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It is likely your needs have changed since you purchased your insurance.

It’s a good idea to review your cover regularly to make sure it suits your current needs. A financial adviser can help you review and adjust your cover, or you can make changes yourself. Your cover is flexible and can be altered at any time.

Check your cover

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Keep it affordable

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Meet your needs

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Check your cover

Know the type of cover you have and how much you’re covered for. You’ll want to consider whether what you’re insured for still matches your current need. Learn more about different types of cover in our insurance overview.

It’s also important to check your personal details such as address, phone number, email and bank account are up to date. We want to make sure that we can contact you should anything happen.

You can view your sum insured amount, payment details and update your details in My Resolution Life.

Keep it affordable

It’s important to make sure your insurance stays affordable. There are lots of ways to reduce the amount you pay, such as reducing your sum insured, changing your payment frequency or adjusting your cover.

Learn more about ways you can make your insurance more affordable here.

Meet your needs

If you are entering a new life stage, such as nearing retirement or have paid off your mortgage your insurance needs may have changed. It is a good idea to speak to your adviser to learn more about matching your cover to your needs.

For certain life events, such as taking on a home loan, having children and getting married or divorced, depending on your product we may be able to offer a capped increase in your cover without the need for medical underwriting. This is known as future insurability or guaranteed future insurability (GFI). You can check with us or your adviser to see if this is an option for you.

Other things to consider when reviewing your insurance

Your insurance cover is flexible and there are ways you can change it to make sure it is appropriate for you. You may need to check your policy’s terms and conditions to see which options are available for you.

Choose to keep or opt out of the inflation adjustment

To protect your policy against the effects of inflation, we often apply an automatic increase to your amount of cover without you needing to provide medical or other details. This is called an ‘inflation adjustment’. Each year we increase your sum insured by either a fixed percentage or the increase to the consumer price index (CPI). We’ll apply whichever of these is higher, which means you’ll get more cover. As your sum insured increases so does your premium.
 

Example - A choice for lower cover and lower cost1

Sarah is 41 and has just received her renewal notice. Her renewal notice provides her with the option of maintaining her life insurance sum insured amount at the same level as the previous year, which is $500,000 and has a yearly premium of $313 or, as her policy has a 5% inflation adjustment feature, she can have a life insurance sum insured amount of $525,000 (a 5% increase to her previous year’s sum insured amount) which has a yearly premium of $325.

Sarah has a choice to decline the 5% inflation adjustment and retain the lower sum insured amount of $500,000 or to do nothing, in which case her life insurance sum insured amount will increase to $525,000 and she will pay the higher premium of $325.

It’s a good idea to speak to your financial adviser about how inflation may impact your personal circumstances, so you can decide whether inflation adjustments are right for you. You can learn more about inflation adjustments here. You can opt out of the increase for any particular year or permanently and this change will take effect from the next policy anniversary. This can be done in My Resolution Life, just search for ‘inflation adjustment’. 

Review loadings that aren’t relevant anymore

Have you stopped smoking or changed occupations recently?

When you first took out your policy, any health or lifestyle factors that are deemed ‘higher risk’ could have meant extra costs were applied to your insurance premiums. These are known as both ‘premium loadings’ – which might include smoking, dangerous hobbies, or a high Body Mass Index (BMI) – and ‘occupation ratings’ which include having a high-risk job.

However, if you’re now living a healthier lifestyle than you were before or no longer working in a high-risk job, you may be able to lower your insurance cost by having these loadings removed.  Speak to your financial adviser or with us to learn more about reviewing loadings.

Know important dates that apply to your policy

Important dates include the expiry date and policy anniversary and other key dates where your cover or costs might change.

For example, at policy anniversary, your insurance premiums may increase due to your age, the cost of any additional cover due to the inflation adjustment, and/or any overall premium increases. By understanding these, you can make appropriate changes at the right time.

