INCOME PROTECTION INSURANCE
Keep Your Income Coming While You Recover
The waiting period, the benefit period and the monthly amount each shape what income protection could provide if you can’t work. We’ll help you choose settings that suit your income, leave and household commitments.
Our Financial Advice Team Is Here to Help You
We Can Help You
- Set a waiting period that matches your leave and savings
- Choose a benefit period that suits your commitments
- Work out how much of your income a policy can cover
- Explain how an indemnity policy assesses income at claim
- Compare holding income protection inside or outside super
- Check the disability definition your policy applies
- Consider a super contribution option, where available, while you can’t work
- Review a policy written when your income was different
- Clarify what may be deductible, with your accountant confirming the tax
- Support an income protection claim through the assessment
Who We Help
- Contractors and freelancers invoicing rather than drawing a salary
- Commission earners whose income changes with the quarter
- Recent graduates at the start of a long working life
- New mortgage holders with repayments that do not pause
- Sole income households where one salary carries every commitment
- Small business owners whose business slows when they stop
- Professionals with a bonus that a policy may not count as income
- Members with cover through super wanting to check the benefit period
- Anyone starting a new role whose cover was priced on a different job
What we advise on
How Much, How Long, and How Soon
What Income Protection Covers
We can explain how income protection works before you look at a single quote.
Income protection can replace part of your income each month if illness or injury stops you working and you meet the policy’s definition. Payments may begin after a waiting period you choose and continue up to a benefit period you also choose, capped at a share of your earnings. They generally stop when you return to work.
The three settings and what sits around them:
- A monthly payment rather than a lump sum, paid while you can’t work
- A capped share of your income rather than the whole of it
- The waiting period you set, which decides how long you wait before payments start
- A benefit period you choose, which sets the maximum time payments can continue
- Payments that generally stop when you return to work, and may restart if you relapse
- Cover for illness and injury, but not for redundancy or losing your job
- Premiums that may be deductible outside super, and payments that are taxed as income
- Cover available inside super or outside it, on different terms in each
The Waiting Period
We’ll set the waiting period against the leave and savings you could actually draw on.
The waiting period is how long you need to be unable to work before payments can start. A longer wait generally lowers the premium, but it may only suit you if leave or savings could cover that period. We compare the options against the resources you could draw on.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Sick leave and annual leave you could draw on before a policy starts paying
- Savings that could help the household through a longer wait
- The premium difference between the common waiting periods on offer
- How a waiting period interacts with employer sick leave and any scheme benefit
- Whether payments are made in arrears once the waiting period ends
- What counts as a day of disability while the waiting period is running
- A return to work partway through, and whether the waiting period restarts
- Trauma cover used to bridge the wait, where that suits the household
The Benefit Period
We can help you choose a benefit period that reflects how long your commitments run.
The benefit period is the maximum time payments can continue once they start. Common options include two years, five years and to age 65, depending on the policy. A shorter period may suit a temporary setback, while a longer one may suit longer-term commitments such as a mortgage. We compare the cost and cover of each.
We’ll weigh these up with you:
- Common benefit periods, such as two years, five years or to age 65, and their costs
- The years left on any mortgage, and how they shape the choice
- How long a serious illness or injury could keep you off work
- What happens at the end of a shorter benefit period if recovery isn’t complete
- Whether a shorter period alongside TPD cover could meet your needs at a lower cost
- How the benefit period on cover inside super compares with cover outside it
- Whether payments are indexed while a claim is running, and how that indexation works
- The age the policy itself ends, which isn’t always the benefit period
How Much of Your Income You Can Cover
We can work out how much of your income a policy will realistically cover.
Cover is written at a capped share of your income rather than all of it, and payments generally can’t exceed what you were earning before a claim. The figure is based on income as the policy defines it, which may differ from your payslip. Superannuation, bonuses and commission are often treated differently between policies.
What we’ll establish with you:
- What your policy counts as income, which can differ from your payslip
- Superannuation contributions, and whether they sit inside the covered amount
- Bonuses and commission, and how an insurer may average a variable income
- The cap on how much of your income can be covered, and why one exists
- Fringe benefits and a company car, which some policies include and others don’t
- How a pay rise since you applied may affect what would be paid
- Whether the amount is indexed each year or stays where you set it
- Whether cover for super contributions is available while a salary stops
How Your Income Is Assessed at Claim
We’ll show you how an indemnity policy assesses your income when you claim.
New agreed value income protection hasn’t been sold since 31 March 2020, so policies written since are generally indemnity. A benefit is then calculated from your earnings in the period before a claim, rather than a figure fixed when you applied. If your income has dropped, a payment may be lower.
