Financial Planning for Power Station Workers
Empowering Power Station Workers to Build Wealth and Financial Freedom
Any expected closure year, a move to newer plant, your pay, super and any cover all connect. We’ll help you work through them together, from your first years at the station to your last.
Our Financial Advice Team Is Here to Help You
We Can Help You
- Plan the years before an expected closure year, from building a buffer to deciding what you’d like to do next
- Weigh staying to the end against an early job offer, with any redundancy, closure or retention terms set out
- Use any career planning, training time or financial advice under the Energy Industry Jobs Plan alongside a plan of your own
- Budget on the pay a next role is likely to bring, rather than the penalties and allowances of station shifts
- Plan the bridge from your last day at the station to preservation age, if the two fall years apart
- Review cover through work and super while you’re still employed, before contributions stop or a job ends
- Plan a retrain or a relocation, with course fees, moving costs and any gap in pay built into your budget
- Read any early retirement scheme offer or defined benefit with you, alongside super, savings and tax
Who We Help
- Power station operators and control room operators running units around the clock
- Shift supervisors leading crews across days, nights and weekends
- Maintenance tradespeople and planners looking after boilers, turbines and generators through outages
- Engineers, chemists and technical staff working on site or in support roles
- Administration, stores and support staff working at the station
- Workers at a coal mine that supplies a power station
- Contractors and labour hire workers on site for outages, projects and maintenance
- Workers moving to newer plant at gas, hydro, wind, solar or battery power plants
What we advise on
How Our Advice Works for Power Station Workers
Financial Planning & Advice
What could your years at the station set up for the work and life you’d like next?
Planning early can turn the time you have now into clear choices about work, home and money.
We’ll set out a financial plan, or Statement of Advice, for the years before any expected closure year, and what comes next.
The Australian Energy Market Operator keeps a register of most power stations, including when each is expected to close. Where the Energy Industry Jobs Plan applies to your employer, it must offer support such as career planning, training and financial advice, unless it would be unreasonable. Redundancy pay can come from the National Employment Standards, an award or an enterprise agreement.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Any expected closure year for your station, set as the date your plan works back from, with room for it to move
- A job offer at a newer plant or in another industry, weighed against staying on under any closure or retention terms
- Career planning, training and any financial advice under the Energy Industry Jobs Plan, if your employer is covered, used alongside your plan
- Redundancy pay from the National Employment Standards, an award or an agreement, set out with you before you resign or accept a role
- A relocation offer from your employer, where redundancy pay may still be owed if refusing the move is reasonable
- Contract or labour hire work at the station, and whether your employer is included under the jobs plan as a dependent employer
- A move to a gas, hydro, wind, solar or battery site, weighed on pay, travel and where you’d live
- Work for a partner in the same town, if you have a partner, factored into any decision to stay or move
Superannuation
Could your working years at the station do more for your super?
Contributions planned around your pay can help your super grow towards the retirement you’d like.
Together, we’ll weigh how much to add to super in your working years at the station, and how to invest it.
Employer super is worked out on qualifying earnings. The ATO includes pay for ordinary hours and shift penalties, but generally not overtime where an award or agreement clearly sets your ordinary hours. From 1 July 2026 the general concessional cap is $32,500, and caps are indexed.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Shift penalties for nights, weekends and public holidays, which attract employer super, compared with each contribution your fund records
- Overtime worked during a planned outage, which generally attracts no employer super, offset with your own contributions if you choose
- Larger contributions in your last years at the station, if a finish date is set, planned against the annual cap
- Any defined benefit membership, with the fund asked what leaving early or taking a package would mean for the benefit
- The drop in employer super if a next role pays fewer penalties, worked into your retirement projection
- The investment mix in your super, matched to when you may start drawing on it, including an earlier start than planned
- A package lump sum, and whether any of it suits super given the caps and when you’ll need the money
- Super accounts from an apprenticeship, contract work or an earlier employer, combined only after checking the cover each holds
Retirement & Aged Care
When would you like to stop work, and what would help you choose the timing?
Projections of your super and savings at a few possible finish dates can show which timing could suit you.
We’ll plan when and how you finish work, including any gap between the end of your job and preservation age.
Preservation age is 60 for anyone born from 1 July 1964, and super can generally only be accessed once you meet a condition of release, such as ceasing employment at 60 or over. An approved early retirement scheme payment is tax-free to a limit, and the Commissioner of Taxation must approve the scheme before payments start.
