
Your duties, hours, pay and any cover in super shape how income protection, life, TPD and trauma cover can work for you. We help you review any cover you hold, apply with care and revisit it as your career changes.





What we advise on
How might the bills be met if illness or injury kept you from nursing for a while?
Part of your income can be paid after a waiting period, helping your household keep up with everyday costs.
We can compare or review income protection with you around nursing pay that can vary from week to week.
Income protection can replace part of your income if illness or injury stops you working, after a waiting period and subject to the policy’s definitions. The benefit is usually based on your earnings in the 12 months before your illness or injury. The policy’s definition of income decides whether any shift loadings, penalties and overtime are counted, and a waiting period can be set against any sick leave you have.
What we work through with you on income protection:
Would your loved ones have what they need to keep up with the bills if you were no longer here?
Life cover can pay your beneficiaries a lump sum, helping your loved ones with the bills and the years ahead.
We’ll work out a life cover amount with you from any debts and the costs your loved ones would face.
Life insurance can pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries if you pass away. Any life cover in your super is a set amount and usually ends at an age set in the fund’s insurance terms, so it’s worth knowing what each account holds.
What we work through for life cover:
Where would the money for your plans come from if you could never work again?
TPD cover can pay a lump sum if you can’t work again, as the policy defines it, helping fund your plans.
Together, we’ll compare TPD definitions against the hands-on work of nursing and the other work your skills suit.
TPD insurance can pay a lump sum if illness or injury means you’re unlikely to work again, as the policy defines it. Own occupation looks at your usual job, while any occupation looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience, which for a nursing qualification can include non-clinical roles. Own occupation cover is usually only available outside super, and which definitions are offered can depend on the occupation.
What we compare with you for TPD:
If a serious illness meant treatment and time away from the ward, what could help meet the costs?
A lump sum for treatment and recovery can be paid for a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.
Together, we’ll read the conditions a trauma policy lists and how each definition is worded.
Trauma insurance can pay a lump sum if you meet the policy’s definition for a listed condition, and medical definitions can differ between insurers. New trauma cover can’t be held inside super, which has been the rule for policies written since 1 July 2014. Trauma insurance does not cover mental health conditions (Moneysmart).
What we read with you in a trauma policy:
Does any cover in your super still suit the role and hours you work now?
Checking each account before you change funds can help you keep cover that suits the work you do.
We can read any cover in each super account and set out any changes in a financial plan, or Statement of Advice.
Default cover inside super can usually be issued without medical checks, though it may carry pre-existing condition rules set out in the fund’s PDS, and increasing it is usually underwritten like any other application. Cover also doesn’t start automatically for a new member under 25 or with a low balance, unless they opt in.
What we look at in your super with you:
As your hours change through leave or part-time years, how could your cover change with them?
Reviewing cover at each change can help it fit the hours and pay you have at every stage.
Together, we’ll plan your cover around parental leave, part-time hours, study or a break from nursing.
Paid sick leave doesn’t build up during unpaid parental leave, and casual employees don’t receive it. Some income protection policies only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours each week, and a benefit is usually based on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury.
What we plan with you around time away:
What helps an insurer understand the nursing work you do?
An accurate picture of your duties, setting and hours from the start can help each application reflect the work you do.
We can describe your duties, setting and weekly hours with you on each application, in plain terms.
Insurers usually ask about your age and job when you apply, and at claim time they can ask about your duties, including physical requirements, and the hours you work each week. 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. Which definitions and benefit periods are offered can depend on the occupation.
What we set out with you on an application:
When the time comes to claim, what support could make each step clearer?
Support lodging and following up a claim can leave you more time for what matters to you.
We can lodge a claim with you, gather what the insurer asks for and follow it up.
If you bought cover through a financial adviser, Moneysmart suggests speaking to them first. A claim can ask for medical reports, details of your work duties, including physical requirements, and the hours you work each week, plus payslips or tax returns. The insurer assesses the claim. A complaint goes first to the insurer or, for cover in super, the fund, and then to AFCA if it isn’t resolved.
