Life Insurance and Income Protection for Demolition and Asbestos Removal Workers
Income Protection for Demolition and Asbestos Removal Workers and Their Families
Your duties on each job, how you’re paid and any cover through work and super shape your options. We can help you with applying for cover, reviewing any cover you hold and lodging a claim.
Financial Advice for Life Insurance and Income Protection
Who We Help
- Strip-out and dismantling labourers on building jobs
- Asbestos removalists on Class A work
- Asbestos removalists on Class B work
- Excavator drivers on dismantling jobs
- Casuals and labour hire employees on site for a host
- Supervisors overseeing a licensed job
- Certified workers working towards their next certification
- Licence holders working on their own
- Directors of a company running demolition or removal jobs
- People starting on an ABN or stepping up to supervise, if they hold cover from an earlier job
We Can Help You
- Set out strip-out, machine, removal and supervising duties as they are for a cover application
- Describe Class A or Class B work as it is on an insurance application
- Go through the questions on an insurance application with you, for you to answer with reasonable care
- Explain what income protection disability tests mean for supervising work you could still do
- Look at how some income protection policies can pay a partial benefit during a staged return
- Work out with you how casual, labour hire or ABN pay counts for income protection, among the insurers willing to consider your work
- Talk through how long your money could last during a waiting period, if you apply for income protection
- Trace any insurance in your super funds, along with the job each fund has recorded
- Raise cover in a conversation if supervising, an ABN or your own licence changes what you do
- Work with you on lodging a life, TPD, trauma or income protection claim, which the insurer or fund assesses
What we advise on
How Each Cover Works, and What We Look At With You
Income Protection
If you couldn’t work for a while through illness or injury, what could keep money coming in?
A policy can pay part of your income after a waiting period, subject to its terms and exclusions and the insurer’s assessment.
We can talk through income protection from the insurers willing to consider your work, around your duties and pay.
Income protection can pay a share of your pre-tax income if you can’t work, usually based on your earnings in the 12 months before, and most policies offer a waiting period between 14 days and two years. An insurer usually looks at your job and duties when you apply, and this can affect whether cover is offered, the benefit periods available and the amount. Exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities. The insurer decides on any application.
What we look at with you on income protection:
- How some policies define the material duties of your job at claim time
- Lighter hours or supervising during recovery, with a partial benefit in some policies if earnings fall
- Further into a claim, where some wordings move to work suited to your education, training or experience
- Your monthly costs in a budget, beside the part of your income a policy could replace
- Weeks of savings you’d have if illness or injury stopped you, set beside a policy’s waiting period
- Minimum hours in some policies, and how a quiet patch between jobs compares
- Gaps between jobs, which you’d plan for with savings, since income protection generally relates to illness or injury
- Any scheme income for the same weeks, which could bring a policy’s payment down
- Paying from your bank account or your fund, and tax deductions as a question for an accountant
Life Insurance
Does anyone rely on the income you bring in?
Life cover can pay a lump sum towards debts, everyday costs and the plans you’ve made for others.
We’ll size life cover with you from what you owe and anyone relying on your income.
If you pass away, life cover can pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries, and some policies include terminal illness cover. Moneysmart notes it can help if you have large debts or a mortgage, and insurers usually ask about your age and job when you apply. If you haven’t named a beneficiary, your estate or the super trustee may decide where the money goes.
What we weigh up with you on life cover:
- What you owe and who depends on your income, the starting points for a life amount
- Loans taken on for a licensed business, and whether each is in your name or the company’s
- Statements from each super fund you’ve had, checked for life cover you may not remember
- Beneficiary choices for a super payout, and the trustee’s part in who receives it
- Any amount still there for beneficiaries if a TPD claim comes first, where a policy joins the two covers
- The job question on a life cover form, answered in your own words carefully
- Your pay as a share of household money, and whatever a partner holds, if you have a partner
- An employer’s group cover, if yours offers it, and what could change when you move jobs
TPD Insurance
Would your plans still hold up if you could never work again?
