Life Insurance and Income Protection for Removalists
Income Protection for Removalists and Their Families
Lifting, packing and driving duties, hours that change, wages or your own truck, and any cover through super all shape your options. We can help you prepare an application, review any cover you hold and lodge claims with you.
Financial Advice for Life Insurance and Income Protection
Who We Help
- Offsiders lifting and carrying furniture for a removal crew
- Drivers on wages driving a removal business’s truck
- Casual removalists whose hours change from week to week
- Packers wrapping, boxing and labelling a household for a move
- Interstate crews travelling with a load across state lines
- Office and commercial movers relocating workplaces, desks and equipment
- Subcontractors with a truck taking jobs from one or more removal companies
- Removal business owners quoting moves and still going out on jobs
- Removalists online booking moves through job marketplaces
- Removalists moving to steady hours or onto their own truck, with any cover they hold
We Can Help You
- Describe how your week splits between lifting, packing, driving and quoting, for a cover application
- Describe interstate, office or specialist moves accurately on an insurance application
- Ask each insurer with you whether weekend rates, overtime, any furniture carter allowance or subcontract income counts as earnings
- Show how many hours a casual or part-time removal week gives you, for income protection policies that set a minimum
- Match a waiting period to how long your savings, and sick leave if you get it, could cover the household
- Check how each policy defines disability, and the conditions it sets for a claim, against the work you do
- Compare TPD definitions, own occupation or any occupation, with your experience in quoting, driving and dealing with clients
- Work out life and TPD amounts from what you owe, including a truck loan if you have one, and who relies on you
- Talk through cover when steady hours, a bigger truck or your own truck changes your removal work
- Lodge a removal worker’s claim with you once duties and pay records are gathered, for the insurer or fund to assess
What we advise on
How Each Cover Works Around Removal Work
Income Protection
Suppose illness or injury kept you out of removal work for a while: how would the household keep going?
A policy can pay part of your income after a waiting period, within its definitions and exclusions and the insurer’s assessment.
We’ll line up income protection options with you around your duties, your hours and how you’re paid.
Moneysmart says income protection usually bases the benefit on your annual earnings in the 12 months before your illness or injury, and that most waiting periods run between 14 days and two years. An insurer usually looks at your job and duties when you apply, and this can affect whether cover is offered, the benefit periods and the amount. Exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities.
What we work through with you on income protection:
- Base pay, Saturday and Sunday rates and overtime from the 12 months before an illness or injury, and how each may count
- A furniture carter allowance or subcontract income, and whether each insurer treats it as earnings, asked with you
- Any minimum hours rule in a policy, set beside the bookings a casual or part-time removalist usually gets each week
- Fair Work’s note that casuals don’t get most types of paid leave, considered when choosing how long a waiting period runs
- Slow stretches between moves, paid from your own buffer and planned separately from the waiting period after an illness or injury
- Your removal duties compared with each policy’s disability definition and the conditions it sets before a claim
- Weekly payments from a workers compensation scheme, if a claim is accepted, and how they may lower an income protection benefit
- Who pays the premium, you from removal pay or a fund from your balance, with an accountant on the tax side
Life Insurance
Does anyone at home count on your removal pay, and what would you want in place for them?
Your beneficiaries can receive a lump sum from life cover, towards debts, everyday costs and plans already made.
We can total your debts with you, and the costs your pay meets, to size an amount of life cover.
Life cover can pay a lump sum to the people you name if you pass away, and some policies include terminal illness cover. Moneysmart notes it can help if you have large debts or a mortgage. Without a beneficiary nominated, your estate or the super trustee may decide where a super payout goes.
What we weigh up with you on life cover:
- A truck loan, if you have one, added to the lump sum your household would need
- A home loan or rent, and the regular bills your removal pay meets each month
- Super accounts from before you started in removals, if you hold them, checked for life insurance already in them
- Beneficiary nominations for super: who is eligible, your estate as an option, and each trustee’s own rules
- TPD or trauma bundled with life cover, and how a TPD or trauma payout may reduce the life cover left
- Packing, lifting and driving duties described accurately, even when the application is only for life cover
- Cover your partner holds, if you have a partner, counted in before the amount you need is set
- Funeral and final costs, alongside what your household would need over the years, in the amount you set
TPD Insurance
What would a lump sum need to cover if you were never able to work again?
