Life Insurance and Income Protection for Massage Therapists
Income Protection for Massage Therapists and Their Families
Your treatment duties, how you’re paid, your costs and any cover through work or super all come into your options. We’ll 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
- Clinic employees paid wages for massage work
- Fee-share contractors paid a share of what each treatment brings in
- Room-renting therapists seeing their own clients and keeping their own takings
- Mobile massage therapists driving between clients with a table in the car
- Seated and event therapists treating at workplaces and events
- Therapists at spas and resorts on staff or in a rented room
- Myotherapists describing their techniques and duties when they apply
- Owners who still treat as well as running a clinic
- Teachers of massage teaching alongside treating clients
- Therapists leaving wages for an ABN, and reading any cover from an earlier job
We Can Help You
- Set out your treatments and physical duties as they are on a cover application
- Describe mobile, seated or spa work plainly when you apply for insurance
- Read how a disability definition in income protection treats fewer treatments a week
- Go through partial benefit wording in income protection for a staged return to fewer treatments
- Ask each insurer with you which income its cover counts on a fee share or your own takings
- Test income protection waiting periods against how long savings could cover room rent and home bills
- Work out from home spending what you’d want income protection to help with
- Look at insurance in each super fund with you, including the work it has on file
- Talk through any cover when a fee share, a room or mobile work becomes a real option
- Help you lodge a claim and answer what comes next as the insurer or fund decides
What we advise on
How Each Cover Works Around Massage Work
Income Protection
Time away from treating through illness or injury: what could help at home?
With income protection, part of your income can be paid after a waiting period, subject to the policy’s terms and exclusions.
We can set income protection options beside your treatment duties and the way you’re paid.
Income protection can pay a share of your pre-tax income while you can’t work, usually based on earnings in the 12 months before. Each policy has its own definition of disability and waiting period, 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:
- Giving treatments as an important duty of your usual work, and how some policies test whether you still can
- Part days or fewer clients while you recover, if a policy has a reduced capacity benefit
- Massage skills and any teaching background, which some policies weigh after a set time against work you’re suited to
- Monthly home spending as the amount you’d want to replace, beside the earnings share a policy may pay
- Savings you could reach during a waiting period, weighed against rent and the bills at home
- A short treatment week with admin beside the table hours, read against the minimum hours some policies require
- Workers compensation income during a claim, as each scheme sets who qualifies, and how it can lower what a policy pays
- Paying premiums through super or from your pocket, the cash each leaves you and an accountant’s view on tax
- Cover for the running costs of your rooms, if that’s available and suitable, kept apart from your own income
Life Insurance
If anyone relies on you, what do your earnings pay for at home?
Your beneficiaries can use a lump sum for debts and everyday costs, as the policy sets out.
We’ll work through a life cover amount with you, from any debts and the people relying on your income.
Insurers usually ask your age and job when you apply. Life cover can pay a lump sum if you pass away, and some policies include terminal illness cover. If you haven’t named a beneficiary, your estate or the super trustee decides where the money goes, so that’s worth going through with you.
What we weigh up with you on life cover:
- A mortgage, where you’re paying one, beside what your fees or wages cover in a usual week
- Massage table, fit-out or clinic finance, if you’ve borrowed, and who signed each contract
- Older life cover from jobs before massage, if you have some, traced through statements before new amounts are sized
- Naming someone for a super death benefit, within the limits each fund’s rules set
- Packaged life and TPD, where Moneysmart says a TPD payment may reduce the life amount left
- Treatment hours and table work written down as your week runs, for the job questions on a life application
- Each person’s amount, if you’re part of a couple, looked at together against what the household owes
- A lease on rooms shared with another therapist, if you’re in one, and what they’d be left to carry
TPD Insurance
What plans would you most want to keep if you could never work again?
As the policy defines it, total and permanent disability can lead to a lump sum towards debts and plans.
We can explain how TPD definitions read the skills massage work builds.
Moneysmart says own occupation cover looks at the job you were working in and is usually only available outside super. Any occupation cover looks at work 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 packaged with it.
What we compare with you on TPD:
- Massage work as your own occupation, and whether you could apply for that wording away from super
- Time spent teaching, on reception or managing a clinic, as any occupation wording might count such skills, with the insurer deciding
- Permanent disability tests in each super fund, where you have cover, gone through one by one for massage work
- The occupation on your fund’s records, set beside the treatments and duties that fill your week now
- Tests of daily tasks like dressing and getting around, found in some policies, as a separate measure from work
- How large a payout you’d want, thought through from rent, home costs and loans rather than a round figure
- Being off for a while or stopping for good, as income protection and TPD apply in different situations
- A move into teaching, and how your changed duties would read against a definition you apply under later
Trauma Insurance
Medical care and time away from clients can follow a serious diagnosis: what could help with the costs?
