
Chairside work, how you’re engaged, any practice you own and any cover in super all shape your personal cover. We help you review any existing cover, compare and apply for cover, and lodge a claim with you.





What we advise on
When illness or injury keeps you from the chair, what could keep part of your income coming in?
Income protection’s monthly benefit, paid after a waiting period, can replace part of your income while you’re away from practice.
We’ll compare income protection with you around how you’re paid and the clinical work you do.
If illness or injury stops you working, income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period, subject to the policy’s terms. 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 disability. Waiting periods can run from 14 days to 2 years.
Where your dental work meets an income protection policy:
Would your loved ones keep up with any repayments and everyday costs if you were no longer here?
Your beneficiaries can receive a lump sum, so any repayments and household costs needn’t fall on your loved ones alone.
We’ll total any debts with you, along with the costs your income meets now, to work out a life cover amount.
Life insurance can pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries if you pass away, and some policies include a terminal illness benefit. Insurers usually ask about your age and job when you apply. For cover in super, a valid binding nomination directs the trustee; without one, the trustee generally decides who receives the payment under the fund’s rules.
What we add up with you for life cover:
Which plans could still go ahead if you were never able to practise again?
A TPD lump sum, payable when a claim is accepted under the policy’s disability definition, can go towards debts and later plans.
Together, we’ll read the TPD definitions an insurer offers against clinical dentistry and the other work a dental degree suits.
A TPD policy can pay a lump sum if illness or injury leaves you unable to work again, as the policy defines it. Moneysmart describes own occupation as being unable to work again in the job you were working in, and any occupation as any job suited to your education, training or experience. Own occupation cover is usually only available outside super, and which definitions an insurer offers can depend on the occupation.
What we weigh with you for TPD:
If a serious illness meant treatment and time away from patients, how might the costs be met?
For a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded, a trauma lump sum can help with costs.
Together, we’ll go through each condition a trauma policy lists, and how a lump sum works beside income protection.
A trauma policy can pay a lump sum when a listed condition meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded. Moneysmart notes that medical definitions can be different between insurers. New trauma cover can’t be held inside super, which has been the rule for policies written since 1 July 2014.
What we look at with you in a trauma policy:
Could any cover in your super already fit the way you practise today?
Seeing every fund side by side shows any cover you already hold, before you keep, change or add to it.
We can read any super cover with you and set out changes in a financial plan, or Statement of Advice.
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. Own occupation TPD is usually only available outside super, and whether it’s offered can depend on the insurer and your occupation.
What we check in your super with you:
Whether you’re employed or contracting as an associate, what keeps your cover in step with how you’re paid?
Looking at your cover against how you’re engaged can help it fit an employment agreement or a contract.
We’ll look at cover with you around how you’re engaged, before or after you sign an associate agreement.
Moneysmart notes that self-employed people don’t get paid sick leave, and suggests checking whether moving from employee to self-employed affects any insurance cover through super. On a contract, a business may still have to pay super if you’re paid mainly for your labour, for your own skills rather than a result, and you do the work yourself. A contract made with your company, trust or partnership is different: the business doesn’t have to pay super for whoever that entity employs.
What we work through with you on how you’re engaged:
If you couldn’t treat patients for a while, what would keep the practice’s costs covered?
Business expenses cover and income protection do different jobs, one for practice costs and one for part of your income.
We’ll weigh business expenses cover beside income protection with you, if you own or share a practice.
Some policies offer business expenses cover, which can pay eligible fixed costs of running a business while you can’t work because of illness or injury, and excludes your own pay. Business interruption insurance is a separate general insurance product, arranged through a general insurer or broker, and questions about it go to them. Professional indemnity insurance, which the Dental Board requires for registration, must include civil liability cover.
What we look at with you as a practice owner:
Should you ever need to claim, what could make the process easier to follow?
Someone handling the forms and the insurer’s follow-up questions alongside you can make each stage of a claim clearer.
We’ll prepare and lodge a claim with you, then keep in touch while the insurer assesses it.
Moneysmart suggests that if you bought cover through a financial adviser, you speak to them first. An insurer can ask for medical reports, details of your work duties, including physical requirements, and the number of hours you work each week, along with payslips and tax returns, or financial statements if you’re self-employed. The insurer assesses the claim. A complaint goes first to the insurer or, for cover in super, the fund, then to AFCA if it isn’t resolved.
What we gather and follow up with you on a claim:
Your work and your cover
Nothing on this list decides anything by itself, and it isn’t a complete list. We begin by learning how you practise, and any decision on cover is made by the insurer.
Your options
| 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 |














Chairside Duties Set Out
Your procedures, clinical days and any non-clinical work described in full on any application.
How You’re Paid, Set Out
A salary, any collections or lab fee arrangement, or entity profits set out clearly for an income protection application.
Definitions Read for Clinical Work
Each policy’s disability definition read against chairside dentistry, and whether an insurer offers own occupation for it.
Practice and Personal Cover Separated
Business expenses cover and income protection weighed as two separate needs, if you own or share a practice.
Indemnity and Personal Cover Told Apart
How the indemnity cover registration requires differs from what personal cover can pay, in plain terms.
Cover Checked Before Contracting
Any cover in super looked at before you move from employee to contractor.
Cover Revisited at Practice Milestones
Any cover you hold looked at again when you buy in, open rooms, sell or start a stay-on period.
Claim Paperwork Shared With You
A claim lodged with you, your work and income records gathered together and the insurer followed up while it assesses.