TPD cover can pay a lump sum towards debts and plans if you can never work again, as the policy defines it.
Together, we’ll describe the skills removal work builds and compare TPD definitions with them.
Moneysmart explains that own occupation TPD looks at whether you can work in your usual job, and any occupation TPD at any job suited to your education, training or experience. Own occupation cover is usually only available outside super. Some policies use everyday activities instead, and a TPD payment may reduce life cover packaged with it.
What we compare with you on TPD:
- Own occupation TPD tied to removal work, which you’d usually buy outside super rather than through a fund
- Tasks Jobs and Skills Australia lists, such as liaising with clients and completing inventories, and how any occupation wording may count such work
- Each fund’s TPD definition, and how it may treat driving or quoting work you could still do
- The occupation each fund holds for you, compared with the removal work you do now
- Some TPD policies’ everyday activity tests, compared with definitions based on your work, before you choose
- Any truck loan and other money owed, totalled so a TPD amount reflects what would still be due
- TPD for a permanent stop, compared with income protection, which covers time away rather than for good
- Moving off the truck into quoting or the office, and what a TPD definition may then treat as your usual work
Trauma Insurance
Suppose a serious diagnosis meant weeks away from jobs: how could the costs be met?
Trauma cover can pay out for a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.
We’ll read a trauma policy’s list with you, and where it could sit beside income protection.
A trauma policy lists the conditions it covers, each with its own medical definition, and Moneysmart notes those 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 read with you in a trauma policy:
- The medical definition behind every listed condition, talked through with you one at a time
- Lower-tier or partial payments, which some policies make for an earlier stage of a listed condition
- Trauma premiums paid from removal earnings, or through your business with your accountant’s input, since new trauma cover stays outside super
- Household bills in the first weeks of treatment, and whether a trauma lump sum could go towards them
- A subcontractor or business owner with no paid sick leave, as Moneysmart notes of the self-employed, and what a lump sum could cover
- Life and trauma sold together, where a trauma payout may reduce the life sum insured
- An existing trauma policy, if you hold one, compared clause by clause with current wording before you change it
- Asking an accountant whether a trauma payout is taxed, before the money is set aside for treatment or bills
Cover in Super
Is the cover in a super fund from an earlier job still right for the removal work you do now?
Reading each fund’s statement and product disclosure statement (PDS) can show what cover it holds and what it costs.
We’ll check each fund with you before anything changes, from the cover it holds to its cost.
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. Increasing it is usually underwritten like any other application: you’ll usually need to answer questions and may need medical checks. With more than one account, you may be paying premiums on more than one policy, and premiums are deducted from your super balance.
What we check in each fund with you:
- Funds from earlier jobs, each listed with its cover, its fees and the premiums it deducts
- A fund listing a job you no longer do, which Moneysmart suggests contacting so the record matches removal work
- Insurance in a fund you joined before turning 25, and whether it began automatically or still needs a request
- Default cover, usually issued without medical checks, and the pre-existing condition rules in each fund’s PDS
- Each fund’s own rules on cover and a low balance, asked about while premiums are deducted from your account
- Rolling accounts together only once each one’s insurance is known, since moving super may mean losing that insurance
- Raising cover above the default, which usually means answering the insurer’s questions and may mean medical checks, if your household needs more
- A fund from a casual job in another industry, if you hold one, and whether its cover suits lifting and driving work
Lifting, Packing and Driving
Could a clear picture of your removal work help your cover fit the way you work?
Describing your duties as they are gives an insurer a true picture of your job.
We can prepare a description of your duties with you for any application, and check how a fund records them.
