Life Insurance and Income Protection for Glaziers
Income Protection for Glaziers and Their Families
House, shopfront, curtain wall or shop duties, your pay, any van debts and cover through work or super shape your options. We can help you go through any cover you hold, apply for cover and lodge a claim.
Financial Advice for Life Insurance and Income Protection
Who We Help
- Residential glaziers on house windows, doors and mirrors
- Commercial and shopfront glaziers on shops and offices
- Curtain wall and facade installers working on larger buildings
- Shop cutters and fabricators at a bench or in a factory
- Apprentices learning glass and glazing work
- Labour-only subbies fixing glass that others supply
- Supply and fix subbies with a van and glass to buy
- Glass business owners paying themselves from the business
- Estimators and supervisors who spend more time measuring than fitting
- Glaziers starting on an ABN or in estimating, and still holding cover from an earlier job
We Can Help You
- Set out installation, lifting and cutting duties as they are for a cover application
- Describe shopfront or curtain wall work accurately on an insurance application
- Read income protection wording on disability for shop or light duties you could still do
- Look at what partial income protection benefits could mean if you return to glazing in stages
- Ask each insurer with you which income counts for income protection when invoices include glass
- See how far savings on an ABN could go through an income protection waiting period
- Put a figure on the cover you’d want from household bills, as a benefit rests on earnings and the policy
- Read each super fund’s insurance with you, along with the job title on its file
- Talk over your personal insurance when subbie work, a van of your own or estimating changes your week
- Lodge your glazing claim with you, following it up with the insurer or fund
What we advise on
How Each Cover Works Around Glazing Work
Income Protection
At home, what would make things easier if illness or injury kept you away from glazing work?
Income protection can replace part of your income after a waiting period, subject to the policy’s terms, exclusions and the insurer’s assessment.
Together, we’ll compare income protection from the insurers willing to consider your work, around your glazing duties and how you’re paid.
Income protection can pay a share of your pre-tax income while you can’t work, usually based on earnings in the 12 months before. Each policy defines disability in its own way, and exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities. An insurer usually looks at your job and duties when you apply, and this can affect whether cover is offered, the benefit periods available and the amount. The insurer decides.
What we look at with you on income protection:
- Installing, cutting or quoting as the main duties of your job, which some policies test after an illness or injury
- Bench work in the shop while you’re kept off site, and the partial payments some policies make
- A long claim, and whether measuring or quoting experience counts when some policies move to suited work
- Bills you’d want met set out in a budget, separately from the benefit, since that’s based on your glazing earnings
- Savings on an ABN, and how long they could last if a waiting period runs anywhere from 14 days to two years
- A slow patch with few glazing hours, which matters if a policy sets a minimum each week
- Getting hurt on a glazing job, each scheme’s own test for who qualifies, and what its payments may do to your benefit
- Premiums from glazing pay compared with premiums from super, where an accountant can explain the tax difference
- A glass shop’s overheads, if you own one, and whether a separate policy for them is available and suitable
Life Insurance
Does anyone rely on your glazing income, and what would they need if you weren’t there?
Life cover can pay your beneficiaries a lump sum, which they could put towards debts and everyday costs.
Together, we’ll size life cover with you from your debts and anyone relying on your income.
Life cover can pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries if you pass away, subject to the policy’s terms, and the insurer decides on any claim. Moneysmart notes it can help if you have large debts or a mortgage. Some policies include terminal illness cover, and insurers usually ask your age and job when you apply. If nobody is named, your estate or the super trustee may decide where the money goes.
What we weigh up with you on life cover:
- Racks and a van still under finance, added to the amount someone relying on you might need
- Trade accounts and shop loans in a glass business, and whose name each debt is in
- Household bills and a mortgage, if you have one, that your glazing income helps pay each month
- Cover you may not remember in an old fund, looked for through each fund’s statement
- Nominating who gets a payout from your super, within what each trustee’s rules allow
- Life cover sold with TPD or trauma, and what a claim under either part could take off the life amount
- What you install, cut or quote, answered carefully on a life application when the insurer asks
- A partner’s cover, if you have a partner, and what each of you brings in
TPD Insurance
What might your plans look like if you could never work again?
A lump sum can be paid if you meet the policy’s definition of total and permanent disability.
We can explain how TPD definitions may read the skills glazing builds, from fitting to measuring and estimating.
TPD definitions differ. Own occupation wording looks at the job you were working in and is usually only available outside super, while any occupation wording looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience. Some definitions look at everyday activities instead of work, and a TPD payment may reduce life cover packaged with it.
