What are the different types of insurance you can help with and what do they cover?

Let's break it down:

Life Insurance (or Death cover) - pays a lump sum in the event of your death to your beneficiaries or to your estate. This can help your family continue to pay bills and living expenses when you die.

Total and Permanent Disability - pays a lump sum if you become totally and permanently disabled due to illness or injury*. This can help support you and your family, and pay for medical or rehabilitation costs. 

Trauma Insurance - pays a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a critical illness or have a serious injury†. This can help support you and your family and pay for medical or rehabilitation costs. 

Income Protection - pays part of your income if you are unable to work due to partial or total disability. 

We can help you find and apply for all of the above types of insurance. 

*as per policy definition of Total & Permanent Disablement

† the insured can claim if they suffer an insurable condition as defined by the policy.

How much will getting insured cost me?

Ask James - We can work with you to find cover that's affordable and suits your budget. Being financial advisers we know the importance of keeping within your means, so feel free to be open with us about what you can afford. 

What if I already have insurance within my super fund?

Unless you've spent a bit of time looking into it and setting it up, it's likely the life cover within your super is their default cover. 

This is a good fall back but doesn't take into consideration your personal circumstances or needs. It might not be enough cover to support your family or cover expenses in the event of your death. 

Certain types of insurance are also not available through super too, like Trauma insurance. 

The benefit of getting your insurance set up professionally is we look at your situation, your living costs, debts, assets, and determine how much and what types of cover are most appropriate. Then we work with you to determine affordability and how best to structure your premium payments. 

Can I change my insurance later?

Once a year we get in touch before your insurance renewal occurs to make sure you're happy with your current cover and premiums. 

If your circumstances have changed including your income, family, health or affordability, we can work with you to determine whether we should make any changes to your cover, premiums, or insurance provider. It's important you stay happy, and you're never locked in to one thing for years on end.

Are you aligned to certain companies or do you have arrangements with certain insurers?

No! We don't have any associations or 'preferred' insurers so you can be sure we stay neutral in our advice to you. 

While we are paid commissions by insurers for placing policies with them, these are currently legislated to be identical from one insurer to the next, and are not paid by you. They come direct from the insurer and this is standard across the industry.

How do you get paid?

We charge our initial up front fee of $220 for singles and $330 for couples to cover the initial administration costs of collecting your information and conducting research on your needs and insurance options.

We are then paid commissions by the insurer you proceed with. Keep in mind, these commissions are not paid by you - they come direct from the insurer and this is standard across the board. 

We also don't have any associations or 'preferred' insurers so you can be sure we stay neutral in our advice to you. 

Do I have to have a medical exam to get insurance?

That depends on your personal health and family history. One of the forms we send you helps us learn more about your health. From this we can get an idea as to whether a potential insurer might need to collect any reports from your doctor or ask for specific tests.

If you have a fairly clear personal medical history and no family history of illnesses, you might not be required to provide any further information or test results.

What if I have pre-existing health conditions? Can I still get cover?

Each insurer has their own list of items they will and won't cover. We can do some research for you to see if there are any insurers that might cover you despite your pre-existing condition, otherwise in most cases we can find you cover that will just include an exclusion, or add a loading (higher premium) to offset this risk. 

We recommend you tell us as many details as you can and provide as much information as possible so we're fully informed when we look for your best insurance options.

If you prefer to keep things private, that's ok too!  If you prefer, you can work directly with the insurer for this part of the application, and it can be kept completely confidential from us and anyone else. 

Will my premiums go up each year?

It's likely your insurance premiums will increase to combat inflation over the years. This is normal for most insurance products, but it doesn't mean you can't review your cover, or let us know if it's becoming too expensive. 

We get in touch each year before your insurance renewal occurs to see if you'd like a chat to talk about any changes in your circumstances. This means we can always take the time to look at alternative insurers, changing your cover amount, or other options to best suit your situation.

Can my premiums be paid by my super fund?

Paying your insurance premiums through your super fund is usually a tax effective way to structure your insurance. In come cases however, this may not be possible, or isn't an option for cover like Trauma insurance. 

We'll discuss your premium payment options with you when we meet on Zoom to make our recommendations and you can always ask to have us consider alternatives to ensure your cover is best aligned to your budget. 

How do you determine how much cover I need?

The information we collect from you allows us to complete what's called a needs analysis. This is where we look at your income, expenses, assets, debts, and work out how much you or your family would need to cover the bills and cost of living should you suffer an illness, injury, become disabled, or pass away. 

Once we have gathered quotes, these will be presented to you in a formal Statement of  Advice (SOA) over Zoom where we'll make a recommendation on your insurance options. We'll ensure you're happy, and make any changes if needed.