Life Insurance and Income Protection for Lift Technicians and Mechanics
Income Protection for Lift Technicians and Mechanics and Their Families
What you do on the job, how your pay is made up and any cover through an agreement, work or super shape your options. We’ll help you apply for cover, go through any cover you hold and lodge claims.
Financial Advice for Life Insurance and Income Protection
Who We Help
- Apprentices in lift and escalator firms
- Installers on new building projects
- Lift service crews with or without on-call work
- Modernisation crews replacing equipment in older buildings
- Escalator and walkway crews on service or install work
- Leading hands and site supervisors in lift firms
- Estimators and contract managers from a lift background
- Subcontractors on lift jobs with an ABN
- Small lift firm owners with a crew or working alone
- Technicians changing firm or role with cover from an earlier job
We Can Help You
- Set out shaft, car top, machine room and escalator duties as they are for a cover application
- Explain any electrical and mechanical sides of your lift role plainly when you apply for insurance
- Look at agreement cover, if you have it, next to a personal policy you could apply for
- Find out from the insurers willing to consider your work how allowances, overtime and on-call pay count for income protection
- Think through an income protection waiting period alongside your paid leave, if you have some
- Compare what your household would want with what income protection could pay, as a benefit is a share of earnings
- Read how disability wording in an income protection policy treats lighter or supervising lift work
- Find the cover in each fund you hold, and the job each one shows for you
- Look at cover with you if a move to service, supervising or an ABN changes your lift work
- Lodge claims on personal insurance with you, with the insurer or fund assessing each one
What we advise on
How Each Cover Works Around Lift Work
Income Protection
Illness or injury can take you away from lift work for a time: what could help with the bills?
Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period, subject to the policy’s terms, exclusions and the insurer’s assessment.
We’ll compare income protection from the insurers willing to consider your work, around your duties and how your pay is made up.
A policy can pay a share of your pre-tax income if illness or injury stops you working, usually based on earnings in the 12 months before. Each has its own definition of disability, and most offer a waiting period between 14 days and two years. An insurer usually looks at your job and duties when you apply, and this can affect whether cover is offered, the benefit periods available and the amount. Exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities.
What we look at with you on income protection:
- Some policies’ test of whether you can do the main income-earning duties of your lift job
- Easing back on lighter lift duties, where some policies can pay in part under reduced capacity wording
- Estimating or training skills, and how some policies look at suited work later in a long claim
- Base pay, allowances and on-call pay, if you get them, and how each insurer works out the income it counts
- Lift earnings over the 12 months before illness or injury stops you, in a year with more or less overtime
- Monthly household spending you’d want met, worked out as a budget, beside a benefit based on earnings
- Any cover your agreement provides, and whether a benefit under it could reduce a personal policy’s benefit
- An injury on a lift job, any scheme money you’re paid, and how a policy’s offset terms may reduce its benefit
Life Insurance
Is anyone relying on what your lift work pays for?
Life cover can pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries, towards debts, everyday costs and the plans you’ve made.
Together, we’ll work out a life cover amount from what you owe and anyone relying on your pay.
If you pass away, life cover can pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries, and some policies also include terminal illness cover. Insurers usually ask your age and job when you apply, and Moneysmart notes this cover can help if you have large debts or a mortgage. With no beneficiary named, your estate or the super trustee may decide where the money goes.
What we weigh up with you on life cover:
- Bills your lift work pays for each month, plus a mortgage if you have one
- Business debts from ABN work or a small lift firm, if you have them, counted in the amount
- Naming a beneficiary on the super from your lift work, under the rules each trustee sets
- Old accounts from earlier lift employers, checked for life insurance that may still be attached
- Bundled TPD and life, and what a TPD payment leaves behind in life cover
- Shaft, car top or machine room work, listed plainly when a life application asks about your job
- Your partner’s life cover, if you have a partner, weighed up alongside your lift income
- Death cover from an agreement or fund, if you hold it, counted before a personal amount is chosen
TPD Insurance
What would happen to your plans if you could never work again?
TPD insurance can pay a lump sum towards debts and plans if you can’t work again, as the policy defines it.
We can explain how TPD definitions may treat the skills lift work builds, from fault finding to supervising.