What we compare with you on TPD:
- Asking whether glazing work could be offered own occupation cover, which isn’t usually held in super
- Measuring or quoting skills a TPD any occupation test might treat as suitable work after glazing
- A desk job you might still manage if you couldn’t handle glass, and how a fund’s TPD test could read it
- The occupation each fund has recorded, set beside your installing, shop or estimating work
- Dressing, feeding and moving around, the kinds of daily tasks some TPD wording uses instead of work
- Van loans, shop leases or trade accounts a lump sum could go towards if you never returned to work
- The difference between income protection and TPD when glazing stops for a long stretch or for good
- A desk role in estimating, and how the wording may then treat your normal job
Trauma Insurance
Treatment after a serious diagnosis can mean weeks away from jobs: how would you meet the costs?
Trauma cover can pay a lump sum for a condition it lists, where the policy’s definition is met and it isn’t excluded.
Together, we’ll go over what a trauma policy lists and how a lump sum could sit beside income protection.
A trauma policy lists the conditions it covers, each with its own definition, and 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. An accountant can talk through any tax question on a lump sum.
What we read with you in a trauma policy:
- The illnesses a policy lists, one by one, and how definitions differ from insurer to insurer
- What some policies pay in part for a less severe condition, and how that differs between insurers
- Glazing income as the source of premiums, since new trauma policies can’t be bought through super
- Costs arriving ahead of income protection payments, and how far a lump sum might stretch to meet them
- Van repayments and glass accounts during treatment, if invoices stop and you’re self-employed with no sick leave
- Combining trauma with life cover, where paying out early could leave a smaller sum for the people you’ve named
- Trauma cover bought years ago, if that’s you, and what today’s lists of conditions could add or leave out
- Tax on a trauma payout, a question for an accountant before you build that money into your plans
Cover in Super
Could any cover in a fund from an earlier job still suit your glazing work?
Reading each fund’s cover before anything changes can show what you have and what it costs.
We can check with you the cover in each fund you hold, before anything changes.
Premiums are deducted from your super balance, and default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. 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:
- Each super account from a past employer, searched for life or TPD cover you may have lost track of
- A glazier recorded as something else by a fund, which Moneysmart says to raise with them
- Moving to another glass company, with super generally following the fund you have unless you name a different one
- Starting in glazing before 25, and asking a new fund if you must request insurance for your work
- How rules on pre-existing conditions differ from one fund’s PDS to the next, set side by side for each account
- The cost of insurance coming out of each balance, against how well it suits glazing now
- Rolling old glazing accounts together, only after finding what insurance sits with each
- Applying for a higher amount than your fund’s default, usually treated much like a new application by the underwriter
House, Shopfront and Curtain Wall Work
When your week moves between houses, shopfronts and curtain wall, how could setting it out help your cover fit?
Setting out your duties as they are can give an insurer a fuller picture of your work.
We’ll set out your duties with you for any application, and read how a policy or fund records them.
Glazing can mean measuring, cutting, finishing, fitting and installing glass and mirrors. One title can cover very different weeks, 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 glazing work:
- Windows and doors on houses, with the share of your week they take up
- Shower screens, mirrors and balustrades, each named if an application asks what you install
- Shopfronts and aluminium glazing systems, described as the commercial work they are
- Curtain wall and facade panels, including your hours on larger sites each week
- Reglazing call-outs, listed beside planned jobs so the description matches how you work
- Cutting and fabricating in a shop or factory, counted separately from time on site
- Handling glass, and any lifting gear you use, written down as a plain fact of the job
- Any tickets you hold for your work, named plainly so an application lines up with your duties
Subbie Work, Glass in the Price and Your Van
Thinking of leaving wages for subbie work or your own van: what could change for any cover?
Looking at cover before you start can show what changes and what you might apply for.
Together, we’ll look at cover before you start subbying, buy a van or take on a crew.
Moneysmart notes that self-employed people won’t have paid holidays or sick leave, and suggests checking how the move affects cover through your super. A business may have to pay your super if more than half the contract’s value is labour, you’re paid for skills rather than a set result and you can’t delegate, but not under a contract with your company, trust or partnership. An ABN doesn’t settle it, and an accountant or the ATO can confirm.
What we look at with you before the change:
- How long savings could last without the paid sick leave that Moneysmart notes self-employed people don’t have
- Insurance through your super, looked at before you leave wages for subbie work or a van of your own
- Whether a builder or glass company has to pay your super: mainly labour, paid for skills, work you can’t delegate
- A company, trust or partnership of your own, where the business hiring it doesn’t have to pay your super
- Glass and other materials in your price, which the ATO says should be detailed separately from labour
- Which income an insurer may count for income protection when invoices include glass, asked of each insurer
- A van loan and what you’d owe on it, considered when weighing life and TPD, with a broker on finance
- Business cover for liability, tools, a van and glass in transit, separate from personal cover, through a general insurance broker
When to Review Your Cover
When your glazing work or home life changes, what could that mean for any cover you hold?