What we’ll read with you:
- The period an insurer looks back over to work out your income
- What an indemnity policy may pay after a period of lower earnings
- Why agreed value cover is no longer written, and what that changed
- An older agreed value policy you may still hold, and why it may be worth keeping
- Records an insurer may ask for, and the ones worth keeping as you go
- How a business owner may need to show income where drawings and profit are both relevant
- The effect of a career break or parental leave on an assessed income
- Reviewing the insured amount after a pay rise, so it reflects your current earnings
The Disability Definition
We can check the disability definition in your policy before you ever need it.
A policy can pay when you meet its definition of disability, and definitions differ. Some consider whether you can perform the important duties of your own occupation, others whether you can work in any occupation you’re suited to, and some measure lost income. The definition, waiting period and other requirements all affect when payments may begin.
The decisions we make together here:
- Whether the policy tests your own occupation or any occupation you could do
- Partial disability cover, which may pay while you work reduced hours
- How lost income is measured where a definition is based on earnings
- The duties a policy treats as important, and who decides that at claim
- What a return to work part time does to the payment you receive
- Definitions that tighten after a period on claim, which some policies apply
- How your occupation category affects the definition you’re offered and the premium you pay
- Whether a specific injury or illness benefit sits alongside the main definition
Income Protection Held Inside Super
We can compare income protection held inside super with a policy held outside it.
Holding cover inside super can ease cash flow, because premiums are generally deducted from your balance rather than your bank account. Terms inside super can be more limited: benefit periods may be shorter, partial disability wording narrower, and cover for super contributions may not be available. We compare your fund’s terms with cover outside super.
We’ll go through your fund with you and set out:
- The benefit period your fund offers, which may be shorter than a retail one
- Partial disability wording inside super, and where it may be narrower than a retail policy
- Options that may not be available inside super, including cover for contributions
- Premiums funded from the retirement balance, and what that costs over time
- Deductibility, which sits with the fund rather than with you personally
- The temporary incapacity condition a fund applies before releasing a payment
- How a payment through a fund may be taxed, checked with your accountant
- Whether splitting cover across both suits your cash flow and your terms
Deductibility and Tax on Payments
We’ll explain what is deductible each year and how a payment is taxed when it arrives.
Premiums for income protection held outside super and paid by you are generally tax deductible. Because payments replace income, they’re generally assessable and may be taxed. Premiums paid through super or by an employer aren’t deductible to you personally. We explain the treatment and work with your accountant, who handles your tax return.
Here’s what we settle before anything is applied for:
- The portion of a premium that may be deductible where cover sits outside super
- Why a benefit is assessable income, and what that means at tax time
- Tax withheld from payments while a claim is running, and how that is handled
- What isn’t deductible, including any part of a premium buying a lump sum
- Premiums paid by an employer, and who gets the deduction in that case
- How any deduction may work for a business owner paying through an entity, with your accountant
- The interaction with any Centrelink payment received during a claim
- Records to keep so your accountant can account for premiums and payments at tax time
Cover When You Work for Yourself
We can explore income protection options where there’s no payslip behind your income.
Without an employer, you may have no sick leave or salary continuance while you’re away. An insurer generally assesses self-employed income from tax returns and business records, so keeping those records up to date matters. Business expenses cover may be available to help with fixed business costs while you can’t work.
Together we’ll look at:
- How an insurer works out income from tax returns and business records
- Drawings, profit and retained earnings, and which of them a policy counts
- A new business without a trading history, and what cover may be available meanwhile
- Business expenses cover, which may help pay eligible fixed costs while you can’t work
- A waiting period matched to a business with no leave entitlement behind it
- Seasonal or uneven income, and any averaging an insurer may apply to it
- Cover held personally against cover paid through the business, with any deduction confirmed by your accountant
- How the policy is reviewed as the business and your drawings change
Your Income Protection, Worked Through Together
The Waiting Period
How long you’d wait before payments start, and how a longer wait affects premiums.
The Benefit Period
How long payments can continue, considered against your ongoing commitments.
A Considered Monthly Amount
The insured amount considered against your income and household spending.
How Income Is Assessed
What an insurer counts as income at claim, checked before you ever apply.
Cover Inside or Outside Super
Where the policy sits, and which terms come with it in each place.
Premiums and Payments at Tax Time
What may be deductible and how payments are taxed, with your accountant.
Cover Without a Payslip
How income is worked out when you’re self-employed or paid on commission.
Cover for Super Contributions
Whether an option to cover super contributions is available while you can’t work.
