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Do you have life insurance?
If you do, are both you and your DH/DP covered (if applicable) :)
How much are you covered for and what is your monthly repayment? (if you don't mind disclosing!)
Which insurance company are you with?
I need to organise life insurance for DH atleast, and would be interested in knowing what everyone else is doing.
Thanks!
I am interested in this too. We have a meeting on Monday with a financial planner but it would be good to go in armed with some idea of what others pay.
Yes DH and I both have it. We have it through our superannuation fund and chances are you and your DH would also have a policy with your superannuation fund if you have one (They call it Death and Total and Permanent Disability Insurance). Most super funds automatically give you a default amount when you join unless you opt not to have it or opt for another amount. You can change your level of cover at anytime. Personally, I would highly recommend getting it through your super fund over an individual insurance company because generally speaking the premiums are much lower (a super fund is purchasing it on behalf of hundreds of thousands of members so they get it at a much lower rate iykwim) and they come out of your pre-tax superannuation contributions so you are using pre-tax money to purchase it and not paying it out of your pocket. Most funds also offer Income Protection insurance which covers you if you are unable to work for an extended period of time due to illness or injury.
DH and I both have our life insurance set at a level to pay off our mortgage, plus a little bit extra. Our income protection insurance is based on our incomes. I'm not sure exactly how much it costs, but from memory it is only $4 or $5 a month, so it isn't making a big dint in our super savings either. And, for the level of cover we have we would be paying possibly as much as ten times as much with one of the insurance companies. Most superannuation funds websites will have useful information which will give you things to think about when deciding how much cover you need, so it may be worth starting there to work out how much cover you guys need.
If you are talking to a financial planner about insurance, be sure to compare the different products out there and not just go with the one they suggest. Many financial planners accept commissions from insurance companies and superannuation funds so often their advice is biased iykwim. But if you see a 'fee for service' planner who doesn't accept commissions you can be more confident that the recommendations are based on what is the best option for you rather than who pays them the biggest commission. That said, in fairness to financial planners many aren't like this, but it is always good to be aware and ask if they take commissions and if they do I really recommend that you compare the products they are recommending, especially against what the industry superannuation funds offer.
HTH
Thanks for the info Miss E, I am actually studying financial planning at the moment and I have an idea of what we should be insured for, I'm more so interested in who people are with and what premiums they're paying as this is the stuff they don't teach until you're in a paid position :)
Sorry to have gone on a bit of a rant there Jaycee, I guess coming from the sort of work I do I have seen many people end up in products that aren't great for them... Anyway, I just pulled out my Statement so I could give you the details of what I have. I'm with AustralianSuper and I am insured for $450,000 Death Cover which costs me $1.76 per week. I also have the same level of TPD cover which is $1.80 per week.
HTH
Don't apologise miss E, thanks so much for the info! What kind of work do you do?
I do marketing and communications work and most of my clients are in the industry super sector. I've spent a lot of time out at work sites meeting with members and it is truly astonishing to see how some people have ended up in products that are so wrong for them and that they can't get out of, I guess that's why I get so passionate about these things... Good on you for doing the financial planning, it's area where you can make a real difference to peoples lives and I'm sure you'll be brilliant at it!
Miss E what is your income Protection like is that with Australian super also ?
I've just opened an acct with them and want to roll everything in. My ex employer provided an income protection policy @ 75% of income until age 65
Most income protection schemes I see are two years only so I'm looking for a longer term product but can't find much info
dh has Life, disability and income protection insurance from our own insurance company with hcf health insurance. we pay approx $50 per month and we are covered for 500,000. we went with hcf as we've also got our private health cover with them.
dh also has a policy with his superannuation fund, but it is only for 100,000.
We both have life insurance including Total Permanant Disability (TPD) and we doubled it recently when I got pregnant. We also have the higest income protection and the shortest waiting period to be able to claim it. It is kinda expensive I think but we don't even notice because it comes straight out of our super. We figured that we are not seeing that money now anyway so it may as well give us some insurance incase heaven forbib we need it. I feel so much better knowing that dh and bubs would be well looked after if anything happened to me AND if dh couldn't work for some reason most of his wage would be covered so we could keep paying the morgage.
I just started a thread on this the other day (silly me). DH and I are now insured with AXA, I have Death and TPD cover of $600K for $7.10 a week coming out of my super. DH's super fund was expensive, so we opted to find and pay for his cover out of our own pocket. He now has cover (also with AXA) for Death and TPD $800k as well as Trauma Insurance for $100K we pay $120pm. It is expensive because of the Trauma Insurance, I was advised that 1 in 3 will end up putting in a claim for trauma insurance hence the cost.