An own occupation definition looks at your usual job, while an any occupation definition looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience. Own occupation wording is usually only found outside super, and the insurer decides whether it’s offered to you. 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:
- Whether own occupation wording is offered for your lift role, which is each insurer’s decision
- Lighter lift tasks still within your capacity, and how a fund’s TPD definition treats lighter work
- Transferable lift experience, such as estimating or training, under any occupation wording
- Your lift role as each fund has recorded it, beside the duties you do now
- Some TPD wording’s test of daily self-care tasks, which replaces a test of your lift job
- A mortgage or lift firm debts, if you have them, and the lump sum you’d want beside them
- Income protection paying monthly and TPD paying once, weighed together for your lift income
- Contract management or supervising as your usual job, and which TPD wording would then apply
Trauma Insurance
A serious diagnosis can mean treatment and time away from lift work: what could help with costs?
Trauma insurance can pay a lump sum for a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.
We’ll go over what a trauma policy lists with you, and how a lump sum could sit beside income protection.
Each trauma policy lists the conditions it covers and defines each one, 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.
What we read with you in a trauma policy:
- How a listed condition must be diagnosed under a policy’s medical definition before a trauma benefit is payable
- Earlier or less severe conditions, and part payments on offer under some trauma wording
- Funding trauma cover from after-tax lift pay, as new cover can’t be held in your fund
- Time off lift work before any income protection would start, and what a lump sum could do if a claim is paid
- Contract lift jobs, if you’re self-employed with no sick pay, and a lump sum’s place among your savings if you stop for treatment
- Some trauma bundled inside life policies, where a payment may cut the sum left for beneficiaries
- Policies from earlier years, if you hold any, and what newer trauma wording does differently
- Tax on a trauma lump sum, as a question to put to an accountant
Cover in Super
Would any cover in your super suit the lift work you do now?
Reading each fund’s insurance details before you change anything shows you what’s there and what it costs.
We can list any cover in your funds with you and go through it before anything changes.
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. Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs, and premiums come off your balance.
What we check in each fund with you:
- Each fund from earlier employers or your apprenticeship, if you have more than one, listed with its cover
- The job recorded for you as an installer, technician or supervisor, and contacting your fund if it’s incorrect
- Changing lift firms, as your super generally follows your existing fund unless you choose a different one
- Apprentices and new lift starters under 25, who may need to ask a new fund for cover, depending on job and fund
- A fund’s PDS wording on conditions you had before joining, before you count on its cover during lift work
- What each fund charges for insurance, and how those premiums come off your balance during lift work
- Consolidating after a few lift employers, once you’ve read what insurance each account carries
- Insurance above your fund’s starting amount, which is usually underwritten, if your lift pay supports a household
Shafts, Machine Rooms and Escalators
Which of your shaft, machine room or escalator duties are worth setting out for an insurer?
Clear detail on your duties can give an insurer an accurate picture of the work you do.
We’ll write up your lift duties with you for an application, and look at how a policy or fund records them.
Jobs and Skills Australia describes lift mechanics as people who design, install, maintain, service and repair lifts, escalators and moving walkways, and lists tasks such as using instruments to trace and diagnose faults. What fills your week depends on your role, so it’s 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 lift work:
- Shaft and car top work, if it’s part of your job, with the share of your week it takes up
- Machine room work, if your lifts have one, with the equipment you look after described in your own words
- Escalator and moving walkway work, set out separately if it’s part of your job
- Any electrical fault finding and testing, alongside any mechanical work on a lift
- Mechanical repair and adjustment, named for what you do rather than a general job title
- Installation work compared with service work, and the time you spend on each in a normal week
- On-call work, if you do it, and how often, stated as part of your hours
- Any licence your work requires, listed as a fact of the job you do
Agreements, On-Call and ABN Work
What could change for any cover if you change employer or agreement, or move onto an ABN?
Looking at your cover first can show what stays and what you may want to apply for.
Together, we’ll go through what could change for cover if your employer, pay or way of working changes.
Any cover that comes through your employer may not continue once you leave, so it’s worth asking your employer or fund before your last day. Moneysmart notes that self-employed people don’t have paid holidays or sick leave, and suggests checking how leaving wages affects cover through your super.