Together, we’ll work through:
- A closure year that lands close to 60, with the plan set out for finishing then, working on elsewhere or easing back
- A closure year that falls before 60, and whether other work, a payout or savings could fund the years until preservation age
- An approved early retirement scheme offer, read with you for how the payment fits super, savings and your finish date
- Retraining late in a career for a second line of work, weighed against stopping when the station work ends
- A change to the expected closure year, and the plan for your last day reset around the new date
- Staying to the last shift or leaving a year or two earlier, with the difference each makes to retirement set out
- Long service leave still owed when the station work ends, factored into your finish date and any final payment
- Retiring in the station town or moving elsewhere, with the costs of each set beside your super and savings
Cashflow & Financial Wellbeing
What could today’s station pay put in place for you, ahead of any change in role?
Building the budget on a likely next pay can let today’s extra go towards a buffer and your goals.
We can build your budget on the pay a next role is likely to bring, with a buffer set aside beforehand.
If an award covers you, power station work can attract a power station allowance and penalty rates for afternoon, night, weekend and public holiday shifts, and 12-hour shifts can form part of a continuous roster. A next job on day work, or in another industry, may not pay those extras. Enterprise agreements may set different terms.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Penalties and any power station allowance, kept apart from the base pay that the household bills are set against
- A buffer built from current pay while you’re still employed, sized for any gap between one job and the next
- Likely pay in a next role on day work, estimated so the household budget can be tested before you move
- Any car loan or card debt, planned against the likely pay of a next role before you change jobs
- Course fees and unpaid weeks during a retrain, costed into the budget before you enrol
- Bills set against your pay cycle on a continuous roster, with the buffer covering any pay that comes in light
- Leave owed to you at the end of employment, counted as one-off money with its own job in the plan
- Spending tracked over a few roster cycles, so the budget for the next role starts from real costs
Personal Insurance & Protection
Who would pay the regular bills if illness or injury kept you away from the station for a while?
Reviewing cover while you’re still employed can mean part of your income continues after a waiting period.
We can review any cover you hold through work, super or personally, and compare options while you’re still employed.
Moneysmart describes income protection as designed to pay part of your lost income if you’re unable to work due to illness or injury, so it isn’t designed for a job that ends. Premiums for any cover in super come out of your balance, while cover outside super is paid for personally.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Group cover tied to your station job, if you have it, read for the date it would stop after your last day
- A fund that no longer receives contributions after you leave, and what its cover would still pay
- High voltage isolation, confined spaces or control room work, whichever your role involves, set out when an insurer asks
- Income protection held in your own name, where cover doesn’t rely on an employer paying into a fund
- Any drop in pay after a move to day work, and how that could change any income protection benefit later
- TPD wording read before a move into a new industry, since the occupation a policy measures you against can matter
- A change in what the household earns and owes after the station, and whether life cover still fits it
- Trauma cover, which can’t be newly taken out inside super, weighed with you alongside any cover through work
Tax & Wealth Strategies
Would planning tax ahead help more of any final payment go towards your goals?
Timing contributions, investments and any lump sum with tax in mind can help each decision support your goals.
Together, we’ll plan tax around any package, leave or early retirement payment, with an accountant confirming the tax.
Ryker’s financial advisers plan tax and set tax structure and strategy, working alongside your accountant, who prepares and lodges your return. Unused annual leave paid out when you leave is generally part of that year’s taxable income, confirmed by an accountant.
Together, we’ll work through:
- A closure or retention package, with the tax on each part confirmed by an accountant before you sign
- The tax-free part of an approved early retirement scheme payment, confirmed by an accountant against your years of service
- Salary sacrifice, where your employer offers it, timed with an accountant across station pay and a next role’s pay
- Starting work for yourself after the station, with tax set aside from each payment and the set-up done by an accountant
- Tax withheld from a final pay that includes a payout, compared with an accountant’s view of the year’s tax
- Any investment sold around a job change, with the CGT changes for gains after 1 July 2027 weighed with an accountant
- Rent from a home near the station, if you move and keep it, with deductions and any later CGT confirmed by an accountant
- Station pay, a payout and a new salary landing in one financial year, set out with an accountant before you finish
Property Investment Advice
Where would you like to call home in the years ahead, near the station or somewhere new?
Weighing up staying in town or moving for work can show how each choice fits your savings and plans.
We can weigh staying near the station against moving for work, including any home you own, with any loan through a broker.
A lender decides how it counts shift pay and allowances, and a broker arranges any loan. Borrowing to invest can magnify losses as well as gains, and the loan must still be repaid if values fall. From 1 July 2027, negative gearing on residential property is limited to new builds, though property held on 12 May 2026 is exempt.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Staying in the town near the station, weighed against a move for work on costs, travel and family
- A home kept and rented out if you move for work, tested on rent, costs and the tax treatment with an accountant
- The home near the station, if you own one, kept or sold once you know where the next job is
- A purchase in a new town, timed around when a new job starts, with lending questions for a broker
- Repayments tested on the pay of a likely next role rather than on current shift pay
- Any relocation or travel help through regional workforce transition support, counted before you price a move
- Any package put towards a home loan, if you have one, weighed against holding a buffer for any gap between jobs
- Renting in a new town for a while, so the move can be tested before you commit to buying there
Your Years at the Station, Worked Through Together
The Years Before a Closure Date
A plan made with you that works back from an expected closure year, with room for it to move.