Jobs and Skills Australia lists tasks for furniture removalists, including using lifting techniques for heavy items, packing and securing furniture, driving a removal vehicle, liaising with clients and completing inventories. A crew can share that work out in different ways. 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 describe with you about your removal work:
- Lifting and carrying furniture and boxes, and the share of your week it takes up
- Stairs, lifts, narrow access and long carries, described as part of the job where they apply
- Packing, wrapping and securing goods for a move, described plainly where packing is part of your job
- Dismantling and reassembling furniture, listed as part of your duties where you do this work
- Driving the removal truck, and the licence your truck needs, named as a duty if you drive
- Interstate trips, including time away from home, included in the description of your work
- Quoting, inventories and talking with clients, counted apart from time on the truck or carrying
- Office relocations or piano and fine-item moves, described separately if you take on this work
Casual Hours, Subcontracting and Your Own Truck
What could changing hours or going out on your own mean for any cover you hold?
Looking at cover before a change gives you time to weigh what you’d like in place.
Together, we’ll describe how you work and get paid, and look at cover before any move to your own truck.
Under one award, for example, casual employees receive a casual loading and a minimum payment of 4 hours for each engagement. If you’re self-employed, Moneysmart notes you won’t have paid holidays or sick leave, and suggests checking if the move affects the insurance cover through your super. Workers compensation is separate, through a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme, and each scheme sets who qualifies.
What we look at with you before the change:
- Casual loading and any minimum engagement, the fewest hours an award may pay you for each shift, listed with your pay for an application
- Part-time hours across the year, shown so an insurer can see how your week usually runs
- Paid holidays and sick leave you won’t have if you’re self-employed, as Moneysmart notes, set against your savings
- Workers compensation if you’re hurt on a job as a subcontractor, where each scheme sets who qualifies
- Which subcontract income each insurer may count for income protection, asked of each insurer with you
- Asking your fund whether a move off wages affects the insurance cover through your super, as Moneysmart suggests
- Life and TPD amounts set against a truck loan, with the finance itself arranged through a broker
- Truck, goods in transit and public liability insurance, which a general insurance broker can advise on
When to Review Your Cover
As removal work or life at home changes, could your cover still fit what you need?
Steady hours, a truck of your own or a change at home can each prompt a fresh look at your cover.
We’ll read any cover you hold with you, beside the removal work you do and your life at home.
Removal work can move from casual to steady hours, from offsider to driver, or from wages to your own truck. Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. You can book a conversation when something changes, and we’ll read through a policy or fund statement with you. The insurer decides on any new application.
Changes in removal work and at home worth raising with us:
- Casual to permanent hours, and how a steadier income sits with any income protection you hold or apply for
- Moving up from offsider to driver, and whether the job your fund or insurer has on file still matches
- Subcontracting with your own truck, and your pay if you’re hurt on a job, where each workers compensation scheme sets who qualifies
- Starting a removals business, and the truck finance that life or TPD amounts may need to allow for
- Taking on a crew, and how more time quoting and supervising may change how a policy treats your work
- Finishing up with a removal business, and asking your employer or fund before the last day whether any cover through work carries on
- Premiums that step up with age, if your policy is stepped, set beside the years of removal work you still plan
- Moving in with a partner, a child arriving or a separation, if that’s your situation, and what it asks of your cover
Making a Claim
Could someone share the forms and follow-up with you if you ever need to claim?
Support with forms and each follow-up can mean you don’t manage a claim alone while the insurer or fund assesses it.
We can lodge a claim with you, then follow it through while the insurer or fund assesses it.
Moneysmart says to contact whoever you bought the cover through first, and your employer for cover through an employment arrangement. Insurers can ask for details of your work duties, including physical requirements, and the hours you work each week, plus payslips and tax returns, or financial statements if you’re self-employed. If you disagree with a decision, you can complain to the insurer or super fund first, then to AFCA, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
How we help with a claim:
- Policy schedules and fund statements checked together, to see which insurer or fund a removal claim starts with
- Removal duties, physical requirements and weekly hours written into the claim form as they were before you stopped
- Records of what removal work paid you, from wage slips to your own accounts, in the form an insurer requests
- Doctor’s reports the insurer requests, followed up with you as each request comes in
- If an injury happened at work, a separate workers compensation route that may apply, as each scheme sets who qualifies
- Other payments while you can’t work, such as from a scheme, and how a policy’s offset terms may reduce your benefit
- Returning on fewer moves or shorter days, and what the policy’s terms say about a partial return
- If you disagree with the outcome, the insurer’s or fund’s internal complaints come first, then 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
- Your duties on a job: Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply. Lifting, packing, dismantling, quoting and driving can be shared out differently on each crew, so the mix in your week is part of describing your work.
