Life Insurance and Income Protection for Professional Lifeguards and Surf Lifesavers
Income Protection for Professional Lifeguards and Surf Lifesavers and Their Families
Beach, pool or rescue duties, hours that can change across the year and any cover in each fund all shape how insurers assess cover. We can help you understand your options, apply for cover, review existing cover and lodge claims.
Financial Advice for Life Insurance and Income Protection
Who We Help
- Council beach lifeguards on year-round or seasonal teams
- Ocean lifeguards patrolling surf beaches for a council or service
- Public pool lifeguards indoors or outdoors
- Senior and supervising lifeguards leading a team on the beach or poolside
- Aquatic centre duty managers covering lifeguard duties on the pool deck
- Lifeguards who also teach swimming at the same aquatic centre
- Water park lifeguards and lifeguards at leisure attractions
- Under-25 lifeguards checking whether cover has started in super
- Surf club volunteers who hold a paid lifeguard job too
- Lifeguards stepping up from casual or seasonal work to a permanent or senior role, with any cover they hold looked at first
We Can Help You
- Write up patrol, rescue, first aid and pool plant duties as they are for a cover application
- Explain what income protection could pay if illness or injury stops you working, and how it differs from lump sum cover
- Ask each insurer how income protection works out income from casual, seasonal or changing lifeguard hours
- Ask whether an income protection policy has a minimum hours rule, and how a lifeguard season with fewer hours compares
- Compare shorter and longer income protection waiting periods with you, against the leave your lifeguard role includes, if any
- Check each fund’s cover with you, including whether insurance started if you joined as a new member under 25
- Describe any volunteer surf lifesaving patrols accurately when a cover application asks about your activities
- Explain how income protection and total and permanent disability (TPD) definitions, and any limits on mental health conditions, apply after a serious incident at work
- Talk through your cover before a move to a permanent, senior or other role
- Lodge a lifeguard claim with you, gathering the payslips and reports requested while the insurer or fund assesses it
What we advise on
How Each Cover Works Around Lifeguard Work
Income Protection
Away from lifeguard work through illness or injury, how could money keep coming in?
Part of your income could be paid after a waiting period, the time before payments can start, under the policy’s terms.
We’ll line up income protection options with you from the insurers willing to consider your work, around your duties and hours.
Each income protection policy has its own definition of disability, and conditions that must be met before a claim is made. An insurer usually looks at your job and duties when you apply, and this can affect whether cover is offered, the benefit periods (how long a benefit can be paid for) and the amount. Exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities.
What we go over with you on income protection:
- A year of uneven lifeguard hours, and how earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury could shape a benefit
- Casual, seasonal or changing hours, with each insurer asked before you apply how that income is counted
- Whether a policy might only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours, against a part-time week or quieter months
- Any weeks of paid leave your role gives, and any savings, counted up before you pick a waiting period
- Being unable to do beach, pool or rescue duties for a while, and how each policy’s definition of disability applies
- Swim teaching or supervising you could still do for a while, and any partial benefit a policy offers for reduced hours
- Paying premiums from lifeguard pay outside super, with an accountant confirming whether they’re deductible
- Lifeguard earnings interrupted after a serious incident at work, and the limits or exclusions on mental health conditions an income protection policy can carry
Life Insurance
Is there someone at home who relies on your lifeguard pay, and what would they need?
Life cover could pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries towards debts and the costs of daily life.
Together, we’ll size life cover from what you owe and the people who rely on your income.
If you pass away, life cover can pay a lump sum, and some policies include terminal illness cover. Inside super, the trustee decides who receives it unless a valid binding nomination applies. Outside super, it’s paid to your nominated beneficiaries or your estate. Insurers usually ask about your age and job when you apply.
What we work through with you on life cover:
- Car finance or a mortgage, if you have either, and the share of it life cover would be sized to repay
- Rent and household bills, where your lifeguard pay goes towards them, and for how many years they’d need covering
- Death cover in your super, if there is some, added up with any policy you hold before you apply for more
- Your super death benefit: the trustee decides who receives it unless a valid binding nomination applies, so your nomination with each fund is worth checking
- A policy outside super, paid to the beneficiaries you nominate or to your estate
- Life, TPD and trauma bundled in one policy, and what beneficiaries would receive if one benefit had already been paid
- Beach, pool or rescue duties described on a life cover application as they are
- A partner’s own life cover, if you have a partner, set beside what your pay brings in
TPD Insurance
Could never working again leave debts or plans you’d want covered?