Understand who your benefits will be paid to

You want to make sure any insurance that’s paid out goes to the right people, so check who your policy is owned by, or any beneficiaries listed. This can vary depending on the type of cover you have. In general, claims are paid out to the policy owner, however, this can differ if the policy is owned by a super fund or trust.

Why insurance costs change over time

It’s important to know what to expect each year on your policy anniversary and understand why the cost of your cover will change. Learn more about why your insurance cost may change from year to year here.

Customer examples: How Mike and Rachel reviewed their insurance cover1

Mike – in his early 40s, single with one dependant and has Income Protection cover

Mike is 41 years old and lives at home with his 10-year-old daughter. He works full-time as a real estate agent, earning a salary of $110,000 per year.

He was paying $377 per month for Income Protection insurance. Mike used to have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 32, which put him in the category of ‘obese’. But, after years of changing his habits, he’s managed to reduce his BMI to 23 which is now in the ‘healthy’ range. He’s quit smoking and started doing daily, low-impact exercise. Mike asked Resolution Life to remove certain premium loadings from his Income Protection insurance due to his change in lifestyle. He was asked to complete a non-smoking declaration form, plus provide a personal statement to
review his occupational and medical loadings based on his reduced BMI and healthier lifestyle. He underwent underwriting assessment, and as a result, his premiums were reduced to $192 per month, saving him $2,220 a year in premiums.

Rachel – in her 40s, married with two kids and has death cover

Rachel is a 44-year-old public relations consultant. She’s married to Omar and they have 8-year-old twins who attend a private school. Rachel earns $132,000 a year and has death cover insurance. Her death cover sum insured is $500,000 – which, combined with the family’s savings, would be enough to pay off their mortgage if the worst were to happen and she passed away.

But when Rachel and Omar purchase a new house in a more affluent suburb closer to the kids’ school, she decides to increase her insurance cover to a sum insured of $1 million. As a result, the monthly premium she pays increases. Even though Rachel is paying more for her life insurance now, her cover reflects her family’s current situation with a larger mortgage to pay off.

1Please note these examples are illustrative only and are not an estimate of the insured amount you will receive or fees and costs you will incur. These examples are based on the following assumptions: (a) The cover amount remains the same throughout the period and the policy is not cancelled or suspended.; (b) No waiting period applies to the policy; (c) All figures are gross of tax. No allowance is made for tax circumstances, the taxation and Medicare levies on insurance benefits, or social security benefits; (d) The example does not take into account any fees and costs associated with insurance.

Get in touch to review your insurance

Insurance affordability

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Why insurance premiums change over time

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What you need to know

Any advice on this website is provided by Resolution Life Australasia Limited ABN 84 079 300 379, AFSL No. 233671 (Resolution Life), and is general advice and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on this advice, you should consider the appropriateness of the advice having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs, as well as the relevant product disclosure statement and/or policy document, available from Resolution Life at resolutionlife.com.au or by calling 133 731, before making a decision on whether to acquire, or continue to hold, the product.

The Target Market Determinations (TMDs) for our financial products (where applicable) can be found at Target Market Determinations (TMDs). The TMDs describe the key features and attributes of an applicable product that affect whether it is likely to be consistent with the objectives, financial situation and needs of consumers in the target market.

All information in this article is subject to change without notice. Although the information is from sources considered reliable, Resolution Life does not guarantee that it is accurate or complete. You should not rely upon it and should seek qualified advice before making any financial decision. Except where liability cannot be excluded, Resolution Life does not accept any liability for any resulting loss or damage. The customer stories provided are based on true accounts but names have been changed for privacy.

If you decide to purchase or vary a financial product, Resolution Life and/or other companies within the Resolution Life Group will receive fees and other benefits, which will be a dollar amount or a percentage of either the premium they pay or the value of their investments. You can ask us for more details.

Resolution Life is part of the Resolution Life Group and can be contacted via contact-us or by calling the phone number mentioned above.