Life Insurance and Income Protection for Chefs and Cooks
Income Protection for Chefs and Cooks and Their Families
Your kitchen duties, how you’re paid and any cover through super all play a part in choosing cover. We can help you describe your duties, compare cover and apply, and lodge a claim with you.
Financial Advice for Life Insurance and Income Protection
Who We Help
- Apprentice chefs in their first kitchens
- Commis chefs, chefs de partie and other cooks paid under an award
- Sous and head chefs weighing a salary against the hours
- Casual cooks working one kitchen or more
- Labour hire cooks covering shifts for kitchens that need relief
- Institutional cooks cooking for residents, patients or students
- Pastry chefs and cooks in restaurant, hotel or catering kitchens
- Chefs on temporary visas working in Australian kitchens
- Cooks with two employers and pay coming from each
- Chefs changing kitchens or roles and checking cover, if they hold any
We Can Help You
- Describe your station, prep, service and kitchen management duties for a cover application
- Ask each insurer with you which pay it counts, from base and penalty rates to overtime, allowances or a salary
- Compare any minimum hours rule in a policy with a casual or part-time roster
- Match an income protection waiting period to how many weeks off work your savings could carry
- Compare how each policy defines disability for station, prep or head chef work
- Compare TPD wording that looks at your own job, or any job suited to your education, training or experience, with your kitchen skills
- List every fund from your kitchen jobs with any cover, premiums and the occupation on file
- Work out life and TPD amounts from any debts and the people relying on you
- Talk through cover when a salary, a new kitchen or casual work changes how you’re paid
- Lodge a claim with you, with payslips, duties and hours from each kitchen gathered for the insurer or fund
What we advise on
How Each Cover Works Around Kitchen Work
Income Protection
Away from the kitchen for a while through illness or injury, how would you keep the household running?
Part of your income can be paid after a waiting period, subject to the policy’s definitions and the insurer’s assessment.
We’ll weigh income protection with you against your kitchen duties and the way you’re paid.
Income protection usually works from your earnings in the 12 months before the 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:
- Any penalty rates and split shift allowances in the 12 months before an illness or injury, and which ones an insurer counts
- A minimum number of weekly hours in some policies, compared with a casual or part-time roster
- Casual shifts with no sick pay behind them, and how many weeks of savings a waiting period could take
- Waiting periods, which Moneysmart says are usually between 14 days and two years, chosen against your savings and leave
- Each policy’s definition of disability, checked against the station, prep or management work you usually do
- Cover in a fund from an earlier kitchen, if you hold it, compared with a policy outside super on waiting and benefit periods
- Premiums paid inside or outside super, with the tax on each route a question for an accountant
- A change from award pay to a salary, and how the 12 months of earnings a policy works from could change
Life Insurance
Thinking of the people at home, what would they need covered if you were no longer here?
Life cover can pay your beneficiaries a lump sum for debts, bills and the years ahead.
We can work out a life cover amount with you from any debts and the people relying on your income.
Life insurance can pay a lump sum if you pass away, to the beneficiaries you nominate or to your estate. When you apply, insurers usually ask about your age and job. Life cover held through super can only be paid to eligible people or your estate, under the fund’s rules.
What we work through for life cover:
- Rent or a home loan, if you have one, totalled with any car finance and household bills to set a lump sum
- Any life cover in your super funds, including funds from earlier kitchens, counted towards a total
- Life cover early in your kitchen career, before anyone relies on your pay, and when that could change
- Life cover packaged with TPD or trauma, where a payment from one part may reduce the life amount
- Split shifts and long services described as they are when a life insurer asks about your work
- Both partners’ cover, if you have a partner, so each income in the home is counted
- Money you send to family overseas, if you do, counted when you weigh what the people relying on you would need
- A life cover amount worth checking again after a salary step, a home loan or a new child
TPD Insurance
Could the plans you’ve made at home still go ahead if you could never work again?
Total and permanent disability (TPD) cover can pay a lump sum if you can’t work again, as the policy defines it.
Together, we’ll weigh each TPD definition against the skills your kitchen work builds.
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. Skills such as menu planning, costing and training others may come into how an any occupation test is read.
