Personal Insurance FAQs

Possibly, but for different reasons than someone with a family. Life cover specifically is harder to justify without dependants — there's no income to replace for someone left behind. But the broader category of personal insurance covers more than that. Total and permanent disability (TPD) and income protection cover you if you can't work, regardless of who else depends on your income. If you have a mortgage, business debts, or simply want to maintain your lifestyle through a long illness, those products can matter as much for a single person as a married one. The question to ask isn't "do I have dependants" but "what would happen financially if I couldn't work for two years?"

Each covers a different kind of event. Life cover pays a lump sum to your estate or beneficiaries if you die. TPD pays a lump sum if you become totally and permanently disabled and can't return to your usual occupation. Trauma cover pays a lump sum on diagnosis of a specified serious illness — typically cancer, heart attack, or stroke — regardless of whether you can still work. Income protection replaces a portion of your income (typically up to 70%) if illness or injury stops you working, paid as a monthly benefit until you recover or reach a defined endpoint. Most well-built insurance strategies combine more than one of these, because each protects against a different scenario.

Both have trade-offs. Holding cover inside super means premiums are paid from your super balance, which preserves your cash flow but reduces your retirement savings over time. Cover inside super is often cheaper because of group rates negotiated by the fund, but the policy terms can be more restrictive and the definitions less generous than retail equivalents. Cover held outside super is paid from after-tax cash, but you own the policy directly, can tailor it more precisely, and the claim definitions tend to be stronger. Tax treatment differs significantly between the two structures. Most clients with substantial cover end up with a combination — using each structure for what it does best.

There's no universal answer because it depends on what you're trying to protect against. The factors that typically matter are: the size of any debts you'd want cleared, the income your dependants would need to maintain their lifestyle and for how long, education costs for children, and any final expenses. Some people need cover that lasts a lifetime; others only need it until the mortgage is paid off and the kids are independent. The right number is the one that matches your actual circumstances, not a multiple of your salary. Working through the calculation properly — with someone who can model the scenarios — usually delivers a different answer than the rough figure most people start with.

Premiums depend heavily on age, health, occupation, smoking status, the type and amount of cover, and whether the policy is held inside or outside super. Two people of the same age can pay materially different premiums based on medical history alone. Our approach is to first understand your circumstances and what you're trying to protect against, then provide transparent, upfront pricing on both the advice itself and indicative premium ranges from suitable insurers. There's no commitment until you've seen the numbers and decided the cover and the cost are right for you.

A review is worth considering whenever your circumstances change materially — a new mortgage or debt, marriage or divorce, the birth of a child, a significant change in income, starting or selling a business, or approaching retirement. Outside life events, a structured review every two to three years is usually enough to catch drift between what your policy was designed to cover and what you actually need now. Older policies in particular are worth examining because both definitions and pricing have moved meaningfully over the past decade, and what was good cover ten years ago may no longer be competitive.