In the wake of the Haynes Royal Commission Australians have a lot to think (and perhaps even worry) about when it comes to getting financial advice. The Commission revealed that a number of major Australian financial institutions simply haven’t done enough to protect and act in the best interests of their clients.
Life insurance is one area that has been heavily questioned in recent months, with a lot of Aussies wondering “why does my adviser recommend life insurance?”
The amount and type of advice that can be provided around life insurance really depends on the client’s state of life. The following illustration provided by Comminsure summarises the five stages used to identify types of cover and importance to various clients:
As you can see from the above illustration, life insurance is not something you set up once and then never have to touch again. As you progress through various stages of life, your insurance needs to reviewed and updated to stay relevant and appropriate to your needs.
Financial advisers also play a critical role in supporting you through and accelerating the claims process. The shared knowledge between an adviser and claims consultant can help make the entire claims process a lot smoother and save you the stress and time it takes to deal with a claim personally. As an adviser, we can help translate policy wording, contact the insurer on your behalf, complete the necessary paperwork with you and help you gain an understanding of the degree of detail required in responses. This is because as your adviser, we have (hopefully) a lot more experience than you do with the claims process.
While insurance may not be at the forefront of your mind every day, you will realise just how important it is if you ever need it. Similarly, you will realise just how important getting the appropriate cover is, if you ever need it. So if you have an existing policy that needs review, are looking to expand your cover or are looking for brand new cover altogether, give the Wealth Depot team a call to see how we can help you.