What we compare with you for TPD:
- Own occupation wording, usually held outside super, which looks at whether you could return to your usual kitchen job
- Menu planning, costing, ordering and training others, and how an any occupation test might read those skills
- The TPD definition in each super fund you belong to, read before anything is combined or cancelled
- The occupation each fund or policy has on record for you, compared with the work you do now
- Cover from a fund you joined as an apprentice, if you hold it, and whether its TPD definition fits your work now
- What you owe today plus the years of kitchen pay you’d expect to earn, as a starting point for a TPD amount
- A cookery qualification, if you hold one, and how an any occupation definition may read your training
- Leaving kitchens for another career, and which job a policy would then treat as your usual occupation
Trauma Insurance
During treatment for a serious illness, how could the costs and the time off work be met?
A lump sum can be paid when a listed condition meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.
Together, we’ll go over what a trauma policy lists, and how a lump sum could work alongside income protection.
A trauma policy can pay a lump sum when a listed condition meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded. Medical definitions can differ between insurers, and we can help you understand which conditions a policy lists. 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 listed condition’s definition, read with you so you know what a policy would need to see
- Partial payments for some conditions, where a policy offers them, and how they affect the rest of the cover
- A trauma premium weighed against everything else your kitchen pay already covers
- Rent or home loan repayments and bills while you’re off work for treatment, paid from a lump sum if a claim is accepted
- Casual kitchen shifts you can’t take during treatment, which go unpaid without sick leave
- Trauma cover in a fund from an earlier kitchen, if that fund offered it before July 2014 and you still hold it
- Treatment and travel costs a lump sum could help with, if a trauma claim is accepted
- How trauma premiums and payouts are treated for tax, confirmed with an accountant
Cover in Super
What does any cover in your super offer for the kitchen work you do today?
Checking each fund before anything changes shows what cover it holds and what its premiums take from your balance.
We’ll check each fund with you before anything is combined, cancelled or changed.
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 product disclosure statement (PDS). Increasing it usually means the insurer assesses you, like any other application. Moneysmart notes that with more than one fund, you may be paying premiums on more than one insurance policy.
What we look at in your super with you:
- Funds opened through different kitchens, read side by side for their cover, costs and definitions
- A new kitchen paying into your existing fund unless you choose another, with a default fund only if you have none
- Your occupation as each fund records it, and contacting the fund if it’s wrong, as Moneysmart suggests
- Cover in a new fund before you’re 25, which may need asking for depending on your job and your fund
- Default cover amounts, which a fund sets, compared with your own debts and the people relying on you
- Premiums coming out of a small balance, if you have one, and what each fund says a low balance means for cover
- Rolling a fund from an earlier kitchen into another, if you plan to, after checking the insurance you may lose
- Smaller contributions from casual or part-time years, if you’ve had them, and what each fund’s cover costs against that balance
Penalty Rates, Salary and Casual Pay
With pay that can change from week to week, how would an insurer see what you earn?
Showing clearly how you’re paid can make it easier for an insurer to understand your income.
Together, we’ll show clearly how you’re paid for any application or claim.
Moneysmart says income protection usually bases the benefit on your annual earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury, so it’s worth asking each insurer how it works out income. Under the Restaurant Industry Award, for example, weekend, public holiday and late-night work each carry their own rates, and casuals receive a 25% loading.
What we set out with you on pay:
- Saturday, Sunday and public holiday rates, listed so an insurer can see how often you work them
- Late-night work and its extra rates, set out with the rest of your pay for an application
- Overtime on long services, and whether an insurer counts overtime pay in your earnings
- Split shift and tool allowances, and which of them a policy’s definition of income includes
- Casual loading on each hour you work, and how an insurer treats it when it works out what you earn
- An annualised salary, where penalty and overtime pay may be built into one figure, described as it is
- Pay from two employers, if you have them, added together where a policy’s income definition counts both
- Payslips and tax returns kept from each kitchen, so your income can be shown for an application or a claim
Kitchen Duties and Hours
Could a clear picture of your kitchen work help cover fit the job you do?
Describing your work as it is can help an insurer assess the job you do.
Together, we’ll describe your duties as they are for any application, and how each fund records them.
Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply. Jobs and Skills Australia lists tasks for chefs such as planning menus, estimating food and labour costs and ordering supplies, and for cooks such as preparing food for special dietary needs and training other kitchen staff. Since 5 October 2021, when you apply for consumer life cover, your duty is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, which means answering the questions asked with reasonable care.