TPD cover can pay a lump sum towards your debts and plans if you can’t work again, as the policy defines it.
We can explain how TPD definitions read the skills you’ve built, from supervising to estimating and training.
An own occupation definition looks at your usual job, and Moneysmart notes that cover is usually only available outside super. An any occupation definition looks at jobs suited to your education, training or experience, and each fund can have its own wording. Some policies use everyday activities instead. A TPD payment may also reduce any life cover packaged with it.
What we compare with you on TPD:
- Whether an own occupation test is open to someone doing your work, which is worth asking first
- What you’ve learned on site, and how an any occupation test looks at your background
- Being unable to return to your old job but able to do other work, under each fund’s test
- What each fund lists as your job, and how that sits with your week now
- Looking after yourself day to day, which some policies test instead of your job
- A TPD payment sized with your loans in mind, if you have them, including any business debt
- Income protection for recovery time, TPD if you can’t go back, and where each fits your plan
- Supervising full time, and how that changes the job a TPD test looks at
Trauma Insurance
Could a lump sum help with treatment costs and time off after a serious diagnosis?
Cover of this kind can pay a lump sum for a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.
We’ll read a trauma policy’s list with you, and how a lump sum could sit beside income protection.
Moneysmart notes that medical definitions can be different between insurers, so each policy’s list of conditions is worth reading. 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:
- What’s on a trauma policy’s list, with the wording explained one definition at a time
- A partial benefit in some wordings, and how severe a condition must be to receive it
- Money set aside for premiums, as no fund can take on new cover of this type
- Living costs in the weeks before income protection starts, if you hold it, and a lump sum’s role
- Working for yourself with no sick pay, and what a lump sum might help with
- Life and trauma under one sum insured, and what a payment leaves behind
- Thinking of leaving your current trauma policy, if you hold one, and what the new wording changes
- Questions about tax on a trauma payment, which go to an accountant
Cover in Super
Is cover in a fund from an earlier job still suited to the work you do now?
Checking what each fund holds before anything changes can show the cover and its cost.
We can check each fund with you for cover and the job on record, before anything changes.
Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs, and premiums are deducted from your super balance. 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.
What we check in each fund with you:
- Past employers’ funds that hold your demolition or removal years, and any insurance inside
- Demolition or removal years on a fund’s records, and getting in touch over any mistake, as Moneysmart suggests
- Labour hire or a new employer, and where contributions generally go if you’ve got a fund
- Under 25 and new to a fund: cover may need asking for, depending on your job and your fund
- Whatever a fund’s PDS says about earlier medical conditions, before you rely on that insurance
- How much your balance pays for insurance annually, and the amount you’d like to hold
- Combining accounts, and reading first what would go with each
- Extra cover beyond the default amount, which usually needs underwriting, if others rely on your income
Strip-Out, Removal and Supervising
Would setting out your strip-out, removal or supervising work help an application show what you do?
Duties written down as they are can give an insurer a clear picture of your week.
Together, we’ll write down your duties for any application, and how a policy or fund records them.
Jobs and Skills Australia lists tasks for demolition labourers such as dismantling and removing building materials and operating machinery, and for asbestos removalists such as setting up containment enclosures. One job title can cover several of these, 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 work:
- Strip-out and dismantling, with the share of your week spent on each
- Excavators or other machinery you operate on demolition work, named when an application asks about your job
- Setting up containment enclosures and running removal equipment, described as the share of work it is
- Class A work, if that’s part of your job, set out as a fact of the work you do
- Class B work, if you do it, listed with any certification you hold
- Time spent supervising a job, counted apart from your time on the crew
- Time split across several jobs, and reading your description again when the mix changes
- Assessing a structure before and during a job, if that’s part of your role, set out plainly
Wages, Labour Hire and Your Own Licence
Moving between wages, labour hire or your own licence: what could change for cover you hold?
Looking at cover before you move can show what continues and what you may like to apply for.
We’ll look at cover with you before you go onto an ABN or take out a licence of your own.