A lump sum can be paid if a listed condition meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.
We can go over what a policy lists with you, and how a lump sum could sit beside income protection.
New trauma cover can’t be held inside super, which has been the rule for policies written since 1 July 2014. Each policy lists its conditions with its own definitions, and Moneysmart notes these can be different between insurers, so we read them with you.
What we read with you in a trauma policy:
- Each listed condition’s medical wording, read line by line with you since definitions can vary by insurer
- A lower payout for an early-stage diagnosis under some wordings, and how far that money could stretch at home
- Fees or wages as the source of premiums, as superannuation rules keep new trauma policies out of a fund
- Rent on a treatment room and bills at home in the months before other payments start, beside a possible lump sum
- No employer leave to lean on if you work for yourself, and what a payout could keep going at home
- Bundled trauma and life, as Moneysmart notes a trauma claim could leave less life cover for the people you name
- Cover from before your massage work, if you have some, gone through with you ahead of a new application
- A payout going towards room rent, loans or time off, with an accountant on any tax question
Cover in Super
How does any cover in funds from earlier jobs suit the work you do now?
Checking each fund first can show what you have and what it costs you.
Together, we’ll check each fund with you 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. When you start a new job, your employer generally pays into your existing super fund unless you choose another; a default fund applies only if you have no fund.
What we check in each fund with you:
- Accounts from jobs before massage work, where you held other jobs, each noted with its cover and yearly cost
- Massage work missing from a fund’s records, if an old job title sits there, which Moneysmart suggests raising with the fund
- A change of clinic, where employer super generally follows you to your existing fund, and the insurance sitting there
- An age limit in your fund’s insurance, set beside the years you’d like to keep treating
- What a fund’s PDS says on conditions you already have, read before its cover goes towards your needs
- Yearly insurance costs deducted from super, and what each fund tells you about a low balance
- One account instead of several, only after reading what each holds, since switching funds may end what’s attached
- Increasing default amounts, usually assessed like other applications, if a fund’s set amount falls short of your plans
Treatments, Mobile and Seated Work
Could a plain description of your week help an insurer see your massage work as it is?
Describing your week plainly gives an insurer part of what it needs to assess your application.
We can set out your duties with you for an application, along with how a policy or fund records them.
Massage work can take in remedial and relaxation treatments, carrying a table, driving between clients, seated work and admin, and the mix can change from year to year. When you apply, insurers usually ask about your job. 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 work:
- Remedial and relaxation treatments, each named, with the share of your week they take
- Hours on the table set apart from admin, bookings and notes, written down from your own diary
- Mobile work, if you do it, including carrying a table and driving between clients
- Seated massage at workplaces or events, named separately if that work is part of your week
- Myotherapy work, if you do it, described plainly beside the job title you give on the form
- Spa or resort settings, and the treatments you give there, stated plainly on the form
- Teaching or mentoring work, if you do it, set beside your time treating clients
- A new mix of work, such as more teaching or fewer treatments, as a good reason to look at these notes again
Fee Shares, Rooms and Your Own Clients
What changes for your cover when you move from wages to a fee share or a room?
Sick leave and cover through super can both change, so it helps to look before you sign.
Together, we’ll look at your cover before you sign a fee share or take a room.
Moneysmart says being self-employed means you won’t have paid holidays or sick leave, and suggests checking whether moving from employee to self-employed affects the insurance through your super. Income protection usually works from earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury, so records of your fees are worth keeping with an accountant.
What we go through with you before a change:
- Any sick leave you’d give up if you became self-employed, set beside your savings and the waiting period you’d choose
- Cover through super, checked before you leave wages, including what the fund says about insurance after the move
- A fee share mainly for your labour, paid for your skills rather than a result, on work you can’t delegate, where super may be payable
- A contract through your own company, trust or partnership, where the ATO says the hirer doesn’t pay super for the person doing the work
- Which income an insurer may count on a fee share or your own takings, asked of each insurer before you apply
- Cash and card records kept in one place, since an insurer can ask for tax returns or financial statements at claim
- Rent during time away, and what your budget and savings could carry while you’re not treating
- Public liability and professional indemnity, a separate conversation to have with a general insurance broker
When to Review Your Cover
When your work or home life changes, how well does any cover you hold fit?
New work arrangements or a change at home can be a good reason to go through your cover.
Together, we’ll go through what you hold, if anything, beside the way you work and your life at home.
Massage work can move between wages, a fee share, a room or mobile work. Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. A change like this is a good reason to book a conversation, and we can read a policy or fund statement with you. The insurer decides on any new application.
