
How you’re paid as an employee, partner or barrister, and any cover through a firm, association or super, all shape your cover. We help you read any cover you hold, compare and apply, and lodge a claim with you.





What we advise on
Which bills could still be met if illness or injury kept you away from practice for months?
Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period, so household bills have support while you’re away from practice.
Together, we’ll compare income protection policies around how you’re paid, whether that’s a salary, a share of profits or fees.
Income protection can pay part of your income if illness or injury stops you working, after a waiting period and 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 definitions of income and disability. Waiting periods can run from 14 days to two years.
What we work through with you on income protection:
Who would meet the costs your income covers today if you were no longer here?
Life cover can pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries, so your loved ones have help with debts and plans.
We’ll total any debts and the costs your income meets, with any cover in super, to set 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. Life insurers usually ask about your age and job when you apply, and it’s important to nominate who you want the money to go to.
What we work through for life cover:
Where would the money for your plans come from if you could never practise law again?
Under the policy’s definition, a TPD lump sum can go towards debts and the plans you’d made for later.
We’ll read own and any occupation TPD definitions with you against legal work and the roles a law degree suits.
A TPD policy can pay a lump sum when illness or injury leaves you unlikely to work again, under the policy’s own definition. Own occupation looks at the job you were working in, while any occupation looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience. Own occupation cover is usually only available outside super, and some insurers offer it for selected occupations only.
What we compare with you for TPD:
During treatment for a serious illness, how might the bills be met while you step back from practice?
A lump sum from trauma cover can help with costs when a listed condition meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.
We can explain each condition a trauma policy lists with you, and where a lump sum fits beside income protection.
Trauma cover can pay a lump sum when you’re diagnosed with a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded. 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 read with you in a trauma policy:
Across every fund your legal career has used, how much cover sits in your super today?
Each fund’s insurance read together shows what you hold and what might suit the next stage of practice.
We can read any cover in each fund 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. If you’re moving from employee to self-employed, Moneysmart suggests checking whether the move affects the insurance cover through your super.
What we look at in your super with you:
When a salary becomes a share of profits, how could your cover keep pace with the change?
Reviewing cover around a profit share and practice costs can help it fit the new arrangement.
Together, we’ll look at cover around a share of profits, any capital contribution and a practice’s running costs.
If you’re self-employed as a sole trader or in a partnership, you don’t have to pay super guarantee for yourself. An insurer may work out a partner’s income from their share of the business profits or losses. Business expenses cover, offered by some policies, can pay eligible fixed costs of a practice, and it generally excludes your own pay.
What we look at with you as a partner or principal:
With no employer behind a practice at the bar, what could take the place of paid sick leave?
Personal cover such as income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period.
We’ll compare cover with you for practice as a sole practitioner at the bar, around your fees and chambers costs.
Barristers practise as sole practitioners, rather than in partnership or as employees. Self-employment comes without paid holidays or sick leave. Some associations arrange group cover for members, so it’s worth reading what any scheme pays and when it ends.
What we look at with you at the bar:
Who could share the forms and the follow-up with you if a claim is ever needed?
Support with forms, records and the insurer’s questions can make a claim easier to follow.
We can lodge a claim with you, put together the duties and income records it needs, and follow up the insurer.
Moneysmart suggests speaking first to whoever you bought the cover through, such as a financial adviser. An insurer can ask for details of your work duties, including physical requirements, and the hours you work each week, with payslips and tax returns, or financial statements if you’re self-employed. The insurer assesses the claim, and a complaint goes first to the insurer or super fund, then to AFCA.
How we help with a claim:
Your work and your cover
Nothing here is a complete list, and no single point decides anything. We begin by learning how you practise and how you’re paid, and the insurer makes any decision on cover.
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 |














Your Legal Work Set Out
Court, client and desk work, and your weekly hours, described in full on any application.
Profit Share Read Clearly
Your share of a firm’s profits set out from financial statements for an income protection application.
Fees Set Out for Cover
Fees at the bar, and the practice costs that sit behind them, set out for any cover application.
Definitions Read for Legal Work
Own and any occupation wording read with you against practice and the other roles a law degree suits.
Association Cover Read Alongside
Any firm or association group cover read for what it pays, how it defines disablement and when it ends.
Partners’ Buy-Out Cover Weighed
Insurance to fund the buy-out terms a partnership agreement sets, weighed with you and your fellow partners.
Older Policies Read First
Any older income protection policy read closely with you before anything replaces it.
A Claim Lodged With You
Duties, hours and income records gathered with you, and the insurer followed up while it assesses.