How we help with a claim:
Your work and your cover
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
| A Ryker financial adviser | Directly from an insurer | An online broker or comparison site | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type of advice | Personal advice Personal adviceAdvice tailored to you. Like most financial advice, it’s given under an Australian financial services licence.Personal, not general. General advice is a recommendation or opinion that doesn’t consider your circumstances. Personal advice is tailored to your objectives, financial situation and needs.In your best interests. When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests.In writing. You’ll usually receive a Statement of Advice that explains the strategies and cover recommended to you, and why.On the public register. Financial advisers who give personal advice on life insurance, super and investments must be on ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register. See our financial advisers on the register:Ray RegmiRicky (Rajiv) RegmiJack OinezaDean DesoukeyRyker’s financial advisers are authorised representatives of Synchron Advice Pty Ltd, AFSL 243313. | Usually general advice | Usually general advice |
| Advice that considers your health, family, work and goals | Yes, as part of your advice | Not with general advice | Not with general advice |
| Choice of insurers | A wide range | That insurer’s policies only | A panel of insurers, side by side |
| Help preparing your application | Yes, alongside you | The insurer’s own process | Varies |
| Advice on holding cover inside or outside super | Part of your advice | Not with general advice | Not with general advice |
| Support if you need to claim | Yes, we’re in your corner | The insurer’s claims team | Varies |
| Cost of advice | No cost for the initial conversation. Any advice after that is a paid service, with its scope and fee agreed with you in writing first. Choose: | No separate advice fee | No separate advice fee |














Your Nursing Duties Set Out
Your setting, patient handling and weekly hours described in full on any application.
Shift Pay Read Against the Wording
How a policy counts any shift loadings, penalties and overtime, read through with you.
Each Super Account Mapped
Any cover in each of your super accounts listed, with what it provides and where it ends.
Workers Comp and Cover Side by Side
How workers compensation and your personal cover sit together, explained in plain terms.
A Waiting Period Weighed Against Leave
An income protection waiting period chosen with any sick leave or savings in mind.
TPD Wording Read for Nursing
How an any occupation test views nursing skills, and whether own occupation is offered for nursing.
Cover Revisited at Each Career Step
Cover looked at again when you go part-time, take leave, change roles or start in private practice.
A Claim Lodged With You
A claim lodged with you and followed up, with your duties, hours and pay records attached.

Your cover should make sense to you before you rely on it. We begin by listening: to how your work runs, what you earn and what you’d like cover to do for you. Then we explain each type of cover in plain terms, take your questions as they come and go at your pace. You’ll usually receive our recommendations in writing, and you’ll read each application before it’s sent. The decisions along the way stay yours.
We share the paperwork with you. With your consent, we can ask any fund that holds cover for you for its insurance details, prepare applications alongside you and stay in contact with insurers while they assess them. If you’d like a partner or family member involved, they’re welcome in any conversation. If you ever need to make a claim, we’ll lodge it with you and follow it up with the insurer, keeping you informed at each step.
Every financial decision impacts the next
Great advice starts with understanding the bigger picture. Every stage of life presents new opportunities and challenges, from buying property and changing careers to growing your family, planning for retirement and protecting what matters most. At Ryker, we help connect every piece of your financial world into one clear strategy.
Your
Wealth

Ryker’s financial advisers are licensed to give personal advice under Synchron Advice’s Australian financial services licence (AFSL 243313). We start with you: your nursing career, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
Nursing work can mean shifts, physical care, part-time or agency hours, and breaks for study or family. Each can affect how an insurer assesses an application and how a policy pays, so your role, hours and pay are part of what we look at.
With a financial adviser, you also have:
Going directly to an insurer can mean no separate advice fee, but you’ll only see that insurer’s policies, and you’ll generally receive general advice only, which doesn’t consider your personal circumstances.
Going through an online comparison site or broker, you may see more options side by side, but they also generally provide general advice only, which doesn’t consider your whole financial picture.
When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests, which we take personally. The insurer still decides whether to offer cover and on what terms.
