What Life Insurance Cover Are Australians Most Likely To Have?

NobleOak has just released the results from a survey with over 1,000 Australian adults about the types of Life insurance cover they are most likely to have in place.

Findings

The results show that while Life cover (also known as Term Life or Death cover) is the most common type of Life insurance, Income Protection insurance and TPD is not all that far behind. Refer to Table 1. below. One of the more noticeable trends in buying behaviour is people now have multiple types of cover – not just term life. This is because people recognise the need to protect their income should they be unable to work for an extended period of time, suffer a serious illness or be totally and permanently disabled. These types of cover are also known as ‘living insurance’.

Table 1 – Research Question (Pureprofile research December 2016)
What type of Life insurance cover are you most like to have in place?

Types of cover

The four most common types of Life insurance available to Australians that were covered in the research are:

1. Life (Death) – Provides a lump sum payment upon death to support your loved ones and help to clear debts.

2. TPD (Total and Permanent Disablement) – Provides a lump sum payment in case you’re never able to work again because of sickness or injury.

3. Trauma (also known as Serious Illness or Critical Illness) – Provides a lump sum payment in case you suffer a serious medical condition such as cancer, heart attack or stroke. This can help to cover costs that Medicare or health insurance does not cover whilst you recover, such as at home nursing.

4. Income Protection – Provides a monthly payment (often referred to as a monthly “benefit”), normally up to 75% of your income, while you are sick or injured and can’t perform your daily duties.

The results show that the awareness of different Life insurance cover types appears to be improving, as the types of cover people are most likely to have in place is now quite wide, especially considering over 43% of respondents are likely to have Income Protection cover in place.

The buying process

Traditionally, people were sold life insurance polices door to door by agents. Now, more and more people are prepared to go online to compare products (66.4%) or get advice (32.2%) to help in the deciding what type of insurance to buy and to find the right cover for their specific situation.

Table 2 – Research Question (Pureprofile research December 2016)
What source would you use to compare Life insurance or Income Protection policies before purchasing?

For more details on the full report click here.

If you want to ensure you have the right Life insurance or Income Protection cover, please contact NobleOak.