If you have a Life Insurance policy which may or may not also include Total and Permanent Disability cover and Critical Illness cover and or an Income Protection Policy somewhere in the filing system but haven’t had it reviewed for the last three to five years here are three critical reasons to dig it out and review what you have .
You can complete the contact form on this site for specialised help with understanding the cover you have and we can assist with education and general facts that will assist you in make a decision around any changes you may want.
REASON 1 – A Personal Risk Protection Insurance Review Can Save You Money
A review may uncover changes in your circumstances that could mean you cover needs may be different than they were when you first took the cover out.
For example let’s say you just sold a business or inherited some money. You need for life insurance cover may have reduced which would mean less cover and lower premiums.
Maybe one or more of your adult children have left home and are financially independent. This could also affect the amount of life insurance cover you and/or your spouse require.
You may have changed jobs and have a different superannuation cover that offers more or even less Life/ TPD or Income Protection insurances than you previously had when the cover was first taken out.
You may have changed occupations which may affect your income protection insurance cover occupational rating. Say for example a concreter after completing required education and qualifications became an electrician. The income protection occupation rating for an electrician usually translates to a lower premium than the rating for a concreter (based on similar amounts insured, waiting periods etc. Concreters can usually only get a 2 or 5 year benefit period while and electrician may be able to obtain an age 65 or 70 income protection cover.
Conversely you risk insurance needs may also have increased due to circumstances and life events. Either way, you will be ensuring your peace of mind knowing that you most recent needs are being met.
REASON 2 – A Personal Risk Protection Insurance Review Can Give You Better Protection
The personal risk insurance space is very competitive and insurance companies upgrade their policies each year to remain competitive and try and stay ahead of their competitors.
Some companies offer automatic upgrades of their old policies to ensure your policy stays up to date with the most recent policy definitions however some companies do not either as a matter of policy or because your policy may be what is called a ‘legacy’ policy that has been superceded by their new range of product.
As Life Risk Insurances specialists we can answer your questions and provide you with factual general information to help you better understand the policy that you have which will place you in a better position to make decisions about what is best for you. Be careful if you are ever advised by anyone to replace cover as there are potential traps and pitfalls that can exist if cover is cancelled – ensure you are dealing with a trusted source of information..
To give you a real life example. A client has a policy that includes Critical Illness or Trauma Insurance which was put in place over 5 years ago. it was discovered that the policy was not upgraded to the latest definitions when the insurance companies range was changed. The main improvements were the addition of a ‘silent heart attack’ clause in the definition of a heart attack and the addition of a claim based on a ‘lumpectomy’ in the event of a breast cancer diagnosis.
So in the older policy the client would not be paid out if they had a silent or minor heart attack , under the upgraded definition they would be paid the full amount. Under the old policy they would only be paid out for Breast Cancer after a full mastectomy, however the client would be paid out under the upgraded policy with a lumpectomy followed by chemo etc.
There was a premium increase involved to upgrade but at least a review uncovered what could result in a claim of hundreds of thousands of dollars if the policy was upgraded and one of the upgraded definitions was triggered by a critical illness event.
REASON 3 – A Personal Risk Protection Insurance Review Can Give You Greater Peace of Mind
Any legal document should be periodically reviewed to ensure it is up to date. An example is your will . Look at how quickly life events can mean a current will is no longer what you want to happen.
It is the same with Life, TPD, Critical Illness or Income Protection Insurance policies.
Here are a list of possible trigger events that can precipitate the need to review your personal Risk protection Insurances:
- Birth of a child
- Marriage / re marriage / or defacto relationship
- Need to insure you children or grand children
- Changes to your superannuation plan
- Increases or decreases to your monthly income by more than 10%
- A change in beneficiaries nominated through your Life Insurance policies
- Given up smoking for more than 12 months (if shown as a smoker status in the insurance policies)
- Material increases to your personal or business debt
- Commenced a self managed super fund
- Received an inheritance (you or your spouse)
- Entered a significant new business venture or changed your occupation
CLICK HERE If you would like a review of your present personal or business risk insurance strategies or policies. You will be directed to a form that will gather some basic preliminary information and you will be contacted by an experienced life risk insurance specialist.
General Advice Warning:
The information contained within this website does not consider your personal circumstances and is of a general nature only. You should not act on it without first obtaining professional financial advice specific to your circumstances or you may make a decision that is not in your best interests.