Life Insurance and Income Protection for Marketers, Designers and Copywriters
Income Protection for Marketers, Designers and Copywriters and Their Families
In-house, in an agency or freelance, your pay and any cover through work and super shape your options. We can help you read any cover you hold, apply for new cover and lodge a claim.
Financial Advice for Life Insurance and Income Protection
Who We Help
- Marketing managers working in-house
- Account and strategy staff at advertising or digital agencies
- Graphic, brand and digital designers weighing up cover for themselves
- Illustrators paid by the job or on a salary
- Writers of copy and content on staff or for clients
- Social media managers in-house or for several clients
- Self-employed designers and writers paid through retainers or project fees
- Creators and influencers paid for brand work
- People in a restructure or consultation, looking at their cover
- People moving to freelance work with cover from an earlier job
We Can Help You
- Gather any policies through work, super or your own name into one list
- Read your insurance before you go from a salary to freelance work
- Describe your duties as they are on a cover application, in-house, agency or freelance
- Ask insurers how wages, retainers and invoices count as income for cover
- Use your household budget to work out the income protection you’d want, not a strong year
- Set a waiting period for income protection around what you’ve saved and leave you may have
- Talk you through what income protection does and doesn’t do if a retainer or role finishes
- Read the insurance in each super fund, one fund at a time
- Go over your cover when a move to agency, freelance or part-time work changes what you do
- Guide you from the first call through to a lodged claim, which the insurer or fund then assesses
What we advise on
How Each Cover Works Around Marketing and Creative Work
Income Protection
With illness or injury keeping you from work, what could help with household bills?
Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period, subject to the policy’s terms and exclusions.
We’ll compare income protection with you from a wide range of insurers, around how you work and how you’re paid.
Income protection can pay a share of pre-tax income if you can’t work, usually based on earnings in the 12 months before. Each policy has its own disability definition and most offer a waiting period between 14 days and two years, 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:
- Freelancing without sick leave, which Moneysmart notes, and the waiting period you could manage from savings
- A restructure or lost retainer: we can help you understand what income protection would and wouldn’t do
- Wages, retainers and project fees across one year, and how each insurer builds its earnings figure
- A quiet stretch of client work before a claim, and the question to ask about lower earnings
- Freelance or part-time weeks with few booked hours, as Moneysmart notes some policies might only cover a minimum number
- Whether you could still do the important duties of your design, writing or marketing work, where a policy asks that
- Returning with a smaller client list or shorter weeks, and the partial payments some policies make if you meet their definition and earn less
- Household costs as the starting point for how much income you’d want covered, not a strong year
Life Insurance
Who relies on what your marketing or creative work brings in?
Life cover can pay your beneficiaries a lump sum, subject to its terms, towards debts and everyday costs.
Together, we’ll size life cover from your debts and the people relying on your income.
Life cover can pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries if you pass away, and Moneysmart notes it can also help if you have large debts or a mortgage. Insurers usually ask your age and job when you apply. If you name no beneficiary, your estate or the super trustee may decide where the money goes.
What we weigh up with you on life cover:
- Any mortgage balance counted into your life cover amount, alongside your household’s other debts
- A household with two incomes, if this is you, and what one wage could manage without your freelance or agency pay
- Totalling life cover across funds you used at earlier jobs, if any, before you choose an amount
- Naming beneficiaries on each policy and fund, within its rules, or leaving a payout to your estate
- One policy bundling death and TPD benefits, where Moneysmart says a claim on one may reduce the other
- A studio loan or lease in your own name, if you have one, and what someone would be left repaying
- Life insurance that came with an agency or in-house job, if you have it, and what to ask before you freelance
- Children at home, if you have them, and what schooling and care could add over the coming years
TPD Insurance
Could your plans still hold if illness or injury meant never working again?
A TPD lump sum, as the policy defines it, can go towards debts and ongoing plans.
We’ll weigh TPD definitions with you against the work your training and experience could suit.
An own occupation definition looks at your usual job, and this cover is usually only available outside super. An any occupation definition looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience, and some definitions look at everyday activities instead of work. A TPD payment may also reduce life cover held with it.