A lump sum could be paid if you meet the policy’s definition of total and permanent disability.
We’ll explain how TPD definitions could look at the skills lifeguard work builds, before you apply.
Under an own occupation definition, Moneysmart says, you’re unable to work again in the job you were working in before your disability, and this cover is usually only available outside super, so it’s worth checking whether a policy offers it. Under an any occupation definition, you’re unable to ever work again in any job suited to your education, training or experience. Some policies use activities of daily living instead.
What we look at together on TPD:
- Whether a policy offers own occupation TPD, which Moneysmart says is usually only available outside super
- First aid, supervising swimmers and teaching, and how an any occupation definition might treat skills like these
- The TPD definition your super fund uses, if you have cover there, checked before you rely on it
- The occupation each fund has recorded for you, compared with the beach, pool or rescue work you do
- The activities of daily living wording some TPD policies use, next to own and any occupation tests
- Debts that would remain if lifeguard pay stopped for good, and a TPD amount sized to clear those debts
- TPD beside income protection: one a lump sum if you meet the TPD definition, the other regular payments for a time
- A move into another career, and whether a TPD test would then look at your new training as well
Trauma Insurance
Facing a serious diagnosis, what could help with treatment costs and time off work?
Trauma cover could pay a lump sum for a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.
We’ll explain the conditions a trauma policy lists, and where its lump sum fits beside income protection.
A trauma policy names the conditions it covers and defines each one, and Moneysmart notes those 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.
What we go over with you in a trauma policy:
- Which conditions each policy lists, and how closely the definitions match across the policies you’re comparing
- Early-stage conditions some policies pay a part amount for, and what is left of the full sum afterwards
- A trauma amount sized from what you’d want covered, such as rent, a loan and time without lifeguard pay
- A partner’s trauma cover, if you have a partner, and how a lump sum for either of you would help the household
- Leave balances, if you have them, used beside a lump sum while you’re away from work
- Paying trauma premiums monthly or yearly, and how each option fits a lifeguard budget
- Definitions in a trauma policy taken out years ago, if you hold one, checked against newer wording before switching
- How a trauma lump sum is taxed, confirmed with an accountant before you plan around it
Cover in Super
In each super fund, has insurance started, and does it suit the lifeguard work you do now?
Your fund statements can show whether cover started, how much it is and what it costs.
We’ll check each fund with you before anything is combined or changed.
Insurance through super doesn’t start automatically if you’re a new member under 25, or your balance is under $6,000, unless you ask your fund for it or you work in a dangerous job and your fund gives you automatic cover. Your fund statement can show what cover you hold there and what it costs your balance.
What we check in each fund with you:
- If you’re a new member under 25, whether your fund has started insurance on your account or needs you to ask
- The insurance on each lifeguard employer’s fund, if your super sits in more than one, compared on cost and amount
- Cover in super that can end or change, for example if your balance is too low or you change fund
- Income protection in super, if your fund offers it, and how its waiting and benefit periods compare
- Two employers at once, if you have two, and whether both pay into one fund or two
- Lifeguard, swim teaching or supervising work, as each fund has it on record, and asking the fund to correct a mistake
- Rolling two lifeguard employers’ funds into one, if you have two, only after each fund’s insurance has been compared
- How much default cover each fund gives you, if any, and whether that amount fits what you’d want a claim to pay
Beach, Pool and Rescue Duties
For a cover application, which parts of your lifeguard duties are worth describing?
Describing each duty as it is can give an insurer an accurate picture of your work.
Together, we’ll describe your beach, pool or rescue duties for an application, and how each fund records your job.