Good advice on cover starts with a clear picture of where you are, so we begin by listening: how you practise, how you’re paid and what you want your cover to do. We explain each type of cover in plain terms, answer questions as they arise and work at your pace. Recommendations are usually set out for you in writing, with time to read them and raise anything unclear, and each decision stays with you.
We work through the paperwork alongside you. With your consent, we can request insurance details from any fund or scheme that holds cover for you, prepare what an application needs and keep in contact with insurers while they assess it. Your spouse or life partner is welcome at any conversation. If you ever need to claim, we lodge the claim with you and keep you informed until the insurer reaches its decision.
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 legal work, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
Legal practice can mean a salary and any bonus, a share of a firm’s profits or fees at the bar, any group cover through a firm or association, and a degree that suits many other roles. Each can affect how a policy is assessed and pays, so these 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.
For a quick first look, an online quote works from the answers you give on screen. It may not show how a policy’s wording treats a share of the firm’s profits that varies, or fees billed before an illness or injury and paid later. Quote sites generally give general advice only, so your own situation isn’t taken into account.
Advice tailored to you looks first at the way you earn, any group cover through a firm or a bar association, and the TPD definitions available for legal work, then weighs policies across many insurers. We can read each policy’s income wording with you. Any offer of cover, and its terms, remains the insurer’s decision.
An insurer may work out a partner’s income from their share of the business profits or losses, rather than from payslips. Partnership 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 a profit share that changes from year to year, depends on its wording, so the definition is worth reading before you apply. Your accountant advises on the partnership’s structure and accounts. We can work through your figures with you for an application and compare the income definitions different policies use.
Some associations arrange group cover for members, such as a life and TPD scheme for practising barristers. Each scheme sets what it pays, how it defines being disabled from practice, any age at which cover ends or you can opt out, and what happens if you stop practising, so its terms are worth reading in full.
A scheme may pay a lump sum rather than part of your income, so it’s worth checking which it does. Personal cover you apply for is separate and issued on its own terms. Reading the two side by side shows where they overlap and where each one stops. We can read any scheme documents with you alongside your super.
Moneysmart describes an any occupation definition as being unable to work in any job suited to your education, training or experience. Legal training suits many roles beyond practice, such as in-house, policy, compliance or teaching work, so those are the kinds of roles a definition like this may look at. The insurer assesses each claim under its own wording.
Own occupation looks at the job you were working in before your disability. It’s usually only available outside super, and some insurers offer it for selected occupations only. We can read each definition with you against the legal work you do now.
Partnership or buy-sell cover, offered by some policies, can provide money for the remaining partners to buy the share of a partner who passes away or becomes totally and permanently disabled, as the policy defines it, on the terms the partnership agreement sets. An agreement should be in place for that arrangement. Settling it is for the partners and the firm’s lawyer, and we don’t draft or review it.
Key person cover is different: it can help a practice with costs if a lawyer it relies on can no longer work. Who owns each policy is worth working through with your accountant. We can look at the insurance side with you and your fellow partners.
Older policies can carry terms that are no longer sold. APRA required insurers to stop selling agreed value income protection, so a policy written before that change may set its benefit in a way new cover can’t. 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.
Any new cover is the insurer’s decision, based on your health and details when you apply. We can compare an older policy with current options with you before anything is cancelled.
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. At any stage of a legal career, the first conversation begins with your work, how you’re paid and what matters most to you about cover.
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. Firm or association cover details, partnership financial statements or payslips, and any super statements or policy schedules will help, though medical records aren’t needed at this stage. From there, we’ll agree on a practical next step together.
Who We Help
From first job to retirement, we help you build wealth, protect it, and live well.

First jobs, first home, first super, HECS debt, budgeting and more.

First home buyers, new parents, school fees, single incomes, young families and more.

Doctors, dentists, pharmacists, allied health, nurses and more.

Lawyers, accountants, brokers, engineers, consultants and more.

Electricians, plumbers, builders, sole traders, franchisees and more.

Executives, senior managers, directors, board members and more.

Police, firefighters, paramedics, ADF personnel, teachers and more.

Pre-retirees, transition to retirement, Age Pension, aged care, estate planning and more.

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

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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