Insurance (Risk) Planning
It’s important you choose the right level of cover for you and your family’s needs and accurately calculate how much cover you need - because this is what you and your family will have to live on in the future. We can help you decide how much cover you need, using a process that takes into account the following factors:
• assets / debts
• meeting Mortgage payments
• maintain your standard of living
• provision to repay debt
• provision for a housekeeper / nanny if you have young children
• funds to meet your children's future education needs
• how much an ongoing income stream would cost if you were unable to work
• providing for any major future purchases
• providing for a replacement if you were unable to work (for the self-employed)
Everyone should have their insurances reviewed annually to ensure they have proper protection, as well as competitive premiums.
Types: Life Trauma Total & Permanent Disability Income Protection Business Child Keyman Living
It’s ideal to have enough funds to clear any debts, and also have some money to invest to generate an ongoing income each year for your dependents. If the remaining parent has to bring in an income, you might also need to consider costs of having a full time carer and someone to help with home duties.
Trauma Insurance
The costs associated with a serious illness or injury can quickly add up, impacting your life and lifestyle. This cover may help meet the medical costs associated with the treatment of the condition without the need of having to dip into any personal savings or go further into debt. Trauma Cover will pay a lump sum whether you are prevented from working or not. This means you can have time off work, access the best medical treatment, and refocus your energy on the more important things – your recovery.
The benefit payment is free of tax and there are no restrictions on how you can use the payment – you could use the money to pay for specialists or medical bills, make modifications to your home, pay off your mortgage or enable your partner to take time off work to care for you.
Total & Permanent Disability Insurance
(TPD) Provides a lump sum payment if you are totally and permanently disabled and unable to ever return to work. The benefit can be used to pay off debts, help maintain your standard of living and meet your medical costs.
Income Protection Insurance
Most people have insurance for their cars, house, boat and even furniture. But what about protection for your most important valuables - you, your family and your ability to earn income.
Income protection replaces the income lost through your inability to work due to injury or sickness. It’s purpose is to ensure you can continue paying essential expenses and maintain your existing lifestyle. While income protection insurance is an important consideration for anyone, it can be especially suitable for self-employed people, small business owners or professionals whose business relies heavily on their ability to work. The monthly benefit could be used to employ a worker to replace you on the job, and ensure your business income continues.
Business Expenses Cover
If you are a small business owner or self-employed, you should also consider business expense insurance, which reimburses your business fixed ongoing overheads while you are off work due to sickness or injury.
Child Cover - (For children aged 2-16)
It’s not something we like to think about, but if our child suffered a Trauma condition, the extra funds would be so helpful, to pay for extra medical costs, and allowing parents to take the time off work to care for the child. Most products cover things like severe burns, terminal illness, head trauma, brain damage, brain tumour, cancer, kidney failure, deafness, blindness, encephalitis, paralysis, organ transplant, meningococcal, stroke, cardiomyopathy. Eg. $25,000 Child Trauma cover is around $33 per year.
Living Expenses Cover
Living Expenses cover is ideal for those who find Income Protection too expensive, or are not working full time, or for non-paid working people (ie. Home Mums).
The benefit can be used to pay day-to-day living expenses / allow your partner to take time off work to care for you /or to pay in-home carers if you were seriously laid-up. You don’t need to be permanently disabled to make a claim on this cover, but you’d need to be unable to perform 2 out of 5 activities of daily living:
1) Bathing / Showering
2) Dressing / Undressing
3) Eating / Drinking
4) Using the toilet to maintain personal hygiene
5) Getting in & out of a bed, a chair, a wheelchair or moving from place to place by walking, a wheelchair or with a walking aid.
If you’re unable to do 2 of these activities, you are eligible to make a claim. It could cost you thousands of dollars every month to have somebody take care of these essential needs and responsibilities. Living Expense Cover pays a monthly payment if you suffer a serious illness or injury that prevents you from performing some of the everyday activities we take for granted. Whilst insurance can’t prevent serious illnesses and injuries from occurring, it can protect your family from the financial consequences such misfortune can bring.
Business Insurance & Keyman Cover
There are always risks involved when you’re involved in business. The unexpected death or disablement of a business owner can seriously risk the ongoing viability of the operation. Adequate business insurance can help to minimise this risk and protect the financial security of families and business associates.
There are three basic insurance needs that typically apply to businesses:
- Asset protection
- Revenue protection
- Ownership protection
There are financial issues relating to business protection needs. We are here to sort this out for you, and advise on the best protection plan.
Case Study – Premium Loadings
John had his Life Insurance policy for about 10 years. His previous adviser hadn’t reviewed the policy, so he came to see us. We queried medicals loadings on the premiums, and after our investigations, John was sent a $5,800 refund cheque from the insurance provider - he’d been paying more than he should have for 10 years.
Case Study – Reading the Small Print
Tom and Grace thought they were covered; they had a policy which offered Sickness and Accident and Life Insurance cover. When we reviewed their policy, Tom and Grace were shocked to learn that they were not covered for sickness, there were multiple restrictions on what the insurer would actually pay out for a claim, and even the Life Insurance would only be paid out in certain situations. We gave Tom and Grace some recommendations and sifted through the ‘small print’ to make sure they were fully aware of their protection package, and saved them hundreds of dollars.
