, how you’re paid and what you’d like your cover to do for you and anyone close to you. We explain each type of cover at a pace that suits you and answer questions as they come up. You’ll usually receive our recommendations in writing, and each decision stays with you.
Around those conversations, we carry the paperwork with you. With your consent, we can request insurance details from any super fund that holds cover for you, prepare what an application needs and keep in touch with insurers while they assess it. Your partner, or anyone in the family you’d like there, can sit in on any meeting. Should a claim ever be needed, we lodge it with you and keep you informed until the insurer reaches its decision.
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 Bus and Train Drivers
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 driving work, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
Driving work can come with medicals, early, late and broken shifts, penalty and weekend pay, and any cover through your employer or super. Each can affect how an insurer assesses an application and how a policy pays, so your duties, hours, pay and any cover you hold are what we look at first.
With a financial adviser, you also have:
- Access to a wide range of insurers, who can assess the same health details differently
- 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
- Reviews as your health, family and work change
- 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.
They are two separate tests. A driving medical looks at whether you can do your current driving duties, and a rail finding can include being temporarily or permanently unfit, or fit for alternative duties. An insurer applies the policy’s own definition.
Income protection can pay when illness or injury leaves you unable to work as the policy defines it, and any occupation TPD looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience. Under an any occupation definition, depot or training roles your experience suits may be part of how the insurer assesses a TPD claim. We can read the definitions with you before you choose cover.
Free, confidential support is available from Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 and Lifeline on 13 11 14.
It depends on the policy. Some income protection policies pay a partial benefit when you return to work in a reduced capacity, such as alternative duties or fewer shifts, usually based on how far your earnings fall. Partial benefit terms differ between policies, and some only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours each week.
The insurer assesses whether the policy’s definition is met, and payslips from before and after the change help show the difference in pay. Reading the partial benefit and hours wording before anything changes shows how a policy would treat the move. We can go through it with you and lodge any claim with you.
An insurer usually looks at your age, job and health when you apply, and decides whether to offer cover and on what terms. Each application is assessed on its own merits.
Income protection benefit periods can run to an age such as 65, while TPD cover in super usually ends at 65 and life cover at 70. If you’re over 60 or have a pre-existing medical condition, changing funds may mean you can’t get the cover you want. 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. We can look at any cover you hold and any new application with you.
It depends on how the policy defines income. The benefit is usually based on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury, and each policy sets out whether penalty, weekend and broken-shift pay count towards that figure.
If you worked fewer shifts in that window, or moved to day-only work, the income figure may reflect the change. Payslips that show each part of your pay help an insurer see what you earned. We can read the income definition with you before you apply, and set out your pay clearly on any application.
Any cover that comes through your employer may not continue once you work for a new one. When you start a new job, your employer generally pays into your existing super fund unless you choose another; a default fund applies only if you have no fund. If you do join a new fund, its default cover can carry pre-existing condition rules.
Sick leave is generally recognised when there’s a transfer of business, and whether a contract change counts as one is a question for Fair Work, HR or any union. Any cover you hold personally sits on its own policy terms, separate from your employer. We can review each layer of cover with you before the change.
There’s no single rule for it. The amount comes from what you’d want covered: any debts still owing, who relies on your income and for how long, and the costs your household would face.
As any home loan shrinks or fewer people rely on your pay, the amount needed may fall, while a partner’s retirement can change the household’s income. Life cover in super usually ends at 70, so any cover held outside super, on its own terms, is worth counting too. We can work through the figures with you, and the insurer decides on any new cover.
Online cover can be quick to buy, and a comparison site may line several policies up at once. Those sites generally provide general advice only, which doesn’t consider your personal circumstances.
For a driver, personal advice looks at the medicals that come with the job, broken-shift and penalty pay, sick leave, any cover in super or through your employer, and when you expect to stop driving. Each policy’s definitions are read against that picture before policies from a wide range of insurers are compared. The insurer decides whether to offer cover and on what terms.
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. Bus, rail or tram, early in your driving or close to finishing, we start with the work you do and what you’d like protected.
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, any sick leave balance, each super statement and any policy schedule. Medical records aren’t needed at the first meeting, and from there we’ll map out a sensible next step together.
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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