Fair Work says casuals don’t get most types of paid leave, and that a labour hire employer is responsible for its employees’ pay and entitlements. Moneysmart notes self-employed people don’t have paid holidays or sick leave, and suggests checking if moving from employee to self-employed affects the insurance cover through your super. An accountant or the ATO can confirm who pays your super on a contract.
What we look at with you before the change:
- Casual hours with no paid leave of most types, and how far your savings could go
- A labour hire employer paying you, and asking what cover, if any, comes with that job
- Cover through a fund or employer, asked about before you leave wages, as it may not continue
- A contract mainly for your labour, with no set result and work you can’t delegate, and who then pays super
- Contracting through your own company, trust or partnership, where the hirer doesn’t have to pay your super
- A year of wages and invoices mixed together, and asking each insurer how it works out income
- No paid sick leave if you’re self-employed, which Moneysmart notes, weighed against a policy’s waiting period
- Workers compensation beside your own cover, as each scheme sets who qualifies and decides its own claims
- Business insurance a licence application can ask for, which a general insurance broker can explain apart from personal cover
When to Review Your Cover
How might a new role or a change at home affect any cover you hold?
Changes at work or at home can be a good reason to book a conversation.
Together, we’ll look through what you hold, if anything, beside your work today and your life at home.
This work can move from labouring to certified removal, from Class B to Class A, or from wages to your own licence. 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:
- Labourer to certified removalist, and how your job is recorded by a fund or policy
- Class B to Class A, and how a fund or insurer has your work written down
- Supervising instead of working on the crew, and the definitions in any income protection you hold
- Wages to an ABN, and which cover questions to raise before your first invoice
- A licence of your own and any new business debts, set against your life or TPD amounts
- A new employer, and whether cover through work stops or continues once you go
- Your first job under 25, and asking a new fund if cover needs requesting for your job
- Someone new at home or a debt you’ve just taken on, and how much cover that could call for
Making a Claim
Facing the forms and follow-up of a claim, would it help to have someone beside you?
Having help with the forms and follow-up can ease a claim while the insurer or fund assesses it.
Together, we’ll lodge a claim and keep following it up while the insurer or fund assesses it.
Moneysmart says to speak first to the person or company you bought the policy from. An insurer can ask about your work duties, including physical requirements, the hours you work each week and your pay records: 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 to begin, from your policy papers or statement, when you’re ready to lodge
- What you did before you stopped, including what’s physically required and your hours each week
- What an insurer may request to confirm your earnings, including tax returns
- Medical reports, written by your doctor, when an insurer says a claim requires them
- A scheme’s own process, if workers compensation applies, running beside any policy claim
- Some paid work during a claim, or money from elsewhere, and how a policy counts them
- A staged return on reduced hours, and what some policies can pay during it
- A complaint about the outcome, made to the insurer or fund, and AFCA’s role after that
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
- Demolition, machine or removal work: Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply. One crew can share out strip-out, machine and removal work in different ways, so the mix in your week is part of describing your work accurately.
- Class A or Class B work: If you work under a licence class or hold a certification, that’s a fact of your duties, so it helps to set the work out as it is.
- Supervising a job: Time spent supervising is worth setting out beside your time on the crew. A TPD any occupation definition may also take this experience into account.
- A new course or certification: A new course or certification can change your duties, and how a fund or policy records your job is worth reading again when your work changes.
- Wages, labour hire or your own invoices: Casuals don’t get most types of paid leave, and self-employed people don’t have paid sick leave. At claim, an insurer can ask for payslips and tax returns, or financial statements if you’re self-employed.
- Hours that change between jobs: Income protection usually works from your earnings in the 12 months before you’re unable to work as the policy defines it, and some policies only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours. Moneysmart suggests doing a budget to see the income you’d need to replace.
- Your own licence and business: A business of your own can bring new debts and change 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 lighter duties for a while: Some policies can pay a partial benefit if you’re working in a reduced capacity and earning below a set share of your earlier income. 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 Personal Cover, Worked Through Together
Demolition and Removal Duties Set Out
Strip-out, machine, removal and supervising work described as it makes up your week on any application.