Proactive, Holistic, and Experienced Financial Planning
Your ability to earn helps pay for much of what you own, and for the commitments that arrive each month. Income protection can replace part of that income if illness or injury stops you working for a while, helping support the life you’ve built while your salary is paused. We’ll help you set it up around your household rather than a default, and explain clearly what you’d be holding before anything is signed.
It’s cover that can help support the rest of your plan. The aim is to help keep housing costs paid, super contributions going where the policy includes them, and family routines steady while you concentrate on your health. We’ll review it with you as your income and household change, and if you ever need to claim, we’ll help with the paperwork and stay with you while the insurer assesses it. Knowing someone is there to help can make a difficult time a little easier.
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
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.
Income protection can replace part of your income each month if illness or injury stops you working and you meet the policy’s definition.
Three settings shape what you receive. The waiting period is how long you wait before payments can start. The benefit period is the maximum time they can continue, with common options including two years, five years or to age 65. The insured amount is a capped share of what you were earning.
Payments generally stop when you return to work and may restart if you relapse, depending on the policy. It covers illness and injury, not redundancy or losing your job.
A policy generally covers a capped share of your income rather than all of it.
Insurers set limits, and payments generally can’t exceed what you were earning before a claim. Some policies pay a higher percentage for an initial period and a lower one after that.
What counts as income is worth checking. Superannuation contributions, bonuses, commission and fringe benefits may be treated differently between policies, and the figure a policy uses may differ from your payslip. We check how your income would be assessed before you apply.
The right benefit period depends on your commitments, your budget and any other cover you hold.
Common options include two years, five years and to age 65. A shorter period may suit a temporary setback, while a longer one may suit longer-term commitments.
Any mortgage is one useful test. If it has many years left, a short benefit period could leave part of that term uncovered if you remained unable to work. TPD cover alongside a shorter period may suit some budgets, and we can model both.
Agreed value cover fixed your insured income when you applied, while indemnity cover calculates a payment from your earnings before a claim.
New agreed value policies haven’t been sold since 31 March 2020, so policies written since are generally indemnity. Under indemnity, if your income has dropped before a claim, a payment may be lower.
It’s no longer a choice on a new policy, but it can matter if you hold an older one. An agreed value contract may not be available again once it’s replaced, so we review it carefully before recommending any change.
It depends on whether cash flow or policy terms matter more to you, and on what your fund offers.
Inside super, premiums are generally deducted from your balance rather than your bank account. That can ease cash flow, but it reduces your retirement savings over time. Terms may also be more limited, such as shorter benefit periods, narrower partial disability wording or no cover for super contributions.
A payment also needs to meet the fund’s release conditions as well as the policy terms, and it may be taxed differently. Splitting cover across both may suit your situation.
Premiums are generally tax deductible where you hold the policy outside super and pay for it yourself.
That treatment reflects the fact that income protection replaces income. Payments are generally assessable, so tax may be payable when they’re received.
Premiums paid through super, or paid by an employer, aren’t deductible to you. Any part of a premium that buys a lump sum benefit rather than an income benefit is treated differently.
We explain what may be claimable and how payments may be taxed, and your accountant handles your tax return.
Comparing quotes online can help you see prices, but it may not show whether the policies are set up the same way.
The waiting period, benefit period and insured amount can change the premium significantly, so quotes are only comparable when those settings match. The disability definition is also central to whether a claim may be paid, and the features shown vary between sites.
A quote may also not consider what your super fund already provides. We work out the settings that suit you first, then compare cover on that basis.
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.
Yes, and we’ll explain each setting in plain language.
There’s no cost for the initial conversation. Tell us what you earn, how you’re paid and what leave you could fall back on. We’ll explain how a waiting period, benefit period and insured amount work, and the details we’ll need from you.
If your employer or super fund already provides cover, we’ll explain what it may provide before you consider anything more.
Who We Help
Advice for All Stages of Life
From first job to retirement, we help you build wealth, protect it, and live well.
Starting Out
First jobs, first home, first super, HECS debt, budgeting and more.
Growing Families
First home buyers, new parents, school fees, single incomes, young families and more.
Medical & Health
Doctors, dentists, pharmacists, allied health, nurses and more.
Professional Services & Tech
Lawyers, accountants, brokers, engineers, consultants and more.
Trades & Business Owners
Electricians, plumbers, builders, sole traders, franchisees and more.
Corporate & Executive
Executives, senior managers, directors, board members and more.
Public Sector & Defence
Police, firefighters, paramedics, ADF personnel, teachers and more.
Approaching Retirement
Pre-retirees, transition to retirement, Age Pension, aged care, estate planning and more.
Other Stages
Any income, any stage, career changers, separation, second opinions and more.
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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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