Jobs and Skills Australia’s summary says lifeguards look after the safety of people at beaches or swimming pools, through accident prevention and rescue, and educating the public on water safety. 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 note with you about your duties:
- Patrolling and supervising swimmers, with the share of your hours spent on the beach or poolside
- Water rescues, if your role includes them, described in plain words on the application
- First aid and resuscitation duties, written down accurately for the role you hold
- Rescue boards, craft or vehicles, where your role includes using one, listed with how often each comes up
- Pool plant operation and water quality testing, if the job includes either, noted beside lifeguarding
- Swim teaching beside lifeguarding, if you teach, with the split of your week between the two
- Supervising other lifeguards, if you lead a team, described with the duties you still do yourself
- Your actual hours, including any second job, so the whole working week is clear
Seasons, Casual Shifts and Volunteer Patrols
When your hours change across the year, or you also patrol as a volunteer, what could that mean for cover?
Looking at cover before a season, a second job or a new role can show what to ask.
We’ll talk through cover with you before a new season, a second employer or a new role.
A fixed term contract can end after a set period or a season, and Fair Work says fixed term employees are generally entitled to the same wages, penalty rates and leave as permanent employees. Casuals don’t get most types of paid leave. Moneysmart notes income protection usually bases the benefit on your annual earnings. Volunteer patrols are unpaid, and they’re still worth describing when you apply.
What we look at with you across the year:
- Casual work, where Fair Work says casuals don’t get most types of paid leave, and savings for time off
- A fixed term contract for a season, and whether notice or redundancy pay applies when it ends as agreed
- A gap between seasons, if you have one, planned with savings, as income protection is generally for illness or injury
- A second employer for part of the year, its fund, and how an insurer would count both incomes
- Switching between employers across the year, and how each insurer looks at the change of job when you apply
- If your contract ends with the season, any cover through your employer may not continue once you leave
- Volunteer patrols described accurately when you apply, as exclusions can apply to occupations or activities
- Earnings from lifeguarding and any other paid job, as the income a policy looks at, with unpaid patrols kept separate
When to Review Your Cover
Does your cover still suit your lifeguard work after a change at work or at home?
Changes such as a new role, a new employer or a new home can each be a good reason to look again.
Together, we’ll go through any policy or fund statement you have beside the work you do now.
Lifeguard work can change with a new employer, a move from casual or seasonal hours to a permanent role, a step into supervising, or a move to other work. If your premiums are age-stepped, they’re based on your age and recalculated at each policy renewal. A change at work or home is a good reason to book a conversation, and the insurer decides on any new application.
Changes worth raising with us:
- Turning 25 as a fund member, and asking your fund whether insurance has started on your account
- Moving from casual or seasonal hours to a permanent role, and what that changes for leave and cover through work
- Switching from pool to beach work, or starting with a new employer, and how each fund records the job
- A senior lifeguard or supervising role, and whether the occupation on your fund or policy still matches it
- Finishing study and moving into full-time work, in lifeguarding or another field
- Leaving lifeguarding for another career, and what a new job means for any TPD or income protection definition
- Buying a home, having a baby or separating, and how much cover would suit your household if that happens
- Premiums on stepped cover, which will generally rise as you get older, checked against what your lifeguard pay can afford
Making a Claim
Should you need to claim, how could having help with forms and follow-up make it easier?
Help with each form and follow-up can make the process clearer while the insurer or fund assesses your claim.
We can lodge a claim with you, then stay with each form and follow-up while the insurer or fund assesses it.
Moneysmart says to speak first to whoever you bought the cover through, or your employer for cover through an employment arrangement. An insurer can ask for details of your work duties, including physical requirements, and the hours you work each week, plus payslips and tax returns. The insurer, or the fund for cover in super, assesses the claim, and a complaint goes first to the insurer or fund, then to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
How we help with a claim:
- Finding who to contact first, from the policy schedule or your super fund statement
- A usual week before you stopped, with your duties, physical requirements and hours written up in plain words
- Payslips and tax returns from each lifeguard employer, gathered to match what the insurer asks for
- Each report the insurer requests, from a doctor or others, followed up with you until the insurer receives every one
- Two separate claims: workers compensation through the scheme, as each scheme sets who qualifies, and the policy claim we lodge with you
- Money from a scheme or another source while you claim, and whether a policy’s terms may lower its payments because of it
- Going back to lifeguard work part time, and whether the policy pays anything for that stage
- Complaints, if you disagree with a decision, made to the insurer or fund before going 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
- Beach, pool or rescue work: Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply. Jobs and Skills Australia’s summary of lifeguard work covers accident prevention, rescue and educating the public on water safety, so the mix in your own role is worth describing as it is.
