Financial Planning for Psychologists
Financial Advice Empowering Psychologists to Build Wealth and Freedom
Sessions each week, super, any cover you hold and any registrar years all connect, whether you’re employed, in private practice or both. We help you build one plan around the week you choose to work.
Our Financial Advice Team Is Here to Help You
We Can Help You
- Build a household budget from the number of sessions you choose to see each week
- Set up a leave fund for holidays, CPD and illness in private work, where weeks away go unpaid
- Set super contributions from private income at a level each month’s sessions can support
- Plan the registrar years and endorsement into your budget, alongside the career decision
- Check how income protection would assess private income that’s part-time or still building
- Plan a salaried role and private sessions as one income, with super and tax considered together
- Catch up on super after part-time years, if you’re eligible to carry forward unused cap amounts
- Budget registration, professional indemnity and supervision costs across the year, with savings set aside ahead
Who We Help
- Provisional psychologists completing an internship or a higher degree
- Psychology registrars working towards an area of practice endorsement
- Public sector psychologists in hospitals, schools, community services or government
- New private practitioners leaving a salaried role for the first time
- Contractors in group practices paid a share of session fees
- Psychologists in their own rooms choosing their own fees, hours and caseload
- Dual-role psychologists combining a salaried position with private sessions
- Part-time psychologists adding days back after parental leave or study
What we advise on
How Our Advice Works for Psychologists
Cashflow & Financial Wellbeing
If you see private clients, what would you like that income set aside for?
Building your budget around a realistic weekly session count can allow for cancellations and holidays and still leave money to save.
Together, we’ll turn the number of sessions you choose each week into a household budget built around that number.
In private work, income is generally the sessions you see multiplied by your fee, less any service fee paid to a practice, so cancellations and weeks away lower it. Under Better Access, eligible patients with a mental health treatment plan and a valid referral can claim a Medicare rebate for up to 10 individual sessions each calendar year. We can set your fixed costs against a number of sessions you choose.
Together, we’ll work through:
- A number of sessions each week that you choose, used as the base for rent, loan repayments and fixed bills
- Late cancellations and unfilled hours, with a cash buffer set aside so a quiet week can be covered from savings
- Weeks away for holidays, CPD or illness, funded from a leave account topped up from each private payment
- Supervision fees during a registrar program, budgeted as a regular cost for as long as the program runs
- Any service fee a practice keeps from your session fees, taken out before the budget counts what you earn
- A salaried role beside private sessions, with the steadier pay covering fixed bills and private income set aside for goals
- Sessions above the number you planned, with the extra income given a purpose before it arrives
- Consulting room rent, if you lease your own, set against a cautious estimate of sessions rather than a full diary
Superannuation
Do salaried, private and part-time years all add to your super?
Planning contributions for salaried, private and part-time years alike can keep every stage of your work adding to your super.
We’ll look at your super across salaried years, private work and part-time stretches, and plan contributions to suit each.
On a contract, a business may still have to pay super if you’re paid mainly for your labour. Caps are indexed and can change each year: for 2026-27 the concessional cap is $32,500, with unused amounts from earlier years available if your total super balance was under $500,000 on the previous 30 June. We can plan your contributions around both.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Session fees from a group practice, where an accountant or the ATO can confirm if super is owed on top
- Contributions from private income, made monthly or as a lump sum, to match the way your sessions are paid
- A busier private year, where carry-forward rules let you contribute more before tax if you qualify
- Registrar years on lower pay or fewer paid days, with contributions set at a level the budget can hold
- Your first year in private work, with a contribution amount agreed before your first private payment arrives
- Parental leave, if you plan to take it, with the gap in contributions built into your long-term super projection
- Contribution splitting, if you have a partner, as a way to balance super between you after years of part-time work
- Salaried and private income in the same year, with super from each role tracked so the total stays within the cap
Personal Insurance & Protection
What would keep your income going if illness or injury meant time away from clients?
Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period, so some income continues while sessions are on hold.
We can compare income protection, life cover and TPD with you, including how a policy treats part-time or new private income.
Income protection usually bases the benefit on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury, which part-time or new private income can lower. The insurer sets the terms of any cover and decides any claim. Free, confidential support is available from Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 and Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Health questions on an application, answered fully, since an insurer may change or cancel cover if details are left out
- Any default cover in the super fund your hospital, school or government employer pays into, reviewed before your last day in that role
- A longer wait before payments begin, chosen only if money held for time off could carry the household that long
- Part-time hours, and how a policy defines your usual income if you work two or three days a week
- Professional indemnity insurance, required by a Psychology Board registration standard, which sits outside what Ryker advises on
- Life and TPD sums insured worked out from any mortgage, savings and the household costs your income meets today
- A move between salaried and private work, with cover reviewed each time the source of your income changes
- How long a benefit is paid, for a fixed term or to a set age, chosen with the household’s other savings in mind
Financial Planning & Advice
As your psychology career moves forward, what would you like each new step to lead to?