Big steps at work or home can be a good moment to look at your cover together.
Together, we’ll go through any cover you hold beside the work you do now and your life at home.
Glazing can move from house jobs to commercial, from wages to subbie work, or from site work to estimating. Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. A change like this is a good reason to book a conversation, and we can read a policy or fund statement with you. The insurer decides on any new application.
Situations worth raising with us in a conversation:
- Apprentice to qualified glazier, and how your fund or policy papers record the job
- House jobs to commercial or curtain wall work, and how your duties now read on an application
- Moving from a glazier’s wage to subbie invoices, and your options if hurt: each compensation scheme sets who qualifies
- Taking on finance for a first van, and the life and TPD amounts you might set beside it
- Site work to estimating, and how a desk role could alter what counts as your usual work in a definition
- Moving on from a glass business, as employer cover may not continue, with questions to ask before you finish
- A first job under 25, when cover in a new fund may need asking for, depending on your job and fund
- A baby on the way, a house purchase or a separation, if one applies, and the amount of cover you’d now want
Making a Claim
Could it help to have someone beside you for the forms and follow-up in a claim?
Someone beside you for the paperwork can make a claim easier while the insurer or fund assesses it.
Together, we’ll lodge a claim and follow each step, while the insurer or fund assesses it.
Moneysmart says to speak first to the person or company you bought the policy from. At claim, an insurer can ask about your work duties, including physical requirements, the hours you work each week and your pay records, such as 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:
- Getting a claim started, usually with the person who arranged the policy, or your fund for cover in super
- How your glazing week went before you stopped: tasks, physical demands and hours, put in writing
- Wage slips, or your own invoices, returns and statements if self-employed, gathered for the claim
- Which doctors’ and specialists’ reports a claim may call for, explained as they come up
- Getting hurt at work, and why a scheme’s ruling doesn’t settle the decision on your own policy
- Scheme or sick pay covering the same weeks, which a policy may count when working out its benefit
- Bench work before you’re back on site, and whether a policy’s partial terms may apply to those hours
- Challenging a decision on your glazing claim: complaints start with whoever made it, and AFCA comes next
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
- Installing, lifting or cutting glass: Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply. One title can mean very different weeks, so the mix in your week is part of describing your work accurately.
- Curtain wall and shopfront work: If these are part of your duties, it helps to set them out as they are, along with how much of your week they take up.
- Any licence or tickets you hold: Any licence your state or territory requires and tickets you hold are facts of the job. The regulator owns the rules, and we’d note what you hold when describing your work.
- Estimating and measuring: Time spent estimating and measuring is worth setting out beside site or shop work. A TPD any occupation definition may also take this experience into account.
- Wages, a labour-only rate or your own invoices: On wages, paid leave and cover through your employer or fund, if you have them, are the starting point. If you’re self-employed there’s no paid sick leave, and an insurer can ask for financial statements at claim.
- Glass in the invoice: Income protection usually works from your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury, and some policies count a self-employed person’s income after their share of business expenses. It’s worth asking each insurer how it works out income, and an accountant can keep your records up to date.
- Your own van and business debts: A van loan or business debts add to what you’d owe if you passed away or couldn’t work again, so it’s worth setting life and TPD amounts against them. We can work through the amounts with you.
- Back on lighter work for a while: Some policies pay a partial benefit when you work in a reduced capacity and earn less than before. Workers compensation is separate, with each scheme setting who qualifies, and other payments may reduce an income protection benefit.
This list isn’t complete, and nothing on it decides anything on its own. We start by learning about your situation, and any decision on cover is the insurer’s.
