Does Life Insurance Provide Peace of Mind or is Ignorance Bliss?

When buying life insurance you’re often content knowing that, if you should pass away unexpectedly, your insurance company will step in and financially support your loved ones. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.

This article explores ways you can increase your control and certainty of your policy paying out.

Earlier this year , on the 16^th of March 2016, it was alleged that CommInsure, the insurance arm of The Commonwealth Bank (CBA), used unscrupulous tactics to delay and avoid benefit payments in the hope that policy holders would be discouraged to continue their pursuit. “Allegations relating to CommInsure include missing medical records, file tampering, doctors being leaned on by claims managers to change their opinions, cherry picking of doctors to get the desired outcomes, policies that include in the fine print out-of-date medical definitions and excessive and unfair claims delays”, wrote Adele Ferguson, business columnist.

The very people you relied upon to protect your family, should worst come to worst, might be actively trying to avoid this responsibility. But, should such an enormous responsibility lay squarely on your insurer’s shoulders? Surely, the person taking out the policy has some control.

“During a hearing of the parliamentary joint committee on corporations and financial services on Wednesday, ASIC deputy Peter Kell said it was ‘his understanding” that none of the alleged victims in the scandal had received advice from a financial adviser’, wrote Linda Santacruz, reporter for the Independent Financial Adviser (ifa).

Indeed, most the policyholders were provided cover from their superfunds and had not taken appropriate steps to buy their insurance from a specialist. As customers, you need to do more to investigate insurance policies before you make a purchase and switch providers and/or policies when it becomes necessary for you to do so.

Don’t assume your insurance in super is adequate or has appropriate medical and claims definitions. Many policies have a number of short comings that only a specialist would be able to identify for you. Do you know what’s happening in your superannuation fund?

Group Insurance vs Retail Life Insurance

Don’t take for granted that your family’s future will be adequately protected by “group insurance” policies provided through your superfund.

Top 10 Reasons to Use a Life insurance Specialist

With the breaking news of CommInsure’s indiscretions, I think we can all agree that an insurance specialist should no longer be viewed as an unnecessary third party. Here are our top 10 reasons why we recommend getting an insurance adviser:

Review Your Policy Coverage

Life insurance is an important part of your overall financial plan. It is generally advised that you have a knowledgeable third party review your insurance documentation to ensure it still meets your personal needs and financial objectives.

Events such as marriage, becoming a parent, buying a home, a significant increase or decrease in income can all influence how much financial protection you and your family need or how you want your estate divided after your death.

Questions your adviser will need to consider while reviewing your policy:

If you want to be sure that the amount of coverage is enough to meet your current financial obligations and your loved ones’ continuing financial needs, you might want to consider soliciting an insurance adviser to help you.

Avoid Your Claim Being Denied

It’s often perceived that getting claims honoured by insurers is an uphill battle. However, most companies are happy to pay out legitimate claims and will even go the extra mile to do so.

Ensuring that you or your beneficiaries are paid on disability or life cover requires a bit of work from your side. For cover to remain valid, policyholders need to comply with all the requirements in the policy. Failing to do so could lead to your claim being declined. There are a number of steps need to take in order to avoid your claim being rejected