What we look at with you before the change:
- Any cover your agreement provides, including what it pays, how long for and when it stops
- Leaving a lift employer, and asking your employer or fund what happens to your cover before your last day
- Overtime and on-call pay, and asking each insurer how it works out income for income protection
- No paid sick leave if you’re self-employed, as Moneysmart notes, and how long savings could carry you
- Super on subcontract lift work: the ATO looks at labour, a set result and delegation, and an ABN doesn’t settle it
- A lift contract through your own company, trust or partnership, where the hirer doesn’t have to pay your super
- Being hurt at work on a contract or on wages: each workers compensation scheme sets who qualifies
- Invoices and tax returns kept up to date, since an insurer can ask for financial statements at claim
When to Review Your Cover
Has a new lift role or a change at home got you thinking about any cover you hold?
Moves at work or at home can be a good reason to read your cover again.
We can go through what you hold, if anything, beside your lift work and your life at home.
Lift work can move from install to service, into supervising, or from wages onto an ABN. Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. A change at work or home is a good reason to book a conversation, and we can go through a policy or fund statement with you. The insurer decides on any new application.
Situations worth raising with us in a conversation:
- Finishing your apprenticeship, and how your fund or policy records the job you do once qualified
- Install to service, or back again, and whether the job on your papers still matches your week
- An offer to supervise, and how a policy definition may read your usual work once less hands-on
- Subcontract lift jobs you’re picking up, the records you’d keep, and how each workers compensation scheme sets who qualifies
- A new lift firm or agreement vote, and reading whether the document provides any insurance
- Your last week at a lift firm, and asking first what happens to any cover through the job
- A mortgage, a new child or the end of a relationship, and what amount of cover would suit now
- Renewal notices showing a higher premium, if you hold a stepped policy, as these are recalculated with age
Making a Claim
Would you like someone beside you for the forms and follow-up in a claim?
Someone working with you on forms and follow-up can make a claim easier while the insurer or fund assesses it.
Together, we’ll lodge a claim and follow up each step, with the insurer or fund assessing 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, plus 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:
- Your policy schedule or super statement, to show where a new lift work claim goes first
- Physical requirements of your lift role and your usual weekly hours, set down as an insurer may ask
- Allowance and overtime lines on lift payslips, or tax returns and financial statements for ABN work
- Doctors’ reports and test results an insurer may ask for on a lift work claim
- Hurt on a lift job: a scheme assesses its own claims, and we’d work with you on any policy claim
- Some payments received during time off lift work, such as sick pay, which can reduce what a policy pays
- Lighter duties during a return to work, and the partial terms some policies set
- A decision on your lift claim you’d like to question, and the complaints process open to you
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
- Shafts, car tops and machine rooms: Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply. Jobs and Skills Australia lists tasks for lift mechanics, and the mix in your own week is part of describing your work accurately.
- Electrical and mechanical work: Lift work can include electrical fault finding and mechanical repair. It helps to set out the work you do, along with any licence your work requires, so the description matches your role.
- Allowances, overtime and on-call: Income protection usually works from your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury. It’s worth asking each insurer how it treats any allowance, overtime or on-call pay.
- Any cover through an agreement: Any cover your agreement provides has its own terms, so it’s worth reading what it pays, for how long and when it stops, and whether a benefit from one source could reduce another.
- Install, service or modernisation: Each can involve different sites, hours and physical tasks, so it helps to set out which you do and how often. How a fund or policy records your job is worth reading again when your work changes.
- Supervising and contract roles: A move away from hands-on work can change your duties and how your pay is made up. A TPD any occupation definition may also take supervising or estimating experience into account.
- Your own ABN or firm: Self-employed people don’t have paid sick leave, and an insurer can ask for financial statements at claim. It’s also worth checking how leaving wages affects cover through your super.
- Back on lighter duties for a while: If you return on lighter duties, some policies can pay a partial benefit for working in a reduced capacity and earning less than before. Workers compensation sits apart, and each scheme sets who qualifies. 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 Lift Work, Worked Through Together
Lift Duties Set Out
Shaft, machine room, escalator and other duties described with you for an application.
Any Agreement Cover Read Beside Personal Cover
Any cover your agreement provides, read with you beside personal cover you could apply for.