Staying or Going Early
Any early job offer set beside redundancy, closure or retention terms before you decide.
The Jobs Plan Beside Your Plan
Any career, training or advice support under the jobs plan, used with your own financial plan.
Pay After Shift Work
A budget tested on the likely pay of a next role, with a buffer built while you’re employed.
The Bridge to Preservation Age
Savings and super planned for any years between your last day and preservation age.
Cover Before You Leave
Cover through work and super reviewed with you while you’re still employed.
A Retrain or a Move
Course fees, moving costs and any gap in pay worked through before you commit.
A Package or Early Retirement Offer
Any offer read with you alongside super and savings, with an accountant on the tax.
Proactive, Holistic, and Experienced Financial Planning
Power station work keeps homes, hospitals and businesses running, day and night, every day of the year. It takes skill, care and years of experience to run and look after plant that so many people rely on. Our first step is to listen: how your working weeks run, what matters to you outside work and what you’d like the years ahead to hold. Then we work through the advice with you, step by step, in plain terms.
The money you earn at the station can go towards the things you care about: a home, time with family and friends, helping someone you love, or the freedom to choose your next move when you’re ready. If anyone depends on your income, we’ll include them in the plan as well. Good planning can keep more of your choices open, whether you stay in the industry, move into new work or step back, and we can help you plan each step.
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.
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
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.
Generally, while you’re still employed, since more of the choices are open while the pay is still coming in. The Australian Energy Market Operator keeps a register of most power stations, including when each is expected to close, so the year is an estimate rather than a fixed date. Points to work through:
- A buffer built from current pay, sized for a possible gap between jobs.
- Debts, goals and your likely next income set out together.
- Super, any defined benefit and any cover reviewed while you’re employed.
- Staying to the end or moving earlier, weighed on the terms that apply to you.
We can map the years before the date with you and adjust the plan if the year changes.
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.
It’s a framework under the Net Zero Economy Authority Act 2024 that supports workers when an eligible coal or gas-fired power station closes. It applies only after assessment, consultation and a Fair Work Commission decision.
If your employer is covered, as a closing employer or a dependent employer named in a Commission determination, by default the Act says it must, on request, unless it would be unreasonable, either arrange career planning and financial advice at its cost, or allow you time off or flexible work for advice you arrange yourself. The defaults also include time off for training and interviews. The Commission can set different actions instead, so support can vary.
Alongside any support, we can map your super, cover and next income with you.
It depends on what each path pays, what you’d give up and what you want next, and everybody’s situation is different. Points to weigh:
- Redundancy pay, which can come from the National Employment Standards, an award or an enterprise agreement.
- The terms of any closure or retention offer, read before you resign.
- Where redundancy pay comes from the National Employment Standards, your employer can apply to the Fair Work Commission to reduce it if it finds you other acceptable employment.
- The pay, super and cover in the new job.
- Leave owing, and the tax on any payout, confirmed by an accountant.
We can set both paths out with you, so you can decide with the full picture in front of you.
An online super calculator is a helpful way to see how a balance might grow, and it can give a rough sense of what retirement could look like at different ages. It works from the figures you enter, so it may not weigh up a closure year, redundancy terms, a job offer or any cover tied to your work.
Advice brings those together: when to finish, how to bridge any gap before preservation age, what to do with any payout, and which cover to keep. We can work through them with you and update the plan as dates and offers change.
Generally not for the closure itself. Moneysmart describes income protection as designed to pay part of your lost income if you’re unable to work due to illness or injury, and each policy has its own definitions and conditions.
It can still matter in the years around a closure. Many policies base the benefit on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury. We can read any cover you hold with you while you’re still employed and compare options.
Free, confidential support is available from Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 and Lifeline on 13 11 14.
It depends on your age, your super and savings, and what you’d live on. Preservation age is 60 for anyone born from 1 July 1964, and super can generally only be accessed once you meet a condition of release, such as ceasing employment at 60 or over.
If the closure falls before then, savings outside super, part-time work or a payout may need to cover the gap. If your employer offers an approved early retirement scheme, the payment is tax-free to a limit, and the Commissioner of Taxation must approve the scheme before payments start; an accountant can confirm the tax.
We can project your super and savings at a few possible finish dates with you, so you can see what each would mean.
Yes. Any starting point is a good one, from your first year at the station to a late career with an expected closure year in view.
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’s useful to bring payslips from a few pay cycles, any closure, package or retention letter, a super statement, any defined benefit statement and details of any cover through work or your fund. We can meet face to face or over video.
Who We Help
Advice for All Stages of Life
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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.
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