Your options
Why Work With a Financial Adviser for Your Personal Insurance?
| A Ryker financial adviser | Directly from an insurer | An online broker or comparison site | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type of advice | Personal advice Personal adviceAdvice tailored to you. Like most financial advice, it’s given under an Australian financial services licence.Personal, not general. General advice is a recommendation or opinion that doesn’t consider your circumstances. Personal advice is tailored to your objectives, financial situation and needs.In your best interests. When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests.In writing. You’ll usually receive a Statement of Advice that explains the strategies and cover recommended to you, and why.On the public register. Financial advisers who give personal advice on life insurance, super and investments must be on ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register. See our financial advisers on the register:Ray RegmiRicky (Rajiv) RegmiJack OinezaDean DesoukeyRyker’s financial advisers are authorised representatives of Synchron Advice Pty Ltd, AFSL 243313. | Usually general advice | Usually general advice |
| Advice that considers your health, family, work and goals | Yes, as part of your advice | Not with general advice | Not with general advice |
| Choice of insurers | The insurers willing to consider your work | That insurer’s policies only | A panel of insurers, side by side |
| Help preparing your application | Yes, alongside you | The insurer’s own process | Varies |
| Advice on holding cover inside or outside super | Part of your advice | Not with general advice | Not with general advice |
| Support if you need to claim | Yes, we’re in your corner | The insurer’s claims team | Varies |
| Cost of advice | No cost for the initial conversation. Any advice after that is a paid service, with its scope and fee agreed with you in writing first. Choose: | No separate advice fee | No separate advice fee |
Type of advice
- Ryker financial adviser
- Personal advice Personal adviceAdvice tailored to you. Like most financial advice, it’s given under an Australian financial services licence.Personal, not general. General advice is a recommendation or opinion that doesn’t consider your circumstances. Personal advice is tailored to your objectives, financial situation and needs.In your best interests. When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests.In writing. You’ll usually receive a Statement of Advice that explains the strategies and cover recommended to you, and why.On the public register. Financial advisers who give personal advice on life insurance, super and investments must be on ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register. See our financial advisers on the register:Ray RegmiRicky (Rajiv) RegmiJack OinezaDean DesoukeyRyker’s financial advisers are authorised representatives of Synchron Advice Pty Ltd, AFSL 243313.
- Direct from an insurer
- Usually general advice
- Online broker or comparison site
- Usually general advice
Advice that considers your health, family, work and goals
- Ryker financial adviser
- Yes, as part of your advice
- Direct from an insurer
- Not with general advice
- Online broker or comparison site
- Not with general advice
Choice of insurers
- Ryker financial adviser
- The insurers willing to consider your work
- Direct from an insurer
- That insurer’s policies only
- Online broker or comparison site
- A panel of insurers, side by side
Help preparing your application
- Ryker financial adviser
- Yes, alongside you
- Direct from an insurer
- The insurer’s own process
- Online broker or comparison site
- Varies
Advice on holding cover inside or outside super
- Ryker financial adviser
- Part of your advice
- Direct from an insurer
- Not with general advice
- Online broker or comparison site
- Not with general advice
Support if you need to claim
- Ryker financial adviser
- Yes, we’re in your corner
- Direct from an insurer
- The insurer’s claims team
- Online broker or comparison site
- Varies
Cost of advice
- Ryker financial adviser
- No cost for the initial conversation. Any advice after that is a paid service, with its scope and fee agreed with you in writing first. Choose:
- Direct from an insurer
- No separate advice fee
- Online broker or comparison site
- No separate advice fee
Your Cover for Glazing Work, Worked Through Together
Glazing Duties Set Out
Installing, cutting and handling work described on any application as it makes up your week.
Curtain Wall and Shopfront Work Described
Curtain wall, shopfront and house jobs set out accurately before you apply.
Disability Wording Read for Shop Work
How a policy treats shop work you could still do, read with you before you apply.
Household Costs Behind Income Protection
What you’d want worked out with you from household costs, while a benefit depends on earnings and the policy.
Invoices With Glass Laid Out for an Insurer
Invoices, job prices and records set out, with each insurer asked how it works out income.
Cover in Each Fund Looked At
The cover and occupation on record in each super fund, read with you before anything changes.
Cover Looked at Before a Van or an ABN
Any cover you hold read with you before you buy a van or move onto an ABN.
A Glazing Claim Lodged With You
Duties, hours and pay records gathered with you, with the insurer or fund assessing 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 Glaziers
Glazing is exacting work, often measured to the millimetre. People live, work and shop behind the glass you measure, cut or fit, and the care that goes into it often goes unseen. We’d like to start there, by getting to know you, how you work and what matters to you and the people around you. From there, we’ll help you shape a plan around the way you’re paid and the life you’d like.
Steady work can do more than cover this month’s bills. It can go towards a home, time with the people you love, a van or a shop of your own, or more freedom later on. Your savings and super can be part of the plan too, so you’re setting something aside beside your work. We can review the plan with you each year, so it stays in step with the goals you’ve set.
If illness or injury kept you from working with glass, 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.
