Life insurance transfers personal risk in the financial sense, providing claims benefits when qualifying events occur – and when financial resources (and people dependant on us) are most at risk.
Do you want to bet That you don’t need it? That’s exactly what you are doing when you fail to ensure that you are insured! You bet your family that you will stay in great health for the rest of your very lengthy life!
So why don’t we take out adequate protection with an insurance company?
Some of the reasons we hear include –
- Never thought of it;
- Can’t afford it/ it’s too expensive;
- Not yet.
Dealing with those explanations –
Never thought of it
Well, now you have at least heard of it. Australians are (almost) hopelessly under-insured: it’s almost cultural! Some ‘haven’t thought of it’ because they ‘haven’t heard of it’; some are too busy leading exciting lives they haven’t turned their minds to the matter; and some others don’t understand the implications of being under-insured – and so just don’t think about it!
If any of the following situations describe aspects of your life, you should be insured – and you should review the level of insurance you ‘carry’ – so as to be able to reassure your loved ones that their future is sound:
- you have a spouse;
- you have dependants (children, parents etc);
- you have debt (mortgage, credit cards, personal loan, line of credit);
- you are employed;
- you operate a business;
- you have employees who are key to your business;
- you have business partners; and
whilst the above list is not exhaustive, any one of those situations means you have people who are critical to your financial well-being and/ or who are dependant on you maintaining your financial well-being.
If you haven’t thought about insuring your life think about their position if you meet with an unexpected illness or accident, or worse if you die.
Can’t afford it/ it’s too expensive
Sometimes excuses can be justified, but when your mind is numbed by the message the doctor has just delivered about an unexpected illness or disability, the next fear by most victims of such circumstances is what financial position will they (and their loved ones) be in as the disorder/ disability takes effect?
A recent survey (from which we published some extracted statistics) shows that most of the people who make this statement don’t have any correct perception of the likely cost of the insurance in any event – in most cases, their estimates of what cover would cost in their circumstance was considerably in excess of the market average premium applicable!
When the need arises and there are education costs to pay, medical costs/ ongoing care to pay, mortgage costs to pay – and limited financial resources available at the desperate time, the cost of the protection that would facilitate the servicing of all of these financial obligations (and normal day-to-day living cots) – through an appropriate insurance plan – suddenly seems as though it wouldn’t have been so high after all!
Not yet!
This is the really scary one folks! This is the response of the person who knows they need to have the cover; they know they should have the cover – but they choose to bet that they can get the timing right! GOOD LUCK!
The facts are that –
- insurance protection is more complete for healthy applicants with no adverse medical history (i.e., no risk exclusions or premium loadings – and unlikely to be declined cover);
- illness and disease can strike with short notice – and once that happens, the whole spectre of insurability can change; and
- good habits formed early mean peace of mind for you and your loved ones over the longer term.
Don’t bet against the odds: Contact Us for a review of your insurance protection adequacy – you never know, you may be paying premiums for cover you don’t need (and we would advise you about reducing the level of cover in such a situation).
For a meeting with one of our experienced planners, call our office on 07 3421 3456.