Class A and B Work Described
Any Class A or Class B work and certification set out accurately before you apply.
Application Questions Gone Through
What an application asks, gone through with you, for you to answer with reasonable care.
Disability Wording Read for Lighter Duties
How a policy treats supervising or lighter duties you could still do, read with you before you apply.
Household Costs Set Beside Income Protection
What you’d want coming in, from household spending, set beside the share of earnings a policy can pay.
Casual, Labour Hire and ABN Pay Laid Out
Your pay and records set out, with each insurer asked how it works out income.
Cover Looked at Before Your Own Licence
Any cover you hold read with you before you go onto an ABN or take out a licence.
A Claim Lodged With You
Your duties, weekly 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 Demolition and Asbestos Removal Workers
Demolition and removal work takes skill, care and close attention to the rules, and a good crew looks out for one another. It’s careful work that makes a site ready for whatever comes next. We’d like to begin by getting to know you: how your work runs from job to job, what you care about and who matters most to you. From there, we can help you build a plan around the way you’re paid and the life you’d like.
What you earn can go towards more than this month’s bills. It could help with a place of your own, time with the people you love, the next course or a business of your own one day. If someone relies on your income, they can be part of the plan too. Wherever your work leads, we can review your plan with you each year through ongoing advice, with the goals you’ve set in view.
If illness or injury kept you from the work you do, 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 Demolition and Asbestos Removal Workers
Your
Wealth
- Property & Investing
- Career & Income
- Tax Strategy
- Insurance & Protecting Your Family
- Super & SMSF
- Wealth & Investments
- Life Events & Changes
- Business & Wealth
- Legacy & Future Wealth
- Retirement Planning
Frequently Asked Questions
Ryker’s financial advisers are licensed to give personal advice under Synchron Advice’s Australian financial services licence (AFSL 243313). We start with you: your demolition or asbestos removal work, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
This work can mean strip-out, machine, Class A or Class B, or supervising work, as an employee, a labour hire worker, a contractor or an owner. Your duties, hours and pay can come into an application and a claim, so they’re 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.
Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply, and one job title can cover very different work. It helps to set out the share of your week on each: strip-out, machine work, Class A or Class B removal, or supervising.
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 insurers will usually ask about your age and job, your income, your medical history and family health history, and smoking and lifestyle. Default cover through a super fund can work differently.
The duty is to answer the questions asked with reasonable care. We can go through an application with you, and if a question isn’t clear, you can ask the insurer or your doctor. 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. If your hours change between jobs, that period can take in busy stretches and quiet ones, so it’s worth asking each insurer how it works out income.
An insurer can ask for payslips and tax returns at claim, so it helps to keep them together. We can go through this with you, from the insurers willing to consider your work, 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 the scheme can confirm where you stand and decides any claim made to it.
Income protection, if you hold it, has its own terms and exclusions, and scheme payments may reduce a 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.
Your regulator can confirm what the licence itself requires. Any new application needs your new duties set out. We can go through this with you, and the insurer decides on any application.
The policy’s definitions come first. Some policies look at whether you can do the main duties of your usual job, and some can pay a partial benefit if you’re working in a reduced capacity and earning below a set share of your earlier income. Any benefit is subject to the policy’s terms and exclusions and the insurer’s assessment.
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.
A first Class B course, a supervisor role, moving from wages to an ABN or a licence in your own name 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 go through new cover you could apply for. The insurer decides on any application.
Our ongoing advice clients have an annual review with us.
A quote online can be a handy first look at one seller’s price. It may not show how your week divides across strip-out, machine work, removal and supervising, how your pay moves from job to job, or the insurance sitting in your super.
Personal advice takes those in first. We can work through options with you from the insurers willing to consider your work, beside anything you already have. Any decision on an application is the insurer’s.
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. You’re welcome to start with us from a first demolition crew, Class B work or a licensed business of your own.
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.
You’re welcome to bring pay records, a tax return, a statement from each super fund and any policies you hold, along with a list of what your work involves day to day.
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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