- Rescue craft, boards and pool plant: If your role includes rescue boards, craft or vehicles, pool plant or water testing, each is worth listing with how often it comes up in your work.
- Hours across the year: Moneysmart notes some policies might only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours. Your usual hours, including any months when you work less, are worth describing together.
- Casual, fixed term or permanent: Fair Work says casuals don’t get most types of paid leave, while fixed term employees are generally entitled to the same wages, penalty rates and leave as permanent employees. Which applies to you shapes what you’d draw on during a waiting period.
- More than one employer: Income protection usually bases the benefit on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury. If you work for more than one employer, it’s worth asking each insurer how it works out income across both.
- Cover in each fund: Insurance through super doesn’t start automatically if you’re a new member under 25, or your balance is under $6,000, unless you ask your fund for it or you work in a dangerous job and your fund gives you automatic cover. If your super fund has your job recorded incorrectly, Moneysmart suggests contacting them.
- Volunteer patrols beside paid work: Volunteer patrolling is worth describing when an application asks about your activities. Exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities, so it helps to know how a policy treats it before you choose.
- A serious incident at work: Each workers compensation scheme sets who qualifies and its own rules for psychological injury. Separately, each income protection or TPD policy’s definitions shape how a claim on your own cover is assessed, and can limit or exclude mental health conditions.
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. If you’re unsure how insurers look at lifeguard work, a conversation with us can help you understand your options.
Your options
Why Work With a Financial Adviser for Your Personal Insurance?
| A Ryker financial adviser | Directly from an insurer | An online broker or comparison site | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type of advice | Personal advice Personal adviceAdvice tailored to you. Like most financial advice, it’s given under an Australian financial services licence.Personal, not general. General advice is a recommendation or opinion that doesn’t consider your circumstances. Personal advice is tailored to your objectives, financial situation and needs.In your best interests. When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests.In writing. You’ll usually receive a Statement of Advice that explains the strategies and cover recommended to you, and why.On the public register. Financial advisers who give personal advice on life insurance, super and investments must be on ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register. See our financial advisers on the register:Ray RegmiRicky (Rajiv) RegmiJack OinezaDean DesoukeyRyker’s financial advisers are authorised representatives of Synchron Advice Pty Ltd, AFSL 243313. | Usually general advice | Usually general advice |
| Advice that considers your health, family, work and goals | Yes, as part of your advice | Not with general advice | Not with general advice |
| Choice of insurers | The insurers willing to consider your work | That insurer’s policies only | A panel of insurers, side by side |
| Help preparing your application | Yes, alongside you | The insurer’s own process | Varies |
| Advice on holding cover inside or outside super | Part of your advice | Not with general advice | Not with general advice |
| Support if you need to claim | Yes, we’re in your corner | The insurer’s claims team | Varies |
| Cost of advice | No cost for the initial conversation. Any advice after that is a paid service, with its scope and fee agreed with you in writing first. Choose: | No separate advice fee | No separate advice fee |
Type of advice
- Ryker financial adviser
- Personal advice Personal adviceAdvice tailored to you. Like most financial advice, it’s given under an Australian financial services licence.Personal, not general. General advice is a recommendation or opinion that doesn’t consider your circumstances. Personal advice is tailored to your objectives, financial situation and needs.In your best interests. When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests.In writing. You’ll usually receive a Statement of Advice that explains the strategies and cover recommended to you, and why.On the public register. Financial advisers who give personal advice on life insurance, super and investments must be on ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register. See our financial advisers on the register:Ray RegmiRicky (Rajiv) RegmiJack OinezaDean DesoukeyRyker’s financial advisers are authorised representatives of Synchron Advice Pty Ltd, AFSL 243313.
