A staggering 20% of Australian families will be affected by the death of a working age parent, or a serious accident or illness that leaves a household member unable to work1
Insurance to protect you and your family is particularly important. Did you know that less than a third of Australian families have Income Protection or Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) insurance2.
When tragedy strikes or unforeseen circumstances take hold, the last thing you want to be concerned about is money. Having enough cover means you don’t have to worry and you can feel reassured your family’s future is secure.
A clever way to insure
Buying your insurance through your super fund makes good financial sense, as you may be able to take advantage of a range of tax concessions generally not available when insuring outside super.
For example, if you’re an employee and are eligible to make salary sacrifice contributions you may be able to buy insurance through a super fund with pre-tax dollars.
These concessions can make it cheaper3 to insure through super, or help you get a level of cover that may not otherwise have been affordable.
Alternatively, super can make insurance more affordable if you don’t have sufficient cash-flow to fund the premiums.
Instead of making additional contributions to cover the cost of the insurance, you can arrange to have the premiums deducted from your existing account balance.
Without insurance, if something unforeseen should happen your family’s savings could run out quicker than you expect and you might face financial difficulty long before you intend retiring.
Of course, everyone’s situation and requirements are different, so for a review of your personal circumstances, please contact TOPS on 07 3871 1671.
1. The NATSEM/Lifewise Underinsurance Report, National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, Feb 2010.
2. FSC formerly known as IFSA, Securing Australians Financial Wellbeing, 2007.
3. This will usually also be the case if the sum insured is increased to make a provision for any lump sum tax that may be payable on TPD and death benefits in certain circumstances.
4. It’s important that you don’t erode your super balance as a result of having premiums deducted from super. This can be prevented by ensuring sufficient contributions are made to cover premium deductions.