What we compare with you on TPD:
- Own occupation cover for design, writing or marketing work, as a question for an insurer, since funds usually don’t offer it
- Any occupation tests, which Moneysmart says look at education, training or experience, and how each policy words them
- Years across marketing, design or writing, and how a definition looking at your experience may read them
- The TPD wording in each fund you belong to, which may not match cover bought directly
- A marketing or design title your fund recorded years ago, set beside what you do today
- Repaying debts and funding ongoing costs from a lump sum, subject to the policy’s definition and the insurer’s assessment
- Self-care activities such as dressing or bathing, which some definitions test instead of your ability to work
- Income for a period and a lump sum for good: what income protection and TPD each address
Trauma Insurance
What might help with costs and time away from clients or your team after a serious diagnosis?
Trauma cover can pay a lump sum for a listed condition, subject to its definition and exclusions.
We’ll go over a trauma policy’s list of conditions with you, and how a lump sum could sit beside income protection.
Trauma cover can pay a lump sum on diagnosis of a condition the policy lists and defines, 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:
- Each listed condition and what the definition requires, gone through together before you apply or change policies
- Whether a policy offers partial payments for some conditions, and what its wording says
- Paying for trauma cover from freelance or salaried income, as super isn’t an option for new policies
- A trauma payment during early time off, and how it differs from income protection, if you hold both
- Weeks without client work, when freelancing means no sick leave, and what a payment could go towards
- Trauma claims under a combined plan, if you have one, and how much life cover remains afterwards
- Your current trauma policy, if you have one, set beside today’s conditions list before any switch
- Studio rent or mortgage repayments, if you have them, and whether a trauma payment could go towards them
Cover in Super
Does the cover in your super still suit the work you do now?
Each fund’s statement can show the cover it holds, its cost and when that cover can end.
Together, we’ll check the cover in each of your funds before you change jobs, merge funds or go freelance.
If you stay with the same super fund as you move between jobs, any insurance you have there will usually stay with that fund. If you move your super, you may lose any insurance that comes with your account. If you’re moving from employee to self-employed, Moneysmart suggests checking if this affects the insurance cover through your super.
What we check in each fund with you:
- Agency moves leaving several funds open, if this applies to you, and the cover each one still holds
- Your fund’s record of your job, if it doesn’t match your design, writing or marketing work, and Moneysmart’s suggestion to contact them
- Which fund gets your super when an agency or in-house job starts, and what cover that fund holds
- Finishing at an agency or in-house team, and questions about your cover to raise beforehand with the employer or fund
- Freelance years when premiums come off your balance, and what your fund says a low balance would mean
- Going out on your own, and whether your fund says that changes the insurance it provides
- More cover from a fund than it gives automatically, if a home or family calls for it, and the usual underwriting
- Automatic cover at a set amount, weighed against what your household owes and spends
In-House, Agency and Freelance Work
Could your cover fit the way you work, in-house, in an agency or on your own?
Setting out how you work on an application can give an insurer a clear picture of your duties and pay.
We’ll set out how you work with you for an application, from duties and hours to how you’re paid.
Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply, and the same title can mean different work in-house, in an agency or freelance. 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. The insurer decides on any application.
What we set out with you:
- Employee, day rate, retainer or project fee: how you’re engaged, described as it is for each piece of work
- Any client meetings, travel and shoots in your week, set out in plain words
- On-camera or filming work, if you do it, included when an application asks about your duties
- People you manage, and the share of your week spent managing rather than making the work
- Several roles in one year, with dates and income for each kept together for an application
- Side work beside a job, named on an application when the questions ask about it
- Weekly hours and number of clients as they are now, rather than as they were in a busier year
- Reasonable care on an application: answering the questions asked, including those about your work
Retainers, Restructures and Moving Roles
When a role or retainer changes, what could you check in your cover?
Looking early can show what you hold, what might change and who to ask.
Together, we’ll look at your cover before a role ends or a freelance move starts.
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. Income protection is generally for illness or injury rather than losing a job. Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply, so a move to freelance work or time between roles is worth raising with us.