Setting out the money side of each step, from registration onwards, can help your finances grow with your career.
We can set out with you the money side of each step, from provisional registration through to any endorsement.
General registration follows a six-year sequence of education and training, and internship pathways end in the national psychology exam. The registrar program then adds supervised practice with a Board-approved supervisor who holds endorsement in that area of practice. We can weigh each step’s costs and pay with you, as a financial decision alongside the career one.
Together, we’ll work through:
- Provisional years in an internship or a higher degree, with course fees, exam costs and any HELP debt budgeted
- The registrar program, with supervision costs and any change in pay budgeted for each year it runs
- Clinical psychology endorsement, which Better Access treats as its own category, weighed against the years and costs of getting there
- Moving from a salaried role to private work, with any loss of paid leave and employer super costed first
- A group practice agreement, read by a solicitor, with the financial side of the offer planned alongside that advice
- A move to fewer days each week, with the change to income, super and cover set out before you commit
- Time away from clinical work, such as study or a career break, saved for in the years before it starts
- Each registration milestone used as a check-in, so the plan moves with your work and income
Tax & Wealth Strategies
Where pay comes from a salary and private sessions, how could tax time fit into the rest of your plans?
Looking at both incomes together can make each year’s tax easier to foresee and plan for.
We can bring an accountant’s advice into a plan that covers salaried pay, private income and any HELP debt.
Ryker’s financial advisers plan tax and set tax structure and strategy, working alongside your accountant, who prepares and lodges your return. If you work for a public or not-for-profit hospital that offers salary packaging, the FBT exemption for those employers has its own cap, which the ATO publishes.
Together, we’ll work through:
- What registration, supervision and CPD cost you each year, listed for an accountant to advise on
- Any HELP debt from your studies, as compulsory repayments apply in any year your repayment income is above the minimum repayment threshold
- Telehealth and home office running costs, if you see clients from home, with an accountant confirming what applies
- Salary packaging from a hospital role, if offered, compared with an accountant before any shift from hospital days to private sessions
- Two incomes in one year, salaried and private, combined with an accountant so the year’s tax is estimated before 30 June
- Consulting room rent, assessment tools and equipment, with an accountant advising on how each cost is treated
- Income from teaching, writing or supervision on the side, added to the year’s tax estimate with an accountant
- Postgraduate study for endorsement, raised with an accountant before you enrol so the tax treatment is clear early
Property Investment Advice
Could part-time or private income change how you plan for a home?
A deposit plan built on your steadier months can show what buying a home could take on part-time or private income.
We’ll talk through a home purchase with you on part-time, private or mixed income, and the cover any loan would need.
Lenders decide how they assess part-time, private or newly started income, and a broker arranges any loan. A broker can also explain what records of private income a lender may ask for. We can plan the deposit, repayments and cover with you before you apply.
Together, we’ll work through:
- A home deposit saved from a salaried role before any move to private work, with a broker explaining how lenders view each
- Repayments set at a level the household could meet in a lighter week of sessions, not only a full one
- A first year or two of private earnings, and when a broker suggests applying so lenders can see enough history
- Mortgage repayments as a reason to check how long any income protection would pay, with the insurer setting terms
- Sessional rooms hired by the day compared with a longer lease, for the effect each has on the home budget
- A home office for telehealth sessions, if you plan one, considered when choosing how much space to buy
- Parental leave after buying, if it’s planned, with the repayments a single income or fewer days would need to carry
- Savings kept separate from the loan, sized to cover a few weeks without private sessions
Retirement & Aged Care
Would you like to keep seeing a few clients in later years, or stop altogether?
Shaping your retirement plan around the sessions you’d like to keep can let you choose how much, or how little, to work.
We’ll set your retirement plan around the number of sessions you’d like to keep seeing, if any, in later years.
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 you have a private practice, winding it down is part of the timing, with an accountant advising on tax.
Together, we’ll work through:
- A caseload reduced in stages over several years, with each step costed against the income you’d like in retirement
- Contributions in your last working decade, set at what you can afford, including after any part-time years
- Supervising newer psychologists after you stop clinical work, if that appeals, counted as income in the retirement budget
- Your super’s investment mix reviewed as retirement nears, set against when you’ll start drawing on it
- Winding down a private practice, with the timing of a last day and any sale planned with an accountant on tax
- The Age Pension, if you’re eligible, with Centrelink means testing of super and savings considered
- An income target for retirement, set from the plans you’d like to fund once clinical work ends
- Registration once you stop seeing clients, whether general or non-practising, with the fee for each built into the budget
Your Psychology Career, Worked Through Together
A Budget Built on Your Caseload
A household budget built on the number of sessions you choose to see each week.