Pay Layers Laid Out for an Insurer
Base pay, allowances, overtime and on-call set out, with each insurer asked how it works out income.
Household Costs Set Beside Income Protection
What you’d want covered, worked out with you from household costs and set beside a benefit based on earnings.
Disability Wording Read for Lighter Work
How a policy treats lighter or supervising work, read with you before you apply.
Cover in Each Fund Read With You
The cover and recorded occupation in each fund you hold, gone through before anything changes.
Cover Looked at Before an ABN
Any cover you hold read with you before you move onto an ABN or change employer.
A Lift Work Claim Lodged With You
Forms, duties and pay records handled 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 Lift Technicians and Mechanics
Every day, people reach their homes, offices and hospital appointments on lifts and escalators that few people know how to install or look after. That takes skill, patience and care, and it’s a trade to be proud of. We’d like to start by getting to know you: how your work runs, what matters to you and what you’d like your work to make possible. From there, we’ll help you build a plan around the pay you can rely on and the life you’d like.
Steady planning can help your extra pay go further. A share of overtime or a pay rise could go towards a home, a family holiday, more time off, a firm of your own or more choice about when you finish up. If someone relies on your income, the plan can allow for them too. Through ongoing advice, we can review the plan with you each year, so it keeps pace with the goals you’ve set.
If illness or injury kept you from your work on lifts and escalators, income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period, subject to the policy’s definitions, exclusions and the insurer’s assessment. Personal cover can also include life, TPD and trauma cover, each with its own terms. We can advise on cover alone, without a full financial plan, explaining each one in plain language and comparing cover with you from the insurers willing to consider your work. The insurer decides on any application.
Every financial decision impacts the next
Your Financial Life Is Connected
Great advice starts with understanding the bigger picture. Every stage of life presents new opportunities and challenges, from buying property and changing careers to growing your family, planning for retirement and protecting what matters most. At Ryker, we help connect every piece of your financial world into one clear strategy.
Learn more about Financial Planning and Advice for Lift Technicians
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 on lifts and escalators, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
Work on lifts and escalators can mean installation, service, modernisation or supervising, as an employee, a contractor or an owner. Each can affect how an insurer assesses an application and how a policy’s definitions apply at 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.
An insurer usually looks at your job and duties when you apply. It helps to set out what fills a normal week: shaft and car top work, machine rooms, escalators, electrical or mechanical tasks, and any on-call 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. We can help you write your work down 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. Which parts of your pay count, including any allowance, overtime or on-call pay, is a question to ask each insurer before you apply.
At claim, an insurer can ask about your work duties, including physical requirements, the hours you work each week and your pay records, so it helps to keep your payslips. We can go through how the insurers willing to consider your work approach this, and the insurer decides on any application.
That depends on what your agreement provides and what you’d want it to do. It helps to read its terms beside a personal policy: what each pays, for how long, when each stops, and whether a benefit from one could reduce the other. It’s also worth asking what happens to any cover your agreement provides if you change employer or move onto an ABN.
We can read the terms side by side with you and go through personal cover from the insurers willing to consider your work. The insurer decides on any application.
A move into supervising can change your duties and how your pay is made up. If you hold a policy, start with its 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.
A TPD any occupation definition looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience, so supervising experience 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.
Workers compensation is separate from personal cover, through a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme. Each scheme sets who qualifies and decides any workers compensation claim, so that’s where to ask about your own position.
Income protection, if you hold it, has its own terms and exclusions, and scheme payments may reduce a benefit. We can go through your cover with you and plan your finances around where you stand, and the insurer decides on any claim on your policy.
A first on-call roster, a move from install to service, an offer to supervise or a subcontract offer 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 go through a fund statement or policy with you beside the work you do now, and any new cover you could apply for. The insurer decides on any application.
Our ongoing advice clients have an annual review with us.
A quote form can show what one seller offers. It may not show how allowances and overtime make up your pay, how your week divides across install, service and on-call work, or what an agreement or fund provides.
Personal advice starts with those things. We can then look at any cover you hold and go through options from the insurers willing to consider your work, with the insurer deciding any 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. Our first conversation starts with the work you do now, on the tools or in an office.
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.
It helps to have your last tax return, your pay records, each fund’s statement and a few lines on what fills your 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.
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