What we look at with you before the change:
- Income protection, generally for illness or injury rather than losing a job, and what it would and wouldn’t do for you
- Your last day in a job, and the questions to put to your employer or fund about cover beforehand
- Cover offered by a new employer, if any, read beside what you already have
- A move to freelance work, and asking an insurer how a short history of invoices would be read
- Weeks or months between roles, and the work questions an application may ask during that time
- Leave pay or other income during a claim, which a policy may take into account when working out a benefit
- Workers compensation, which is separate and where each scheme sets who qualifies, read beside your own cover
- A consultation period, and using it to list your cover and the questions you’d like answered
When to Review Your Cover
How does your cover sit beside the work you do now and your life at home?
Reading it again after a change at work or home can show what’s worth updating.
Together, we’ll go through what you hold, if anything, beside how you work and your life at home.
Marketing and creative work can change through a move to an agency, a move to freelance work, a return to a job or a shift towards one client. A change at work or home is a good reason to book a conversation, and we can read a policy or fund statement with you. Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. The insurer decides on any new application.
Situations worth raising with us in a conversation:
- In-house to agency, with new clients and duties, and whether your fund’s or policy’s records still match the job
- Wages to freelance, and what to ask about cover through work or super before the change
- Freelance back to a job, and how an employer’s cover, if offered, sits beside yours
- First staff in a studio, and how managing people changes the duties you’d describe
- Income shifting towards one client, and how an insurer would count earnings after that change
- Brand deals becoming a real share of your income, and what to ask about counting them
- A home purchase, a new child or a relationship ending, if that happens, and the life and TPD cover that suits you then
- Premiums, which generally rise as you age, weighed against freelance income that changes
Making a Claim
Who could help with the paperwork and follow-up if you ever had to claim?
Support with the paperwork can ease the load while the insurer or fund assesses a claim.
We can lodge a claim with you and follow each step, with the insurer or fund assessing it.
Moneysmart says to speak first to whoever you bought the cover from, and to your employer for cover through an employment arrangement. At claim, an insurer can ask about your work duties, including physical requirements, the hours you work each week and your pay records. 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:
- Working out who to speak to first: the seller of your policy, your fund or your employer
- Your duties, hours and clients before you became unwell or were hurt, written down plainly
- Mixed income records: wages on payslips, and statements and returns for freelance work
- Your doctor’s evidence, such as reports and test results, when the claim process asks for it
- Retainer money or late invoices arriving during a claim, and what the policy’s terms say about them
- Part-time or reduced client work during a claim, and what a policy asks you to report
- Retainers or roles that ended before a claim, and the paperwork showing what you earned and did
- Disputing a result: go to the insurer or fund first, and AFCA if agreement isn’t reached
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
- Your role and duties: Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply, and one title can cover very different work. It helps to set out what you do as it is, including any client meetings, shoots or people management.
- Salary, day rates or project fees: Income protection usually works from your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury. How salary and invoices are counted together is a question to ask each insurer.
- Retainers and one large client: How a retainer shows in your earnings is a question for each insurer. Income protection is generally for illness or injury, so a client leaving is a separate thing to plan for, and we can help you understand the difference.
- Cover through an employer: If your employer provides cover, your employer or fund can tell you who holds it and what it pays. Any cover that comes through your employer may not continue once you leave.
- Cover in your super: Moneysmart notes insurance terms and conditions vary from fund to fund, so each one is worth reading. It also suggests comparing what you hold there with cover outside super.
- A restructure or role change: Income protection is generally for illness or injury rather than losing a job, so we can help you understand what it would and wouldn’t do. It’s worth asking your employer or fund about any cover before your last day.
- A move to freelance: If you’re moving from employee to self-employed, Moneysmart suggests checking if this affects the insurance cover through your super. It also notes you won’t have the benefit of paid holidays or sick leave.
- Back with fewer clients or fewer hours: Some policies pay a partial benefit when you’re back at work and earning less, if you meet the policy’s definition. Moneysmart notes some policies might only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours.
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 | 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 |
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
- A wide range
- 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 Marketing and Creative Work, Worked Through Together
Marketing and Creative Duties Set Out
Your duties, client work and any filming or travel set out with you for an application.
Salary and Invoice Income Laid Out
Wages, retainers and project fees set out, with each insurer asked how it counts them.
Cover in Each Fund Read
What each super fund holds for you, read with you one fund at a time.
Cover Looked at Before a Freelance Move
What could change in your cover through work and super, read with you before you go freelance.