- Driving the truck, local or interstate: If you drive, local jobs, interstate trips and the licence your truck needs are part of your duties, so it helps to describe them accurately.
- Hours across the week, casual or part time: Moneysmart notes some policies might only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours, so it’s worth knowing how many hours removal work gives you in a usual week.
- Base pay, weekend rates, overtime and allowances: Income protection usually bases the benefit on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury. It’s worth asking each insurer how it works out income when your pay mixes base hours, weekend rates, overtime and an allowance.
- Your own truck and subcontract income: If you’re self-employed, Moneysmart notes you won’t have paid holidays or sick leave, and an insurer can ask for financial statements when you claim, so up-to-date records help.
- Workers compensation and your own cover: Workers compensation is separate, through a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme, and each scheme sets who qualifies. Scheme payments may reduce an income protection benefit.
- Funds from earlier jobs: Each fund you hold may carry its own cover and its own record of your job. If your super fund has your job recorded incorrectly, Moneysmart suggests contacting them.
- A move into quoting or running a business: Quoting, coordinating or running your own removals business can change your duties and your income records. A TPD any occupation definition, which looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience, may also take this experience into account.
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 Removal Work, Worked Through Together
Removal Duties Described
Lifting, packing, driving and quoting described as they make up your week, on any application.
Weekend and Overtime Pay Explained to an Insurer
Base pay, weekend rates, overtime and allowances listed, with each insurer asked how it works out income.
A Waiting Period Matched to Your Hours and Savings
Each waiting period compared with you against your casual or part-time hours and the savings you could draw on.
Any Cover in Your Super Checked With You
Any cover in each fund you hold, and the job it has on record for you, checked before anything changes.
TPD Definitions Compared With Your Skills
Own occupation and any occupation definitions checked with you against the skills removal work builds.
Life Cover Amounts Worked Out
Life and TPD amounts worked out with you from debts, a truck loan if you have one, and household costs.
Cover Looked at Before Your Own Truck
Any cover you hold checked with you before you subcontract or start a removals business.
A Removal Worker’s Claim Lodged With You
Removal duties, hours and pay records gathered with you while the insurer or fund assesses a claim.
This has really changed our lives
Ray and his team has been incredible, they look after my entire family including my brother in law. Over the years he has helped us with investments, tax and other advice. This has really changed our lives.
Read moreDean Desoukey is changing lives!!
From the very beginning he was warm, patient, incredibly knowledgeable, and genuinely cared about helping us make the right decisions for our future. The positive impact they've had on our family financially and the peace of mind he's given us has been huge.
Read moreI felt heard, understood, and respected
I can't speak highly enough of the service I received from Dean Desoukey. Financial conversations can often feel overwhelming, but he created a space where I felt heard, understood, and respected. He took the time to really listen, explained things clearly, and never rushed me through decisions.
Read moreKnowledgeable, patient and caring
I cannot recommend Ray highly enough. He is an exceptional financial adviser: knowledgeable, patient and caring. From the very beginning, he took the time to truly understand my goals and helped me to create a clear structured financial plan. I never feel rushed or pressured.
Read moreThank you Ray for protecting me and my family
Ray has been my trusted financial adviser for over 12 years. He is highly knowledgeable and passionate about making sure his customers have the right insurance to secure them and their family. I was recently sick and Ray was there right away when needed most.
Read moreHe went above and beyond
I recently dealt with Ricky Regmi at Ryker Capital, and I couldn't be more satisfied with the service I received. Ricky was incredibly patient and supportive throughout the entire insurance process. He went above and beyond, coordinating with my accountant and doctor to ensure everything was in order.
Read moreIt never feels transactional
We've been working with Jack for the past two years, and it's been an incredibly positive experience. He takes the time to build genuine relationships and really gets to know his clients beyond just the numbers. It never feels transactional; it feels like he truly cares about our wellbeing.
Read moreImmensely professional and diligent
Ray has been immensely professional and diligent in my most recent SMSF restructure and insurance review. He not only tweaked it to make it work more for me and my future goals but recommended future strategies to help build my wealth. Cannot recommend him enough.
