How much insurance do you need? And how do you minimise its cost?

Personal insurance is becoming more difficult to obtain and increasingly costly to maintain. This blog outlines the approach we take when formulating how much insurance our clients need and strategies to manage its cost. What is personal insurance? This blog refers to personal insurance only. That typically includes up to four products: Income protection insurance …

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Major and important changes to income protection insurance

I wrote a blog in December last year about how difficult personal risk insurance (e.g. income protection, Life and TPD) is becoming to obtain. In addition, in December, the government directed Australian insurers to make some very significant changes to their products. I have been waiting to measure the insurers response to these directives. These …

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Warning: Personal insurance is becoming impossible to get!

Personal insurances such as Income Protection, Life insurance and Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) are becoming impossible to get unless you are in perfect health. This change has occurred gradually over the past few years but has now reached the point that it’s become a real concern. This has a number of consequences which I …

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6 things you didn’t know you could claim on your health insurance

When was the last time you claimed something on your health insurance? If you claimed anything at all it was probably for something obvious like dental or optical. One of the major reasons Aussies don’t like private health insurance is that they perceive it as providing very little value for money. The fix? Claim more! …

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Is income protection insurance really worth the money?

Income protection insurance pays you a benefit in the event you cannot work to earn your regular income due to sickness or injury. Is this insurance worth having, what do you need to look out for and how can you get the best value for money? Insuring your million-dollar asset Without a doubt, most people’s …

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Commissions have destroyed the reputation of financial planners. When is a commission ok, if ever? And what fee structures work?

Commissions in financial services is often viewed as a dirty word. The word creates connotations of self-interested sales people flogging products to poor, unsuspecting clients – well, it does in my head. I passionately believe that financial advisors should not accept any commission as a result of making an investment recommendation. But what about commissions …

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Will your insurance provider approve your claim?

Maybe not! Take 3 minutes to read this checklist… Many clients have income protection (sometimes called salary continuance) insurance via their super fund. However, too often, clients do not understand the limitations of this cover so please take 5 minutes to review the dot points below to understand if you and your family are adequately …

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Accidents can happen

Most people would have read about the skiing accident that former formula one driver Michael Schumacher suffered about a month ago. He is still in a coma and his future health is very uncertain. Apparently, Michael took care of his health and was very fit. However, of course, accidents can happen to anyone and we …

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