If Something Goes Wrong, What’s Your Plan B?

We put this very question to 1,000 people in our survey – and here are the results.

How people would cut expenses

Holidays were listed as the number one item that would be dropped, followed by entertainment, health and beauty, then savings and investment plans.

Life insurance came in 5th and income protection insurance 7th, while mortgage payments came in last place (13th) – even behind groceries and electricity bills! Clearly, many people see keeping their homes as a top priority.

Another question on the survey was about the reasons for not having life or income protection cover. Affordability was the most common reason given at 44%, which could indicate that there is a perception that these types of insurance cover are costly.

Why you might need a Plan B

We also asked people to rate their greatest fears. Top of the list was cancer (not surprising), followed by heart attack, car accident, stroke, and premature death.

These tied in with the latest statistics from the ABS which show that heart disease is the highest cause of death in Australia, followed by dementia, stroke, cancer and lower respiratory disease. Car accidents are number six, despite people rating it third amongst their fears.

So overall, you could say the survey results indicate that life insurance and income protection are considered important, but perhaps not the top priority in people’s lives. At the same time, many people also fear getting seriously ill or suffering an accident or premature death.

Insurance gives you a Plan B!

No one likes to dwell on bad things happening, but it’s important to give thought to how you or your family would cope if something did happen to you – such as a serious illness, or debilitating injury.

Rice Warner research shows that many people do not have life insurance or have low levels of cover. Sometimes this may happen because people feel that life insurance won’t fit in their budget, or that it’s not really necessary.

However, being uninsured can leave you unprotected financially if you were unable to work for a period of time. This type of scenario can be particularly concerning for people who have dependents.

Tips on making Life insurance and Income Protection more affordable

If cost is an issue for you, there are some things you can do to save on your premiums:

• Premium freeze – with this option, premiums are frozen at the same rate and the cover is adjusted each year to match.
• Premium pause – once you’ve had Income Protection cover in place for more than two years, you may be able to pause your premiums in certain circumstances, such as becoming unemployed or taking maternity leave.
• Reduced cover – some cover is better than none at all, and if your income has reduced you might want to consider reducing your cover until you are back on track, rather than dropping your policy altogether. This usually works out to be less costly than dropping all your cover and trying to restart with a new policy later.

At NobleOak, we’re able to keep the costs of insurance down by not paying for mass advertising campaigns or adviser commissions, which is good news for our clients. We’ve also provided an online calculator you can use to work out how much cover you need. If you would like to speak to someone from our team, contact us to discuss your needs or to get a quote.

Please note that the information we provide is not advice but general information only. Please refer to our PDS for further information.

Sources:

Rice Warner, Australia’s Relentless Underinsurance Gap, viewed 9 March 2017