Weeks Away Funded
A leave account for holidays, CPD and illness, topped up from private payments.
Super Through Private Work
Contributions planned for the years no employer pays super, at a level you can sustain.
Endorsement Planned
The registrar program’s supervision costs and any change in pay budgeted year by year.
Cover Before Private Practice
Income protection and life cover reviewed before any move to private work, with the insurer setting terms.
Salaried and Private Income Together
Two incomes planned as one household budget, with super and tax considered across both.
A Step-Down Into Retirement
A gradual reduction in sessions planned alongside super, savings and any Age Pension.
Registration Costs in the Budget
Registration, professional indemnity and supervision fees saved for through the year.
Proactive, Holistic, and Experienced Financial Planning
Becoming a psychologist takes years of study and supervised practice, and learning carries on well after registration. The work that follows is counted in sessions, whether you’re in a salaried role, private practice or both. We start by listening to the week you’d like to work and the life you want around it. Then we help you build a plan for your income, super and cover that starts from there and can change with you.
How many clients you see is your choice, and your plan can be built to respect it. We’ll help you plan around the week that suits you, with room for the people you care about, the time you want to keep free and the things you’d like to do outside work. As your work changes, from a first role to the registrar years, private practice or fewer days later on, we’ll adjust the plan with you and keep working towards the life you want.
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.
The number is yours to choose, and we don’t set one for you. We start from the sessions you’d like to see in a typical week, then allow for:
- Cancellations and unfilled appointments.
- Weeks away for leave, CPD and illness.
- Any service fee a practice keeps.
- Registration, professional indemnity and supervision costs.
- Tax, and super if nobody else pays it for you.
What’s left is the income the household budget can rely on. If you later decide to see more or fewer clients, we can rework the plan 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.
That depends on your plans, and the career side is yours to weigh. The financial side can be set out clearly. Points to work through:
- Fees for any postgraduate study, and any HELP debt that comes with them.
- Supervision with a Board-approved supervisor who holds endorsement in your area of practice, and its cost if you pay for it.
- Any change in pay or days worked while the program runs.
- For clinical psychology, Better Access lists eligible clinical psychologists as a separate category from eligible registered psychologists.
The Psychology Board sets the program’s requirements. We can model the years before and after endorsement with you, so you decide with the numbers in view.
If you contract or run your own practice, there’s usually no paid leave, so holidays, CPD, illness and parental leave are funded ahead. A simple approach:
- Count the weeks away you expect each year, including public holidays.
- Work out what those weeks cost in sessions not seen and bills still due.
- Hold back part of each payment in a separate leave account.
- Keep a further buffer for weeks you didn’t plan.
For longer periods off through illness or injury, income protection can pay part of your income, subject to the policy’s terms. We can set the amounts with you.
A practice coach can help you set up and run private work: bookings, referrals, systems and how the business is organised. That support can be valuable, especially in a first year.
Advice looks at the household side of the same decisions: what the practice’s income means for your budget, super, cover, any debt and the goals you’re saving for, alongside an accountant’s advice on tax. We don’t set fees or run practices.
Using both can work well. We can build a plan with you around the practice you’re setting up.
Yes, if your employment contract allows it, and your employer or a solicitor can confirm its terms. Two incomes raise a few financial points:
- The salaried role usually brings employer super and paid leave, and private work may not.
- Tax on the combined income, worked out with an accountant, since private payments generally have no tax withheld.
- Any salary packaging in the salaried role, and whether it changes if your days there change.
- Income protection, and how a policy counts income from both sources.
We can plan both incomes with you as one household budget.
Yes. Whether you’re provisionally registered, a registrar or years into private work, the conversation begins with your situation as it stands today.
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 things to have on hand: pay details or a summary of session income, a super statement, any HELP balance and any group practice agreement under consideration. We can talk face to face or by video.
Who We Help
Advice for All Stages of Life
From first job to retirement, we help you build wealth, protect it, and live well.
Starting Out
First jobs, first home, first super, HECS debt, budgeting and more.
Growing Families
First home buyers, new parents, school fees, single incomes, young families and more.
Medical & Health
Doctors, dentists, pharmacists, allied health, nurses and more.
Professional Services & Tech
Lawyers, accountants, brokers, engineers, consultants and more.
Trades & Business Owners
Electricians, plumbers, builders, sole traders, franchisees and more.
Corporate & Executive
Executives, senior managers, directors, board members and more.
Public Sector & Defence
Police, firefighters, paramedics, ADF personnel, teachers and more.
Approaching Retirement
Pre-retirees, transition to retirement, Age Pension, aged care, estate planning and more.
Other Stages
Any income, any stage, career changers, separation, second opinions and more.
Reviews
Testimonials from Our Clients
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