Waiting Period Weighed Against Savings
How long you could wait for payments, weighed with you against savings and any sick leave.
A Household Budget for Income Protection
The income you’d want covered, worked out with you from a household budget rather than a strong year.
Job Loss Limits Understood
How income protection treats a role or retainer ending, explained to you in plain language.
A Claim Lodged With You
Your duties, hours, and pay or invoice records gathered with you while the insurer or fund assesses a 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 Marketers, Designers and Copywriters
People see your work every day, on a screen, a shelf or a page, and few stop to think about the care and the deadlines behind it. We’d like to hear about you first: the work you’re proudest of, the people who matter most and what you’d like the years ahead to hold. From there, we’ll help you build a plan on your own terms, around your own goals and the way you’d like to live.
All those hours of careful work can build something lasting at home. That could mean a place that feels like yours, time with the people you love, a trip you’ve always wanted to take or more say over the work you accept. The plan can make room for anyone who relies on you. Whatever you’d like to build, we can work through it with you, and our ongoing advice clients review their plan with us each year.
If illness or injury kept you from your marketing or creative work, 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 from a wide range of insurers with you. 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 Marketers, Designers and Copywriters
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 marketing or creative work, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
In-house, agency and freelance work can mean different duties, pay and cover through work. Each can affect how an insurer assesses an application and how a policy’s definitions read a claim, so your duties, income and any cover through work are what we look at.
With a financial adviser, you also have:
- Access to a wide range of insurers, who can assess the same health details differently
- 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.
Yes. Our financial advice and strategies can help you prepare, on staff or freelance. On staff, that could mean working out how long your money would last and planning around what any award, agreement or contract gives you. Fair Work notes most small business employers don’t have to pay redundancy pay under the National Employment Standards, and it can explain your entitlements. If you freelance, redundancy may not apply, so we’d plan for a retainer or account ending.
Income protection is generally for illness or injury rather than losing a job, so we can help you understand what it would and wouldn’t do for you, and what may change with any cover if you leave. If your job does end, our redundancy advice can help with what comes next.
Start with where each piece of cover sits:
- Through your employer: 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
- In your super: if you’re moving from employee to self-employed, Moneysmart suggests checking if this affects the insurance cover through your super
- In your own name: read the policy, including any wording on hours or employment
We can go through the answers with you and compare cover you could apply for. The insurer assesses any application.
Moneysmart says income protection usually bases the benefit on your annual earnings in the 12 months before your illness or injury. How salary, retainers and project fees count within that depends on the policy and the insurer, so it’s a question to ask each one before you apply. Some policies work out self-employed income after your share of business expenses.
It can help to keep payslips, tax returns and invoices together, with an accountant on the records. We can lay the mix out with you, and the insurer decides on any application or claim.
It can matter in two ways. How an insurer looks at income from one client is worth asking about before you apply. And income protection is generally for illness or injury rather than a client leaving, so we can help you understand what it would and wouldn’t do for you.
A household budget can show how long your savings could cover costs if that client left, and how much income you’d want covered if you couldn’t work. Those are two separate plans, and we can work through both with you.
It depends on the policy’s definition. An any occupation definition looks at whether you could ever work again in any job suited to your education, training or experience. An own occupation definition looks at your usual job, and Moneysmart says it’s usually only available outside super.
Years in marketing, design or writing are part of your experience, and how they’d be read depends on the wording and the insurer’s assessment. We can read each definition with you, including the one your fund uses.
It’s worth including if an application asks about your duties. Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply, and the duty is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, which means answering the questions asked with reasonable care. Each insurer assesses an application in its own way, and the insurer decides.
We can help you set out your work as it is before you apply, including any filming, travel or shoots.
Moving from in-house to an agency, going freelance or going back to a job can each be a good reason to book a conversation. 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.
Online forms can give you a price from one seller. They may not show how a year of wages and invoices would be counted, what could change if you go freelance, or which cover sits with your employer or fund.
Advice begins with those questions. We go through your documents with you and compare cover from a wide range of insurers, 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. An agency job, a move to freelance work or years in marketing, design or writing can all be where we begin.
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.
Bring whatever you have: pay records or invoices, fund statements and any insurance documents.
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