important things you may like to know
FAQ's
Knowledge is power
Our Most Asked Q's
We know and understand how daunting finances can seem when you don’t deal with them daily like our team does.
To put your mind at ease we’ve provided answers below to our most frequently asked questions.
If you have a question we haven’t answered please get in touch.
We know that if you are asking, someone else will want to know the answer too!
Yes, get in contact with us, we have helped many of our clients navigate through this period whether it’s looking at the various benefits available or what action steps can be put in place.
A good financial adviser will have a more in depth discussion with you about where you want to be, you’re current situation and any issues you are currently facing. This way the discussion is all about you and what you’re trying to achieve. From this discussion your financial situation can then be looked at such as, asset protection, superannuation, personal insurances, estate planning such as wills, tax minimisation, debt reduction, wealth creation, cash flow to name a few. This way you will have peace of mind that your total situation is being taken care of and you will now have your own financial plan with clarity.
How to know if you’re super will be paid to who you intend – Just nominating someone to receive your super if you die isn’t guaranteed unless you have the right nomination in place. Binding nominations gives the super fund company absolute discretion as to who receives your benefits. Everyone’s situation is different, so seek the right advice.
Always be careful when you look to do this. You may have insurance benefits with a fund you are looking at consolidating, this being the case you may want to apply for new insurance cover before you cancel your existing cover, otherwise if something happens you may have no cover at all. If you have had previous health issues, you may want to maintain your existing cover or you may have benefits that you can no longer achieve with a new policy inside super due to legislation changes, for this reason it would be best suited to you to maintain this cover.
Are you a business owner, who owns your own house? Do you run your business via a company or trust? Are you 100% aware or assume your personal assets are protected? Do you have the equity in your home protected? There are so many further questions that relate to this so if you have any uncertainty about your answer, you need to seek the right professional help as I see quite often that things have been missed or over looked.
Here’s a question about your business assets and how you own them. I see to many times where people have their operating business via their company, but then they hold other assets such as shares, property within the same entity, but even scarier is people have their employees operating out of the same entity. That’s a huge amount of risk you have left yourself open with if an unforeseen event was to occur. Get a second opinion, it’s worth its weight in gold, especially if it protects your assets, you know the hard work you’ve put in to create your current wealth. Is it worth saving a few dollars upfront but leave you potentially 100% financially exposed? Would you want to start again to create your wealth? – One would think not.
It all comes down to if the worst was to happen what outcome you would want to occur. Do you want to be able to maintain your mortgage payments and bills? Would you want a lump sum payment if you became totally disabled? Do you require a lump sum payment if you suffered a trauma condition and you had to pay for special treatment that is not covered by the government? If the worst was to happen would you want all your debts paid off and money left over to provide for your family if you were no longer here? There’s so many questions to help identify what your needs are. It all comes down to what level of risk you’re willing to accept and what risk you won’t accept.
Generally speaking a company will cover you for these activities, however you will either have various options such as 3 month waiting period for income protection and you may be offered a 25% loading to your policy so you can maintain the waiting period you nominated which maybe only 1 month. If you ride dirt bikes, there’s every chance you won’t be covered. Another example could be that you decide to try parachuting years later after you took your policy out. You would generally be covered in this instance as you were not involved with this pastime at the time you commenced your policy.
Just because you have a health issue doesn’t mean you can’t get insurance cover. Your health will be reviewed and determined by an underwriter if they can offer you cover. You may be offered terms where you’re not covered for your health issue, such as your knee due to multiple knee reconstructions, but you are covered for everything else. You would be informed by the insurance company before your policy was to commence so you know your terms upfront.
Great question, but the answer is if you have ceased smoking for 12 months, you can apply to have your policy changed to a non-smoking status. If you are a non-smoker and start smoking later in life, your policy will still be deemed as a non-smoker as you were not smoking at the time you established your policy.
You will find the majority of retail policies are non-cancellable policies, where as a general insurance accident & sickness policy will be a cancellable policy. This means that if you for example you claimed on a busted shoulder you would continue to be insured for your shoulder in the future with a non-cancellable policy. An accident & sickness policy has the option to cancel your policy after your claim. You are unlikely to be insured for your shoulder ever again, where you would continue to be insured with a retail policy. Some standard Retail policies are cancellable polices, you would be informed of this before you commence your policy.
Imagine having your health assessed at claim time, which could be 10 years down the track, what is your health like then. Do you want to know what you are or aren’t insured for when you enter the contract or would you prefer to wait at claim time and cross your fingers that your health status allows you a successful claim? Personally I think knowing up front gives you more peace of mind and certainty if you ever have to make a claim. I’m pretty sure if you pay for insurance cover, you will want to receive a benefit if you ever made a claim.
It would be best to affect your cover now while you are still healthy, this way you have every chance of being offered cover without any amended terms. If you lock in your cover at a younger age the premiums are only going to be cheaper than if you take cover out when you’re older. The reason for this is you can lock in your premium costs so your premiums remain cost effective. We have witnessed firsthand people holding off to affect certain insurances at a later date to only then be uninsurable due to a health issue that has happened during that time. Not an ideal outcome, especially if you considered this type of health event as a risk.
We wish this was explained better to people when they take out a home loan. Generally you will find that this insurance cover is insuring the bank in the event that you default on your mortgage payments. Don’t be left thinking you have protection when in fact you don’t.
You may save money now but will you save when you’re expecting a lump sum amount of cover or a monthly benefit for income protection at claim time. The saying goes; you pay for what you get. Make sure you seek a professional who can guide you to a policy that best suits you and not a policy that fine print say
You may save money now but will you save when you’re expecting a lump sum amount of cover or a monthly benefit for income protection at claim time. The saying goes; you pay for what you get. Make sure you seek a professional who can guide you to a policy that best suits you and not a policy that fine print says…aThis may very well be the case, but have you sat down and worked out exactly what level of cover you require? To know the appropriate level of cover you require to suit your needs, an adviser will help you see things from a different perspective asking you all the right questions to determine what needs to be insured and what doesn’t. This will give certainty around what meets your needs if the worst was to happen.
There are two premium structures being stepped and level, stepped premiums will go up every year we get older. Level premiums will be more expensive initially but will remain constant throughout the term of the policy. This is a better cost effective option if you are going to maintain your policy for longer than 10 years. The savings could be thousands.
You generally have the option to amend an existing policy from a stepped to a level premium with a retail product.
It’s a fair statement, the reality is that depending on what specialist you see and where you receive treatment, will come with different costs and different levels of what your health provider will actually cover. This doesn’t mention the costs you may be faced with if any medication was required. For example prostate medication is no longer on the PBS Scheme, so you would have to foot the total bill.
We don’t plan on having these events, however a trauma event could end up being a financial burden on you and your family. No one want’s a second mortgage to recover their health!
Generally speaking you don’t need a medical. The only times a medical will be required is if you have applied for a high level of cover and the insurance company wants to make sure your healthy to insure you. Another reason may be because you have high blood pressure or can’t remember your last reading; due to this the company will want an updated reading to confirm it is being managed.