We start by listening: to how you practise, how you’re paid and what you’d want your cover to do for you and anyone who relies on you. Each type of cover is explained in plain language, with the terms that matter set out as we go. Your questions are answered as they come up, and we move at a pace that suits you. Our recommendations usually reach you in writing, and every decision is yours.
The paperwork is shared with you. With your consent, we can request details from any super fund that holds cover for you, prepare what an application needs and keep in touch with the insurer while it assesses it. A partner, family member or practice partner is welcome in any conversation. If you ever need to claim, we lodge the claim with you and keep you updated until the insurer decides.
Every financial decision impacts the next
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.
Your
Wealth

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 dental work, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
Dentistry can mean precise chairside procedures that rely on your hands and eyes, pay drawn from collections or a company or trust, and practice costs if you own rooms. Each can affect how an insurer assesses an application and how a policy pays, so your duties, hours and how you’re paid are part of what we look at.
With a financial adviser, you also have:
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:
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.
Professional indemnity insurance is a Dental Board registration requirement, and it must include civil liability cover. Questions about that cover, including what it does and doesn’t respond to, go to whoever provides or arranges it, and we don’t advise on it.
Income protection is personal cover held in your name, through super or by an entity. It can pay part of your income after a waiting period if illness or injury stops you working, subject to the policy’s terms. The two do different jobs, so holding one doesn’t stand in for the other. We can look at income protection with you, as a need separate from the indemnity cover your registration requires.
They set what being unable to work means in a TPD claim. Moneysmart describes own occupation as being unable to work again in the job you were working in before your disability, and any occupation as being unable to work in any job suited to your education, training or experience. For a dentist, that second test could look at roles such as teaching, advisory or practice management work.
Own occupation cover is usually only available outside super, and an insurer may offer it for selected occupations only, so which definitions you’re offered is the insurer’s decision. Income protection policies have their own definitions of disability too. We can read each wording with you against the clinical work you do.
Three kinds of cover can sound alike here. Business expenses cover, offered by some policies, can pay eligible fixed costs such as rent, equipment leases and, where a policy includes them, wages for staff who don’t generate income, while you can’t work because of illness or injury, and it excludes your own pay. Income protection is the cover that can pay part of your own income. Business interruption insurance is separate again: it’s general insurance, arranged through a general insurer or broker, and questions about it go to whoever arranged it.
If you share a practice, key person cover or cover to fund a buy-sell agreement may also be worth weighing, with a solicitor drafting the agreement. We can look at the personal and business expenses side with you.
For a self-employed dentist working through a company or trust, an insurer may work out income from your share of the business profits rather than from payslips. Financial statements and tax returns are the usual evidence, and income protection is usually based on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury.
How a policy defines income, including how it treats any collections, lab fees or drawings, depends on its wording, so the definition is worth reading before you apply. An accountant advises on the structure itself. We can set out your income with you for an application and compare how policies define it.
The fund’s terms decide what happens to any cover it holds, and premiums for that cover keep coming out of your balance. Separately, on a contract, a business may still have to pay super if you’re paid mainly for your labour, for your own skills rather than a result, and you do the work yourself. A contract made with your company, trust or partnership is different: the business doesn’t have to pay super for whoever that entity employs.
Moneysmart suggests checking your cover through super when you move from employee to self-employed. We can look at any cover in super with you before you start.
A sale can change what your cover needs to do. Practice loans may be repaid, business policies such as business expenses or key person cover may no longer fit, and the sale proceeds can change what anyone relying on you would need. 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.
If the sale includes a stay-on period, you may become an employee or contractor of the buyer, which can change your sick leave, your super and how your income is shown. We can review your cover with you before and after the sale.
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
What a financial adviser does
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
Yes. Whatever your role in dentistry, we begin by learning about the work you do and how your income is earned.
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. Helpful documents include any associate agreement, collections or profit figures, fund insurance details and existing insurance documents. Health reports aren’t asked for at this stage, and from there we’ll suggest a sensible starting point.
Who We Help
From first job to retirement, we help you build wealth, protect it, and live well.

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Any income, any stage, career changers, separation, second opinions and more.
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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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