Your
Wealth
- Property & Investing
- Career & Income
- Tax Strategy
- Insurance & Protecting Your Family
- Super & SMSF
- Wealth & Investments
- Life Events & Changes
- Business & Wealth
- Legacy & Future Wealth
- Retirement Planning
Frequently Asked Questions
Ryker’s financial advisers are licensed to give personal advice under Synchron Advice’s Australian financial services licence (AFSL 243313). We start with you: your work with glass, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
Glazing can mean house, shopfront, curtain wall or shop work, as an employee, a subcontractor or an owner. Each can affect how an insurer assesses an application and how a policy’s definitions read a claim, so your duties, hours and pay are what we look at.
With a financial adviser, you also have:
- Access to the insurers willing to consider your work, each with its own way of assessing an application
- Help preparing your application and answering the health questions with care
- Advice on whether to hold cover inside or outside super, and the trade-offs
- Annual reviews of your cover through ongoing advice, with your health, family and work in mind
- Someone in your corner if you ever need to claim
Going directly to an insurer can mean no separate advice fee, but you’ll only see that insurer’s policies, and you’ll generally receive general advice only, which doesn’t consider your personal circumstances.
Going through an online comparison site or broker, you may see more options side by side, but they also generally provide general advice only, which doesn’t consider your whole financial picture.
When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests, which we take personally. The insurer still decides whether to offer cover and on what terms.
We’re invested in your long-term success. What we do is personal, and we take it personally.
Your financial decisions connect, so we consider the parts of your financial life that are relevant to the advice you need:
- Property & Investing
- Career & Income
- Tax Strategy
- Insurance & Protecting Your Family
- Super & SMSF
- Wealth & Investments
- Life Events & Changes
- Business & Wealth
- Legacy & Future Wealth
- Retirement Planning
This is how we help you make decisions today with your longer-term goals in view.
Everybody’s situation is different, so we listen first, understand what matters to you and explain your options clearly before we make a recommendation.
The policy’s definitions come first. Some policies look at whether you can do the main duties of your usual occupation, and some pay a partial benefit when you work in a reduced capacity and earn less than before. 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.
Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply, and two glaziers can do very different work. It helps to set out the share of your week on each: house jobs, shopfronts, curtain wall or shop work.
Since 5 October 2021, the duty when applying for consumer life cover is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, which means answering the questions asked with reasonable care. Each insurer assesses applications in its own way. We can help you set your work out as it is, and the insurer decides on any application.
Moneysmart says income protection usually bases the benefit on your annual earnings in the 12 months before your illness or injury. How glass and other materials in your invoices are treated is a question to ask each insurer, and some policies count a self-employed person’s income after their share of business expenses.
An insurer can ask for tax returns or financial statements at claim, so it helps to keep records up to date with an accountant. We can compare with you how different insurers approach this, and the insurer decides on any application.
Workers compensation runs through a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme, separate from personal cover, and each scheme sets who qualifies. Being a subbie doesn’t settle the answer either way, and the scheme decides any workers compensation claim.
Income protection, if you hold it, has its own terms and exclusions, the insurer assesses any claim, and scheme payments may reduce an income protection benefit. We can read your cover with you and plan your finances around where you stand.
Start with the policy wording. Cover you already hold was issued on its own terms, and the policy wording sets when they can change, so it’s worth reading before you change or replace it. For cover in super, Moneysmart suggests asking what happens to the cover if you change jobs.
A TPD any occupation definition looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience, so measuring and estimating may come into it. A new application needs your new duties set out. We can go through this with you, and the insurer decides on any application.
List what you owe first: van, rack or glass stock finance and other business debts, and whether each is in your name, the business’s name or both. A broker or accountant can explain the loan itself.
Moneysmart notes life cover can help if you have large debts or a mortgage. From there, we can work out amounts with you for business debts and household costs together. Cover in a package may be reduced by a claim on another part, so that’s worth reading too. The insurer decides on any application.
Finishing an apprenticeship, moving onto subbie work, buying a van or stepping into estimating can each be a good reason to book a conversation.
At home, a new loan, a baby or a separation can be too. We can read a fund statement or policy with you beside the work you do now, and compare new cover you could apply for. The insurer decides on any application.
Our ongoing advice clients have an annual review with us.
An online form usually asks for your occupation and a few details. It may not show how your week splits between house jobs, shopfronts and shop work, how supply and fix invoices read as income, or what sits in your super.
Personal advice takes those in first. We can then go through cover with you from the insurers willing to consider your glazing work, and each insurer makes its own decision on an 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, subbies and shop owners are all welcome to start from what they do today.
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.
Useful things to have handy: payslips or invoices, a tax return, your fund statements, policy papers if you have them, and a rough split of your glazing week.
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.
Book An Initial Conversation