- Direct from an insurer
- Usually general advice
- Online broker or comparison site
- Usually general advice
Advice that considers your health, family, work and goals
- Ryker financial adviser
- Yes, as part of your advice
- Direct from an insurer
- Not with general advice
- Online broker or comparison site
- Not with general advice
Choice of insurers
- Ryker financial adviser
- The insurers willing to consider your work
- Direct from an insurer
- That insurer’s policies only
- Online broker or comparison site
- A panel of insurers, side by side
Help preparing your application
- Ryker financial adviser
- Yes, alongside you
- Direct from an insurer
- The insurer’s own process
- Online broker or comparison site
- Varies
Advice on holding cover inside or outside super
- Ryker financial adviser
- Part of your advice
- Direct from an insurer
- Not with general advice
- Online broker or comparison site
- Not with general advice
Support if you need to claim
- Ryker financial adviser
- Yes, we’re in your corner
- Direct from an insurer
- The insurer’s claims team
- Online broker or comparison site
- Varies
Cost of advice
- Ryker financial adviser
- No cost for the initial conversation. Any advice after that is a paid service, with its scope and fee agreed with you in writing first. Choose:
- Direct from an insurer
- No separate advice fee
- Online broker or comparison site
- No separate advice fee
Your Cover for Lifeguard Work, Worked Through Together
Beach and Pool Duties Described for Insurers
Beach, pool and rescue duties described with you as they are, for any application.
Insurers Asked How They Work Out Seasonal Pay
Each insurer asked with you how it counts casual, seasonal or changing hours.
Minimum Hours Terms Compared
Your hours across the year compared with you against the minimum hours some policies set.
Cover in Each Fund Checked
Insurance in each fund, including whether it started, checked with you before any change.
Volunteer Patrols Described as They Are
Any volunteer patrolling described with you beside your paid lifeguard work.
TPD Definitions Explained Beside Your Skills
Own and any occupation wording explained with you beside the skills your lifeguard work builds.
Cover Looked at Before a Permanent or Senior Role
Any cover through work or super looked at with you before a move to a permanent or senior role.
A Lifeguard Claim Lodged With You
Forms, records and follow-up worked through with you while the insurer or fund assesses the 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 Professional Lifeguards and Surf Lifesavers
Lifeguard work asks for steady attention for hours at a time, on a windy beach or beside a busy pool, and a calm head when someone needs a hand. You keep watch while others swim, play and relax. We’d also like to know you away from the water: who matters most to you, what you enjoy outside work and what you’re hoping the next few years bring. From there, we’ll shape a plan with you around how you work and the life you want.
Whether you’re in your first year or have years on the beach or poolside behind you, a plan can help your pay build towards the things you care about. It might go towards a first car, study, a home, travel or a step into a senior role or other work. Anyone who relies on your income can be planned for beside your own goals. With ongoing advice, we look at the plan with you each year, so it keeps up with your work and your life.
If illness or injury kept you from lifeguard 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 with you from the insurers willing to consider your work. The insurer decides on any application.
Every financial decision impacts the next
Your Financial Life Is Connected
Great advice starts with understanding the bigger picture. Every stage of life presents new opportunities and challenges, from buying property and changing careers to growing your family, planning for retirement and protecting what matters most. At Ryker, we help connect every piece of your financial world into one clear strategy.
Learn more about Financial Planning and Advice for Professional Lifeguards and Surf Lifesavers
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 lifeguard work, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
Lifeguard work can mean beach, pool or water park duties, on casual, seasonal or permanent terms, with one employer or more. Each can affect how an insurer assesses an application and how a policy’s definitions apply to a claim, so your duties, hours and pay are what we look at.
With a financial adviser, you also have:
- Access to the insurers willing to consider your work, each with its own way of assessing an application
- Help preparing your application and answering the health questions with care
- Advice on whether to hold cover inside or outside super, and the trade-offs
- Annual reviews of your cover through ongoing advice, with your health, family and work in mind
- Someone in your corner if you ever need to claim
Going directly to an insurer can mean no separate advice fee, but you’ll only see that insurer’s policies, and you’ll generally receive general advice only, which doesn’t consider your personal circumstances.
Going through an online comparison site or broker, you may see more options side by side, but they also generally provide general advice only, which doesn’t consider your whole financial picture.
