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It’s important to remember why you protected yourself and your family with insurance in the first place. It may have been to provide peace of mind for one or several of the below reasons if something were to happen to you:
• help pay off the mortgage
• pay outstanding bills
• fund your children's or grandchildren’s education
• financial help if you can't earn an income for a period due to sickness or injury
• help with out-of-pocket medical costs
• provide a lump sum to supplement any reduction in your income due to sickness or injury.
Now that you’re in your 60’s, you may think a lot of the reasons for having life, TPD, income protection or trauma insurance may no longer apply. However, having a financial safety net and protecting your nearest and dearest may be even more important than ever before.
Keep your insurance affordable
You can take advantage of your Resolution Life’s product flexibility and built-in features to make sure your insurance remains affordable.
Change your cover
Reducing your cover or making changes to your insurance is one way to keep your policy affordable.
Reduce how much cover you have
As we move through different life stages, the amount of insurance required may change. For example, if you’ve reduced your mortgage, or your children have finished their education, etc, then you may not need as much cover.
Increase the waiting period (income protection)
A waiting period is the period of time between first becoming unable to work because of injury or sickness, and when you become eligible for an income protection benefit.
You may have accumulated extra leave such as sick, annual or long service leave that can provide an income buffer if you are unable to work due to injury or sickness. By increasing your waiting period, for example from 30 days to 60 or 90 days (longer waiting periods are available), you may reduce your premium.
Reduce the benefit period (income protection)
A benefit period is the maximum length of time your income protection, or benefit is paid for.
As you get older or your financial situation changes, you may not require the same benefit period you chose when you took out your policy. Reducing your benefit period may result in a reduction to your premium. For example:
• Moving from a Lifetime benefit to an aged 65 benefit period
• Reducing your benefit period from an aged 70 benefit to a 2*- or 5*-year benefit period.
* 2 and 5 year benefit periods only pay up to Age 65 for example if you have a 5 year benefit period and claim at Age 63 then maximum period you will be paid is 2 years.
Removing additional options
Your insurance policy may include additional cost options – like premium waiver, Life Cover buy back, which carry additional costs. Removing an option that you no longer require can help reduce your premiums, but it does remove the benefit of the option.
You can ask us to remove any additional options. But remember that if you do cancel these, you will not be able to claim under them and may not be able to add them back in the future if you change your mind.
Restructure your insurance from standalone to linked
If you have life, total & permanent disability and/or trauma insurance, you can choose to make the covers either standalone plans or link them under the same plan. Standalone plans generally have a higher premium than linked cover.
If a benefit under a linked option (such as a TPD or trauma option) is paid, that payment reduces the sum insured of each linked cover (such as a life insurance plan) for that insured person.
For example, you have $1.25 million in a Life Insurance Plan and $250,000 on a linked trauma option. If you made a trauma claim and the full benefit of $250,000 is paid, your Life Insurance Plan will be reduced to $1 million.
Alternatively, under a standalone plan, if a benefit is paid it does not impact any other insurances you may have. For this reason, standalone plans are more expensive.
Speak to your financial adviser regarding your specific cover needs. You can get a quote to find out how much your insurance cover will cost if you restructure it.
Opt out of inflation adjustments
To make sure your cover keeps up with the cost of living, we generally offer an automatic increase to your amount of cover each year without you needing to provide medical or other details. This is called and ‘inflation adjustment’’ or ‘Automatic Inflation’. 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 cover increases so does your premium.
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’.
Change how you pay
The premium structure or premium frequency you choose on your plan may affect the premium you pay. Reviewing these may help reduce your premium.
Change your payment frequency
Most insurance products charge a fee if you pay your insurance premiums more frequently than annually. Additionally smaller more regular payments may help with budgeting than larger one off payments.
You can request a change of payment frequency within My Resolution Life.
