Life Insurance

You need life insurance to protect your family if the worst happens. If they lose you, the pain will be great but it will be exacerbated with financial pain if you do not have life insurance. So ‘how much insurance do I need’.

At Setch, prior to us answering ‘how much life insurance do I need’, we ask do you need life insurance? 

Many of our clients ask us ‘how much life insurance do I need’ but the initial question is based on your personal circumstances, do you need insurance, and if so how much? At Setch we do not sell insurance as a product, we advise our clients on insurance and risk protection such as life insurance amongst many other financial investments, to fit our client’s needs for risk protection and wealth accumulation. We then implement the life insurance with the right insurer and the right life insurance policy.

Setch are financial advisors that act in your best interests. For some clients, with dependents and young families as well as liabilities, life insurance can be a critical risk protection tool. However, when we decide how much life insurance a client will need we undertake a trade-off with your wealth accumulation, retirement planning and other objectives.

Please remember that while life insurance is important, the premiums over time can significantly impact your cashflow which is why most Australians hold life insurance and other risk protection in their superannuation. However, those premiums on your life insurance also affect your superannuation balance over time and limit the benefit of compounding. This is not to say life insurance is not important, it is, but having financial advice in making life insurance decisions is worth it.

We find that many clients over-insure, have the wrong types of insurance or fail to understand the policy terms. Life insurance is one of a number of risk protection tools including Total and Permanent Disability (TPD), Income Protection (IP) and Trauma insurance that protect different types of risks. We start with ascertaining the right types of insurance for the risks that you want to protect, and then we answer the question, how much life insurance do I need? 

The terms for life insurance policies sometimes referred to as the ‘fine print’ vary significantly. We review very carefully the product disclosure statements or ‘fine print’ because the differences between products are material. Price or premium is not the only dimension or feature to be assessed in making a decision on life insurance including how much life insurance do I need.

We act for you, not the life insurer. However, we leverage the relationships we have with insurers, an understanding of the insurance market and the insurance products, to work with you to determine the right matrix of risk protection including life insurance and level of cover. If we came to do your occupation how well do you think we would do as financial advisers? Not well. 

We know financial advice and financial planning including life insurance and risk protection. Seeking advice is important to get the right life insurance and risk protection and have that integrated with your objectives of wealth accumulation and retirement objectives.

Contact Setch today for a no obligation assessment to answer the question ‘how much insurance do I need’? 

If you ask a life insurer that question, they will say ‘a lot’ and probably a lot more than you need and without trading off the premium cost with your other medium to long term financial objectives. That insurance company will also encourage you to buy their insurance products but will you really be able to compare their terms to those of other insurers?

When you ask ‘how much life insurance do I need’, Setch will answer the question by doing a needs analysis and affordability trade-off as well as considering how the premiums will be paid so that the life insurance is sustainable and not a burden. However, we will also answer: what risk protection matrix works for you (i.e. types of cover)? How the terms on life insurance work and compare them to other products? 

We want to find you the right life insurance but integrate life insurance and risk protection with your retirement planning and wealth accumulation.

Contact Setch today for an obligation free appointment to discuss ‘how much insurance do I need?’