Having the right insurance is important to help make sure you are financially supported if you were to stop working from either an illness or injury, or to die. Just like you take out insurance to protect your home and car, it’s important to consider whether to have insurance for your most valuable asset - cover your life and income.
The main types of insurance cover to know about and consider:
Death cover
Pays a benefit to your dependants, estate, or legal beneficiaries if you pass away.
Advantages - Helps to ease financial stress on your loved ones by paying money in a lump sum should the unexpected happen to you.
Total & Permanent Disability (TPD)
Pays a benefit if you’re unable to ever work again due to injury or illness.
Advantages - Helps by paying money in a lump sum which you can use to cover the costs of care, rehabilitation, loan repayments and future costs involved with day-to-day living expenses.
Terminal Illness
Pays you an advancement if you’re medically certified as likely to die within 24 months—applies if you have either life cover or TPD.
Advantages - Helps to ease some of the financial stress on your loved ones by providing money in a lump sum which you can use to help with medical treatment and future support for your family.
Salary Continuance Insurance (SCI) cover
Pays a replacement income, typically a percentage of your income, if you’re temporarily unable to work due to illness or injury. You can generally only claim on one SCI policy so you should check if you have other SCI cover elsewhere.
Advantages - Helps if you become injured or ill (inside or outside of work) and can’t work temporarily. It provides temporary payments to assist you to meet your day-to-day living expenses while you’re not earning an income.
Super Contributions Benefit
Pays your super contribution amounts while you’re receiving a SCI claim up to 10% (otherwise as agreed with the employer) of your monthly income.
Advantages - Helps by making contributions usually paid by your employer to make sure your super grows when you’re not working.
Here are some useful terms commonly used
Beneficiaries
Your super can be paid to certain eligible dependents or your legal personal representative, when you pass away. You can nominate who your super can be paid to by completing a binding nomination, or if you start an account-based pension account, a reversionary nomination (available with Plum Retirement Income only).
- Binding nominations can be updated online or by paper form.
- Reversionary nominations are available when you start a Plum Retirement Income account.
Visit our beneficiary nomination page for more information.
Benefit payment period
The maximum amount of time that a Salary Continuance Insurance (SCI) benefit may be paid for.
Eligibility requirements
These are set out in the insurance policy. You’ll find more information about eligibility requirements in the relevant Insurance Guide which forms part of the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).
Inactive account
Super account that hasn’t received a contribution or a rollover for 16 months.
Life events
Significant life events such as, completing university, getting married or divorced, having or adopting a child and taking out a mortgage or loan. You may need to review your insurance when a life event happens to you to make sure your life insurance cover, and the amount of insurance cover, meets your changing financial protection needs.
Premiums
Premiums are charged by the insurer and are calculated based on the type and amount of insurance you have. Premiums can also vary based on things like your age, gender, and occupation. Your health history and lifestyle may impact your premiums in the event you choose to increase your insurance.
Underwriting
Insurance cover can be automatically provided without evidence of health or medical information. On the other hand, “underwriting” refers to insurance that is provided only after an assessment by the insurer based on individual personal, employment and health information. The amount and type of insurance cover that the insurer is prepared to offer and the cost of the insurance is based on the level of risk to insure you. Once you have been through the underwriting process, the insurer will be able to decide whether or not to provide you with insurance cover, what type, and how much.
Uninsurable
When the insurer determines that a member's individual circumstances mean the risk of providing insurance cover for them is too high. This is mainly due to employment or health reasons and means that insurance cover is unable to be provided.
Waiting period
The minimum time period you must wait before you start receiving your SCI benefit payment, for example 30, 60 or 90 days–see your relevant Insurance Guide.
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