Paying for your insurance premiums through your super
Life, total & permanent disablement, and income protection insurance can be held inside super. This means your insurance costs are paid from your super not your after tax take-home pay – but keep in mind, using your super to pay for your insurance that this will reduce the amount you have available for your retirement savings.
It’s important to note consider that a condition of release, under super law must be met before any insurance benefit proceeds can be paid to you out under super law, so it may be harder to get a payment. For example, if you have income protection in super and are not working at the time you suffer an injury or illness or injury you may not be eligible for paid an income protection benefit. And if you have life insurance inside super, there may also be tax implications for your beneficiaries.
If you want to start paying premiums through your super, you may be able to transfer your policy to super.
Review your health and past time loadings
Your smoking status, medical history, pastime and occupation all contribute to how your insurance cost is calculated. If you have changed your occupation, stopped smoking, or had an improvement in health, you may be able to review your cover and reduce your premium.
Changing your smoking status
Smoking puts your health at risk – which is why it will impact the amount of your premiums. If you change from a smoker to a non-smoker status, it may reduce your premiums.
If you’re not a smoker, check your policy schedule to ensure your smoking status is correct. You can also check your smoking status in My Resolution Life.
If you have stopped smoking or using nicotine replacement products and haven’t smoked any other substance, including vaping for more than 12 months, and have no illnesses caused or made worse by your smoking habits, you can be reassessed as a non-smoker.
Here is the link to the Digital Non-Smoker Declaration form
Has the nature of your work changed from less manual.
TPD and IP insurance is generally more expensive for those who have more manual occupations due to a higher accident risk. If you have moved to an occupation that is less manual for example you are now a supervisor rather than on the tools, we may be able to reassess your occupation, subject to underwriting.
Request a reassessment of health loadings
For certain medical conditions and injuries, a health loading can be applied. A health loading is a percentage increase in the cost of the premium.
If you had health concerns when you originally purchased your insurance, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure, and your health has since improved, we may be able to reassess your health loading, subject to underwriting.
Request a reassessment of pastime loading/exclusion
Certain sporting and recreational pastimes, such as football, motor sports and scuba diving are considered risky and may result in a premium loading or exclusion. If you are no longer participating in these types of pastimes we may be able to remove the loading or exclusion, subject to underwriting.
Other affordability considerations
Premium Freeze
Some products offer the option to freeze your premium in exchange for a reducing benefit amount. This means your premiums won’t increase each year, but your sum insured, or monthly benefit will reduce each year.
Before making any changes, you should check your policy carefully or speak with your financial adviser.
*Applicable for some Resolution Life retail insurance policies with a stepped premium. Premium freeze is not available on a FlexiLink plan, PremierLink TPD option, PremierLink IP option or the plans/options to which they are linked.
Supporting you through financial hardship
If you're experiencing financial difficulty, contact your financial adviser or call us to talk about how we may be able to help you.
We understand that everyone’s circumstances are unique, so we'll assess your situation and discuss your options to help you through this period.
These options could include:
• Accessing features within your policy that may reduce or waive your premium.
• Altering your options or cover levels to make your premium more affordable.
• If your employment circumstances have changed, such as experiencing a reduction in income or unemployment, please contact us to talk through the impact this may have on your insurance cover.
Consider before cancelling your protection
It’s human nature to forget why you took out insurance in the first place, and you may be tempted to cancel your insurance cover in response to increases in premiums – but it may be a decision that results in you losing important insurance protection.
It may also be a decision you can’t easily reverse. If you subsequently apply for a new policy, you may have to undergo medical underwriting again. Any changes in your health, income and lifestyle since your existing policy was taken out may impact your ability to be insured. The terms, conditions and exclusions applicable to your cover could also change, and any new policy may cost more, or have excluded medical conditions due to your health.
How can Resolution Life help?
If you have any affordability concerns related to your current life insurance premiums, now’s a good time to contact your financial adviser to discuss your affordability options.
You can also contact Resolution Life on 133 731 Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.30pm (AEST/AEDT).