What we describe with you on duties and hours:
- Prep and a station, described by the tasks you do and the hours spent on each
- Cooking through service, and how many services you work in a usual week
- Pastry work, including any early starts, described as part of a usual week
- Ordering, costing, menus and rosters, if they’re part of your role, described beside the hands-on work
- Training apprentices or other kitchen staff, which Jobs and Skills Australia lists among a cook’s tasks
- Split shifts and your total hours in a week, set out with care when an application asks
- Cooking in a hospital, aged care or school kitchen, described by the tasks and hours involved
- A move into running a kitchen, and how you’d describe the new mix of duties on an application
When to Review Your Cover
Might your cover, if you hold any, need another look as your kitchen work or home life changes?
New roles, new kitchens or changes at home can each be a good moment to look at cover again.
Together, we’ll go through any cover you hold and how it sits with your work and home life now.
In kitchens, the way you’re paid can change with a new role, a new employer or a move off casual shifts. 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.
Changes in kitchen work or at home worth raising with us in a conversation:
- Qualifying as a cook or chef, and whether a fund or policy, if you hold one, still lists you as an apprentice
- Moving from award pay to a salary, and what the change could mean for the income a policy works from
- A permanent kitchen role after casual shifts, and what paid leave could mean for an income protection waiting period
- Joining an agency for relief shifts, and how hours across different kitchens could show up in an application
- A move to a hospital, aged care or school kitchen, and how the new duties and hours would be described
- Leaving a kitchen, and asking your employer or fund before your last day, as any cover through your employer may not continue once you leave
- Changing visas, if you’re on one, and the residency questions an insurer may ask about your plans
- A partner, a child or a home loan arriving, and how much the household would then rely on your pay
Making a Claim
When forms, reports and follow-up calls come with a claim, what would make it easier to manage?
Having a financial adviser lodge it with you, and follow it up, can leave more room for recovery and family.
We can lodge a claim alongside you and stay with each step while the insurer or fund assesses it.
An insurer can ask for details of your work duties, including physical requirements, and the number of hours you work each week, along with payslips and tax returns. The insurer or fund assesses the claim, and a complaint goes first to them, then to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). Workers compensation is separate, through a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme, and each scheme sets who qualifies.
How we help with a claim:
- Who to contact first, whether a fund, an insurer or us where we gave the advice
- Your station, prep and service duties, physical requirements and weekly hours from before the illness or injury
- Payslips from every kitchen you worked for in the year before, and your tax return, to show earnings
- Medical reports and test results an insurer asks for, where the insurer may ask your permission to contact your doctor
- Workers compensation, if you claim it, decided by its scheme, with any insurance claim lodged together with you
- Sick leave or other payments you receive, and how a policy’s terms treat them alongside a benefit
- A return on fewer shifts, and what the policy’s terms say about partial payments during it
- Complaints about a claim decision, which start with the insurer or fund before AFCA can look at them
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 station and duties: Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply. Prep, a station, service, ordering or running a kitchen can each be part of a week, so describing your usual mix gives an accurate picture of the work.
- Hours across the week: Your total weekly hours, including split shifts and long services, are worth setting out, as some policies only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours.
- Base pay, penalties and overtime: Income protection usually works from your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury. It’s worth asking each insurer how it works out income, and which of your rates and allowances it counts.
- A salary or annualised wage: A salary can bring together pay that an award would list separately. Setting out the salary, and any hours agreed with it, shows your income as it is.
- Casual or agency shifts: Fair Work notes casuals don’t get most types of paid leave, so the savings you could draw on are part of choosing a waiting period. Shifts from different agency placements can be listed together.
- Funds from earlier kitchens: If you joined a fund through an earlier kitchen job, it may hold its own cover and take its own premiums. Checking each fund shows what you hold before anything is combined.
- Your visa or residency: When you apply, some insurers ask about your visa type, how long you’ve been in Australia and your plans to stay. Answering these questions accurately matters, and the insurer decides how they come into its assessment.
- Fewer shifts for a while: If you’re back on fewer shifts after time off, the policy’s definitions set how reduced hours are treated, and the insurer assesses each claim.
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 Kitchen Work, Worked Through Together
Kitchen Duties Set Out
Your station, prep and service work, and any management duties, described accurately for an application.
Kitchen Pay Shown Clearly for an Insurer
Base pay, penalty rates, overtime and allowances set out, with each insurer asked which it counts.
Casual Shifts Weighed Against a Waiting Period
Savings and any leave compared with the waiting periods on offer, if you work casual or part time.