Situations worth raising with us in a conversation:
- A fee-share offer that would end your employment, with a question for your clinic or fund on insurance before your last day
- Moving from a fee share to your own room, and how your income and duties would be described
- Packing a table and going mobile, what you’d want for time away from clients, and how each workers compensation scheme sets who qualifies
- Fitting out a clinic of your own, with loans and rent to count in the life and TPD amounts you’d want
- Fewer treatments and more teaching, and how your job would be described if you apply for cover
- A first massage role before 25, where a new fund may need you to ask for insurance, depending on the job and fund
- A change at home, such as a mortgage, a child or a separation, and what that could mean for the sums you’d choose
- Premiums that move with age, where a policy is stepped, beside how long you’d like to keep treating
Making a Claim
If you ever needed to claim, who could help with the forms and the follow-up?
Lodging it with you and following each step is our part, and the insurer or fund assesses the claim.
We can stay with you through a claim, from lodging it to each follow-up, while the insurer or fund decides.
Moneysmart says to speak 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. Pay records can mean payslips and tax returns, or financial statements if you’re self-employed. A complaint goes first to the insurer or fund, then to AFCA.
How we help with a claim:
- Who to contact first: whoever sold you the policy or the fund holding it, and we can help you work that out
- Table hours, physical requirements and admin, set out as a normal treatment week for the insurer
- Clinic pay slips or your own books and statements, gathered with an accountant if you use one
- Medical reports from your doctor, if an insurer asks, sent in alongside your own notes on treatments, hours and duties
- Hurt during a treatment day, with a workers compensation claim kept separate, as each scheme sets who qualifies
- Income from elsewhere during a claim, which can lower the amount paid under a policy’s terms
- Easing back to fewer clients a day, if your policy pays for a staged return, and what it asks for
- Unresolved concerns about a decision, which go to whoever assessed the claim and after that to AFCA
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
- Treatments and physical duties: Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply. Massage work can mean remedial or relaxation treatments, the physical work of giving them and carrying a table, so it helps to set your duties out as they are.
- Treatment hours and your week: Some policies only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours. Treatment hours may be only part of your working week, so it helps to write down the rest, such as admin and travel between clients.
- Clinic, spa, room or mobile: Where you work can shape what you’d describe on an application and which costs sit with you. We’d start by setting out your current arrangement, along with a move you’re thinking about.
- Wages, a share of fees or your own takings: Income protection usually works from your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury. Self-employed people may be asked for financial statements at claim, so it’s worth asking each insurer how it works out income for you.
- Costs that keep running: A household budget can show what you’d want coming in, while any benefit depends on your earnings and the policy. Business expenses cover looks at fixed costs, and whether it’s available and suitable depends on your situation and the insurer.
- Fewer treatments for a while: Some policies pay a partial benefit when you work in a reduced capacity and earn less than before. Each workers compensation scheme sets who qualifies, and other payments may reduce an income protection benefit.
- Teaching and clinic skills: Any occupation TPD wording looks at jobs suited to your education, training or experience. Teaching or running a clinic can add to that experience, so the definition is worth reading with you before you change your work.
- Opening rooms or taking on a therapist: Opening your own rooms or taking on another therapist can bring new debts and change your duties and income. It’s a good reason to book a conversation about your own cover, and the insurer decides on any new application.
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 Massage Work, Worked Through Together
Treatment Duties Set Out
Remedial, relaxation and other treatments described as they make up your week on any application.
Mobile and Seated Work Described
Driving, carrying a table and seated massage named as part of your work, if they are.
Disability Wording Read for Fewer Treatments
How a policy’s definition treats a shorter treatment week, read with you before you apply.
A Household Budget Behind Your Cover Choices
What you’d want coming in worked out with you, while any payment depends on earnings and the policy.
Fee Share Income Laid Out for an Insurer
Wages, a share of fees or your own takings set out, with each insurer asked how it works out income.
Each Fund’s Cover Read
Cover and the occupation on file in each fund, read with you before anything changes.
Cover Looked at Before a Room or a Fee Share
Sick leave, cover through super and your own costs gone through with you before you sign.
A Massage Work Claim Lodged With You
Treatment duties, table hours and pay records gathered with you, with the insurer or fund assessing any claim.
This has really changed our lives
Ray and his team has been incredible, they look after my entire family including my brother in law. Over the years he has helped us with investments, tax and other advice. This has really changed our lives.
Read moreDean Desoukey is changing lives!!
From the very beginning he was warm, patient, incredibly knowledgeable, and genuinely cared about helping us make the right decisions for our future. The positive impact they've had on our family financially and the peace of mind he's given us has been huge.
Read moreI felt heard, understood, and respected
I can't speak highly enough of the service I received from Dean Desoukey. Financial conversations can often feel overwhelming, but he created a space where I felt heard, understood, and respected. He took the time to really listen, explained things clearly, and never rushed me through decisions.