When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests, which we take personally. The insurer still decides whether to offer cover and on what terms.
We’re invested in your long-term success. What we do is personal, and we take it personally.
Your financial decisions connect, so we consider the parts of your financial life that are relevant to the advice you need:
- Property & Investing
- Career & Income
- Tax Strategy
- Insurance & Protecting Your Family
- Super & SMSF
- Wealth & Investments
- Life Events & Changes
- Business & Wealth
- Legacy & Future Wealth
- Retirement Planning
This is how we help you make decisions today with your longer-term goals in view.
Everybody’s situation is different, so we listen first, understand what matters to you and explain your options clearly before we make a recommendation.
Moneysmart says income protection usually bases the benefit on your annual earnings in the 12 months before your illness or injury. If your hours rise and fall, how each insurer works out income across that year is a question to ask before you apply.
Moneysmart also notes some policies might only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours. An insurer can ask for payslips and tax returns at claim, so keeping them helps. We can compare this with you, and the insurer decides on any application.
Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply, so it helps to describe your duties as they are: supervising swimmers, any rescues, first aid, and rescue craft or pool plant if your role includes them, along with how your hours are spread.
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. Each insurer assesses applications in its own way, and we can help you describe your work accurately.
It’s worth describing when you apply. Exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities, so it helps to see how each policy treats volunteer patrolling before you choose.
Moneysmart says income protection usually bases the benefit on your annual earnings. Volunteer patrols are unpaid, so the income a policy looks at comes from your paid work. What any club cover provides is for your club to explain. We can compare policies with you, and the insurer decides on any application.
Insurance through super doesn’t start automatically if you’re a new member under 25, or your balance is under $6,000, unless you ask your fund for it or you work in a dangerous job and your fund gives you automatic cover. Your fund can tell you whether cover has started on your account.
Premiums are deducted from your super balance, so it’s worth asking your fund what a low balance would mean for your cover. Personal cover outside super is a separate question, and we can go through both with you.
Workers compensation is separate, through a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme, and each scheme sets who qualifies. If you’re eligible, scheme payments can sit beside your own cover, and a policy’s terms may reduce an income protection benefit while you receive them.
The workers compensation claim is made through the scheme. We can lodge a claim on your personal cover with you, and the insurer or fund assesses it.
Income protection and TPD look at whether an illness or injury, physical or psychological, stops you working as the policy defines it. Each policy’s terms shape how a claim is assessed and can limit or exclude mental health conditions.
Workers compensation runs through a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme, and each one sets who qualifies, its own rules for psychological injury and who decides any claim. Scheme payments may reduce income protection payments. A workers compensation claim is made with the scheme, separately from any claim on cover you hold.
We can help you understand how cover and its conditions treat a mental health condition linked to a serious incident at work.
Free, confidential support is available from Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 and Lifeline on 13 11 14.
The answer sits in the policy’s definition. Under an own occupation definition, Moneysmart says, you’re unable to work again in the job you were working in before your disability, and this cover is usually only available outside super. Under an any occupation definition, you’re unable to ever work again in any job suited to your education, training or experience, so first aid, supervising or teaching skills may come into it.
We can compare the wording with you before you apply, and the insurer decides on any claim.
Turning 25 as a fund member, moving from casual or seasonal hours to a permanent role, stepping up to senior lifeguard or leaving lifeguarding for another career can each be a good reason to book a conversation.
Changes at home count too, such as buying a home, having a baby or separating. We can go through your options with you then, and the insurer decides on any new application.
Our ongoing advice clients have an annual review with us.
A quote site is a fast way to see prices for one set of answers. It may not show how beach, pool or rescue duties make up your work, how hours that change across the year shape your earnings, or the cover already in your super, if you have any.
We start from your duties, hours and any cover you hold, then compare options with you from the insurers willing to consider your work. The insurer decides on any application. Get in touch, and we can talk through cover for your lifeguard work with you.
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. The first conversation starts from the work you do now, whether that’s a first lifeguard job or leading a team of lifeguards.
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.
Useful to have on hand: recent payslips, last year’s tax return, each super statement, insurance documents if you hold cover, and a rough idea of your hours across the year.
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