Read moreHolistic and Experienced Financial Advisers for Removalists
People trust you with almost everything they own, often on one of the biggest days of their year. Doing that well takes care, strength and good planning, from the first box to the last piece of furniture through the door. We’d like to start by getting to know you: how your weeks run, what you enjoy away from work and what you’d like your money to do. Then we’ll build advice around your answers, with you part of every decision.
Steady planning can turn a good run of jobs into something that lasts: a home of your own, time with the people you love, your own truck or removals business one day, or the choice to slow down when you’re ready. If a partner or family relies on your pay, they can be part of the plan too. Whatever you’re working towards, we can help you plan for it and review the plan with you each year.
If illness or injury kept you from removal 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 Removalists
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 removal work, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
Removal work can mean lifting, packing, driving or quoting, as a casual, an employee, a subcontractor with your own truck or a business owner. 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 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.
Fair Work notes casuals don’t get most types of paid leave, even if they work regularly for a long time. Moneysmart notes some policies might only cover you if you work a minimum number of hours, so how many hours you usually work is part of the picture.
A waiting period is the time after an illness or injury before a benefit could start, so it’s worth weighing against the savings you could live on. Each insurer assesses an application in its own way, and we can compare policies with you before you apply. The insurer decides.
An insurer usually asks about your job when you apply, and the word removalist can describe quite different weeks. A driver on a big truck, an offsider loading and carrying, and a packer each do different work, so it helps to set out roughly how your own week splits.
The duty when applying for consumer life cover is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, which means answering the questions asked with reasonable care. We can help you describe your work clearly and compare how insurers approach it, and the insurer decides on any application.
Moneysmart says income protection usually bases the benefit on your annual earnings in the 12 months before your illness or injury. For removal work, that period can take in weekend rates, overtime, quieter weeks and any allowance, and each policy’s own wording decides what counts as income.
It’s worth asking each insurer how it works out income for your mix of pay, and keeping payslips together so the figures are easy to show. We can compare that with you across policies, and the insurer decides on any application.
Workers compensation runs through a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme, and it’s separate from personal cover. Each scheme sets who qualifies, so owning a truck doesn’t settle it either way, and it’s worth asking the scheme how it would treat you. The scheme decides any claim made to it.
Income protection, if you hold it, has its own terms, and scheme payments may reduce a benefit. We can go through your own cover with you, and the insurer decides on any claim on your policy.
Start with the cover you hold, if any. Moneysmart suggests checking if a move to self-employment affects the insurance cover through your super, and cover that comes through an employer may not continue once you leave, so it’s worth asking before your last day.
Then look at how a policy would work out income once you’re paid as a subcontractor, and set life and TPD amounts against a truck loan if you take one. Cover you already hold was issued on its own terms, and the policy wording sets when those terms can change, so it’s worth reading before you change or replace it. We can go through each step with you.
That comes down to the definition. An own occupation definition looks at your usual job, while an any occupation definition looks at any job suited to your education, training or experience. Jobs and Skills Australia lists tasks for furniture removalists such as liaising with clients and completing inventories, so that experience may come into how an any occupation definition is read.
Own occupation cover is usually only available outside super. We can read the definitions with you before you choose, and the insurer assesses any claim against them.
Moving from casual to steady hours, stepping up from offsider to driver, buying your own truck or starting a removals business can each be a good reason to book a conversation.
Changes at home count too, such as a first home, a new child or a separation. Bring any policy or fund statement you hold, and we’ll read it with you against the removal work you do now and compare what you could apply for. The insurer decides on any application.
Our ongoing advice clients have an annual review with us.
A quick quote online can show one seller’s price for the answers you type in. It may not show how a removal week splits across lifting, packing and driving, how weekend rates and overtime change your pay, or what cover a super fund already has for you.
Personal advice starts with those details, then compares options with you across a wide range of insurers. The final say on any application is the insurer’s.
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 the work you do now, from casual shifts on a crew to subcontracting with your own truck or running a removals business.
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: each super fund’s statement, any policy schedules, your pay records and a rough split of your week between lifting, packing, driving and quoting.
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