Cover in Super Checked Fund by Fund
The cover and recorded occupation in each fund you hold, checked with you before anything changes.
TPD Wording Checked Against Kitchen Skills
Own and any occupation definitions compared with skills your kitchen work builds, such as menus, costing or training others.
Life Cover Amounts Worked Out
An amount worked out with you from your debts, if you have any, and the people relying on your income.
Cover Checked Before a Salary Step
Cover you hold, if any, checked with you before a move from award pay to a salary.
A Kitchen Worker’s Claim Lodged With You
Records from each kitchen gathered with you, and each step followed up while the insurer or fund assesses it.
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 Chefs and Cooks
Good cooking is a skill built one service at a time, with speed, care and a palate you trust. People remember a meal you made long after the plates are cleared, and most of the work happens while others sit down to eat. Our first step is getting to know you: how you work, what you’re working towards and the people who matter to you. From there, we’ll help you shape a plan that fits how you’re paid and the life you’d like outside work.
Planning ahead can help the pay from each week do more at home. It could go towards a home deposit, a trip with the people you love, study for a new direction or more freedom in the years ahead. If others rely on your income, they can be part of the plan from the start. We can review the plan with you each year, so it keeps pace with your work, your household and the goals you’ve set.
If illness or injury kept you from your work in the kitchen, 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 from a wide range of insurers with you. 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 Chefs and Cooks
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 in the kitchen, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
Kitchen work can mean prep, a station, service or running a kitchen, as an apprentice, a casual, agency, award or salaried cook or chef. 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 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
- 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 an illness or injury. What counts within those earnings depends on the policy, so it’s worth asking each insurer how it works out income, including penalty rates, overtime, allowances and casual loading.
Payslips and tax returns from across the year show the pattern of your pay. We can ask those questions with you when we compare policies, and the insurer decides on any application.
Fair Work notes casuals don’t get most types of paid leave, even if they work regularly for a long time. Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period if illness or injury stops you working, subject to the policy’s terms and the insurer’s assessment.
Two points matter for casual work. Some policies only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours each week, so your usual hours are worth setting out. And the waiting period you choose can be weighed against the savings you’d draw on in the meantime. We can compare options with you, and the insurer decides on any application.
Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply, and your duties are part of that. In a kitchen, they might include prep, a station, service, ordering, costing, rosters or training apprentices, in a mix that changes from one role to the next.
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 an application in its own way. We can help you set out your work as it is.
It depends on the insurer. Some insurers ask about your visa type, how long you’ve been in Australia and your plans to stay, and how your answers come into an assessment is the insurer’s decision.
It’s important to answer these questions accurately. We can compare what each insurer asks with you, but we don’t advise on visas: a registered migration agent or a legal practitioner can.
If the new role is with a new employer, 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, any insurance you have there will usually stay with that fund.
Then look at the cover itself. A salary may change the earnings an income protection policy works from, and a home loan or family plans may change the amounts you’d want. Cover you already hold was issued on its own terms, and the policy wording sets when those terms can change, so it’s worth reading before you alter or replace the cover. We can go through it with you.
It depends on the 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.
Jobs and Skills Australia lists tasks for chefs such as planning menus, estimating food and labour costs and ordering supplies, and notes they may train staff. Under an any occupation test, skills like these may be taken into account. The insurer assesses any claim. We can read each definition with you against the work you do.
Finishing an apprenticeship, moving from award pay to a salary, going from casual to permanent or starting with an agency can each change how you’re paid and what you’d want from cover. So can a new home, a new baby or a separation.
We’ll look at any cover you hold in a fund or policy and compare options with you, and the insurer decides on each application. Our ongoing advice clients have an annual review with us.
Online forms work from what you type in, and they can be a handy way to see a price. They may not show how penalty rates, overtime, casual loading or a salary come into income protection, or how a policy reads split shifts and hours that change.
Moneysmart notes that if an insurer doesn’t ask for your medical history, it may mean that the policy has more exclusions or narrower policy definitions. With advice, we look at the kitchen work you do, how you’re paid, any cover in your super funds and what your household would want. We compare cover from a wide range of insurers with you, and 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. Apprentices, casual cooks and head chefs can all start here, and we begin with your week in the kitchen and how you’re paid.
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. Recent payslips, statements from each super fund and any insurance papers you hold are handy to have, and together we’ll choose a sensible next step.
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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