Is the policy you took out two-years ago still right for you today?

These days you can pretty much insure anything from valuables, cars, houses, pets, lives and even certain life events.  Most people with Superannuation funds have built-in insurance policies that they may not even know about with the premium being deducted from their annual super balance.  Like most things, once they’re set up we often forget about them and most definitely forget to review them to see if they still meet our needs.

General Insurance – Car & Home Insurance.

We recently purchased a new car and on the way to pick it up we called a well-known insurance company to take out a policy before we drove it out of the showroom.   My sole focus was to just get cover, which meant I wasn’t really worried about the price or the features and benefits of the policy.

Did you know that the standard features we used to get with insurance policies are now offered as extras? and depending on whether you need those features or not is what determines the price of your premium. The reason I’m talking about this is to prompt you to think about the last time you reviewed your policy… Do you know the features of your policy and do you still need them or not?

Challenge Yourself:  

• Check your current policy documents and see what you’re insured for.
• Do a like for like comparison with other insurance companies to see how much money you can save.

Beware of insurance companies that offer you a heavily discounted price only to increase the premium in the second year (this is very common as insurance companies rely on you to continue paying without questioning the increase or comparing your policy to other companies)

Personal,  Life, Income Protection & Trauma Insurance.

Life Insurance is another policy that may automatically be set up under your Superannuation fund.  Consideration is rarely given to your personal circumstances and unless you choose to review or remove the policy,  which most people don’t, you’ll end up paying for insurance that may not be needed or in some instances won’t meet your needs.

It’s not uncommon to see customers that haven’t reviewed their policies and when we look at their lifestyle and current commitments we find that they’re often underinsured, so if something were to happen, the insurance amount wouldn’t be enough to cover their current debts or lifestyle expenses.

Challenge Yourself:  

• Check your current policy documents and see what you’re insured for and then do a like for like comparison with other insurance companies to see how much money you can save.
• Get a Financial Adviser to review and compare your insurances and determine whether your current policies provide enough cover to maintain your lifestyle in the event you need to make a claim.

I’m often surprised that us humans will haggle over the price of a pair of fake designer sunnies in Thailand or think twice before spending 99 cents on that app that could kick start a healthier lifestyle but we’ll spend thousands of dollars a year on policies without fully understanding their limitations, benefits and features.

Do a stocktake of your insurance policies and compare the market, it could save you big!

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. Confucius

Thank you for reading