Life cover

It may be the simplest form of life insurance, but life cover is undoubtedly one of the most important as it helps you provide for your debts and dependants. When you’re looking at life cover, there are 3 key things you need to understand so you know what will happen at claim time:

  1. How much you’re covered for
  2. How your policy will be paid out
  3. How your cover is structured – linked or stand‑alone

1. How much you’re covered for

It might sound obvious, but you need to think about the reasons you take out life cover when you apply for cover. You might think “$1 million should be enough” – but have you thought about how much money would really be needed to replace your income, support your family, educate your children etc.?

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has developed a Life insurance calculator

Did you know?

There’s a common exclusion on life cover policies that means you’re generally not covered for suicide for the first 13 months of taking out cover or reinstating your policy. You can find details of any exclusions in your Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

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General Advice Warning

The information provided in this article is intended to provide general information only and the information has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on such information, you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your personal objectives, financial situation or needs.