We’re invested in your long-term success. What we do is personal, and we take it personally.
Your financial decisions connect, so we consider the parts of your financial life that are relevant to the advice you need:
This is how we help you make decisions today with your longer-term goals in view.
Everybody’s situation is different, so we listen first, understand what matters to you and explain your options clearly before we make a recommendation.
When you apply, an insurer usually asks about your age, your job and your income, and the questions can reach into your duties and the hours you work each week. For nursing, that can mean your setting, how much patient handling and lifting the role involves, and whether you work nights or a rotating roster.
The insurer decides how it views each answer, and which definitions and benefit periods it offers can depend on the occupation. We’ll help you describe your work accurately on the application, so you can answer each question with reasonable care and each answer reflects the nursing you do.
Workers compensation is separate, through a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme. It’s for illness or injury because of work, and if you’re eligible it may cover some of your wages and medical costs. Each scheme is governed by different laws, so what it provides varies.
Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period if illness or injury stops you working, whether or not it happened at work, subject to the policy’s terms. Some policies and funds reduce a benefit by any workers compensation payments, so we’ll read the wording with you. Questions about a workers compensation claim itself go to the scheme.
Free, confidential support is available from Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 and Lifeline on 13 11 14.
If contributions pause during unpaid leave or a break, the premiums for any cover in super still come out of your balance, so each account is worth checking.
Income protection is usually based on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury, so a period of leave can affect what a benefit would be. Some policies also only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours each week. We can look at each policy with you before your leave starts and again when you return.
TPD insurance can pay a lump sum if illness or injury means you’re unlikely to work again, as the policy defines it. Own occupation looks at your usual job, while any occupation looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience.
A nursing qualification and clinical experience can suit roles away from the bedside, such as education, administration or case management, so under an any occupation definition those roles may be considered. Own occupation cover is usually only available outside super, and which definitions are offered can depend on the occupation. The insurer assesses any claim, and we’ll compare the wording of each definition with you.
Nurses and midwives need professional indemnity insurance arrangements in place to practise. It’s insurance against civil liability from your practice, such as a claim arising from a negligent act, error or omission. It responds to claims made against you, not to a loss of your own income.
Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period if illness or injury stops you working, subject to the policy’s terms. Life, TPD and trauma cover are separate again, each paying a lump sum as its policy defines. However your professional indemnity insurance is held, we look at personal cover on its own terms.
Casual employees don’t receive paid sick leave, so for casual agency shifts an income protection waiting period can be weighed against any savings rather than leave. If you work through more than one employer, contributions may reach more than one super fund, and each may hold its own cover.
In private practice on an ABN, an insurer may ask for business records or financial statements rather than payslips to show your income, and your duties in the new role are set out again. We’d review any cover you hold before the move, so we can see how each policy describes the work you’ll be doing.
A quote online can be quick, and it’s a reasonable place to start comparing. Moneysmart notes that if an insurer doesn’t ask for your medical history, the policy may have more exclusions or narrower policy definitions. For nursing work, the income definition and how the policy treats your occupation are the parts to read closely.
Advice starts from your duties, hours, pay and any cover in super, then compares wording across a wide range of insurers. Every application question still needs answering with reasonable care, and you’ll have any terms explained before you accept.
Your accountant and financial adviser bring different expertise to the same decisions. Your accountant can advise on tax reporting, structures and consequences; we help you plan how cashflow, debt, super, investments and protection work towards your goals. We can coordinate before important decisions.
What an accountant does
What a financial adviser does
Professional roles and authorisations matter. We provide financial advice within our authorisations and work with your accountant for specialist tax advice and lodgements.
Where they work together
Yes. Wherever you are in your nursing career, we start by talking through your work, your hours and what you’d like your cover to do.
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 bring any super statements, policy schedules and recent payslips, and we’ll outline a sensible first step.
No medical records are requested at that first conversation.
Who We Help
From first job to retirement, we help you build wealth, protect it, and live well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whatever’s on your mind, we’re here to help. You’ll speak with an authorised financial adviser who’ll listen first and get to know what matters to you.
Book An Initial Conversation