Read moreKnowledgeable, patient and caring
I cannot recommend Ray highly enough. He is an exceptional financial adviser: knowledgeable, patient and caring. From the very beginning, he took the time to truly understand my goals and helped me to create a clear structured financial plan. I never feel rushed or pressured.
Read moreThank you Ray for protecting me and my family
Ray has been my trusted financial adviser for over 12 years. He is highly knowledgeable and passionate about making sure his customers have the right insurance to secure them and their family. I was recently sick and Ray was there right away when needed most.
Read moreHe went above and beyond
I recently dealt with Ricky Regmi at Ryker Capital, and I couldn't be more satisfied with the service I received. Ricky was incredibly patient and supportive throughout the entire insurance process. He went above and beyond, coordinating with my accountant and doctor to ensure everything was in order.
Read moreIt never feels transactional
We've been working with Jack for the past two years, and it's been an incredibly positive experience. He takes the time to build genuine relationships and really gets to know his clients beyond just the numbers. It never feels transactional; it feels like he truly cares about our wellbeing.
Read moreImmensely professional and diligent
Ray has been immensely professional and diligent in my most recent SMSF restructure and insurance review. He not only tweaked it to make it work more for me and my future goals but recommended future strategies to help build my wealth. Cannot recommend him enough.
Read moreHolistic and Experienced Financial Advisers for Massage Therapists
People come to you after a hard week and trust you with their care. You give each of them your full attention, treatment after treatment, and your own money deserves some of that attention too. We’d love to hear how you work, how you’re paid and what you want from life outside work. Then we can shape a plan around all of it, with the years ahead in view as well as this one.
What you earn can be for more than this week’s bills. It might go towards a home, time with the people you love, further study or the chance to treat a little less one day. We can plan for your own savings and super to build beside the work, as a base for later. Each year we can go back over the plan with you, so it keeps pace with what you want.
If illness or injury kept you from your massage 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 Massage Therapists
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 massage work, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
Massage work can mean clinic, room, spa, mobile or seated work, as an employee, contractor or owner. Each can affect how an insurer assesses an application and how a policy’s definitions read a claim, so your duties, hours and pay are what we look at.
With a financial adviser, you also have:
- Access to 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.
Each policy has its own definition of disability, so the wording is where we’d begin. Some policies test whether you can do the important duties of your usual work, and some pay a partial benefit when you work in a reduced capacity and earn less than before. The policy’s terms and exclusions and the insurer’s assessment still apply.
At claim, an insurer can ask about your work duties, including physical requirements, the hours you work each week and your pay records. We can read the wording with you before you apply.
Some policies only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours each week, so it’s worth asking before you apply. Time giving treatments may be only part of your week, with notes, bookings, travel between clients and teaching around it.
We can help you describe your week as it is, with treatment hours and other work set out separately. 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. If you’re self-employed, some policies count income from your own work after your share of business expenses, so what clients pay you may not be the starting figure. It’s worth asking each insurer how it works this out.
An insurer can ask for tax returns or financial statements at claim, so it helps to keep your records up to date with an accountant. We can go through this with you, and the insurer decides on any application.
Workers compensation is separate, through a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme. Safe Work Australia says contractors are usually not covered, though each scheme sets who qualifies and makes its own decision.
If you hold income protection, scheme payments may reduce what the policy pays, depending on its terms. A scheme claim is outside what we do, though we can plan your finances around it with you and lodge a claim on your own cover with you. The insurer assesses that claim.
That’s a question for a general insurance broker, who can go through your professional indemnity and public liability with you. Income protection is a separate type of insurance, which business.gov.au describes as covering part of your income if you’re unable to work because of sickness or an accident.
Personal cover is the part we advise on. We can compare income protection, life, TPD and trauma cover with you, and the insurer decides on any application.
If you hold cover, it 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. Moneysmart also suggests asking what a change of job does to cover in a fund.
Income protection usually looks at earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury, so a period on lower income can matter. Any occupation TPD wording looks at work suited to your education, training or experience, and teaching can add to that. We can read this with you first.
Moving from wages to a share of fees, taking a room, going mobile or shifting towards teaching can each be a good reason to book a conversation. Each can change your income, your duties or how cover through work or super applies.
We can read a fund statement or policy with you beside how you work 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.
A quote online can be a quick way to see a price for cover. It may not show how a policy treats fewer treatments a week, which income counts on a share of fees or your own takings, or how a fund has recorded your job.
With personal advice, we start from your week and your pay, read any cover you hold and compare new cover from a wide range of insurers with you. The insurer decides on 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. We begin with your work today, in a first massage job or after years of treating clients.
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.
A payslip or tax return, each fund’s latest statement and a note of how your week runs across treatments, admin and travel are useful to have with you, along with policy papers if you hold cover.
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