Family Insurance

Family life insurance is designed to cover all members of the family, including the working spouse, stay-at-home-parent and even the children. If illness or injury were to strike a member of your family, could the remaining family members cope with the financial stress?

The importance of life insurance for the whole family

As you may already know, you can already cover adults, but did you know that you can also cover your children too? This cover can be premium free depending on which insurer you go with.

There are also number of life insurance options for the stay-at-home parent. They're often the child carer, home chef, support teacher, house cleaner, laundromat, project manager, taxi driver, the gardener and so much more.

What's even better is that many leading life insurance companies in Australia offer a discount should both partners purchase policies from the same company.

So with family insurance you can cover both parents and your children as well!

Understanding the true value of family life insurance

• The Financial Services Council has estimated it would cost the average family $75,000 p.a. to pay for the basics of the work that a home carer does.
• Only 4% of Australian families with dependent children have adequate levels of life insurance cover (2).
• In 2008, there were 12,430 deaths of married men or women of working age (20 to 64 years to age (3))
• In 2008, 235,000 working age people, living with dependent children, suffered a serious injury or illness in the previous 12 months (4)

Family life insurance should cover costs for outside help of bare basics

Types of life insurance coverage

There are a number of products which sit under the umbrella of life insurance.

Life Insurance - pays a lump sum to your estate or beneficiary in the event of death or terminal illness.
TPD Insurance - pays a lump sum if you suffer from a total and permanent disability.
Trauma Insurance - pays a lump sum if you suffer a traumatic event or condition as outlined in your product disclosure statement.
Income Protection Insurance - pays up to 75% of your income for a specified period of time should you suffer a sickness or accident and cannot work for longer than the waiting period.

Sarah and Daniel's family life insurance story

Sarah, a stay-at-home mother aged 42, is married to Daniel and has three children, James, Matilda and Charlie. Sarah was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and underwent a full mastectomy followed by chemotherapy. As a result of the treatment, Sarah was very unwell and at times could not perform her usual domestic duties.

Daniel had to take time off work initially to provide care for his wife and children. After 2 months he was able to go back to work, however Daniel cut back on his work hours taking a pay decrease of 25%. A nanny was arranged to look after their children, as well as a cleaner and meal service. Sarah's medical expenses were also a strain on the family.

Thankfully, they had family insurance and Sarah was fully insured and received a trauma benefit which covered the increased expenses and Daniel's reduced income. Had they not been insured, they would not have been able to meet their mortgage repayments.

Compare family life insurance quotes

If you would like to find the best policy to meet your personal needs, then contact an xLife adviser. We can compare family life insurance quotes for both spouses and inform you of any discounts available on the market.

References:
1. The 8^th annual survey of mothers' market value, by salary.com
2. IFSA research 2005
3. ABS 2009a, reported by lifewise/NATSEM Underinsurance Report February 2010
4. 2008 Hilda survey (Watson 2010)
5. As quoted on www.liteneasy.com.au
6. As quoted by dial-an-angel

Source: CommInsure 2011

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save up to 20% on your first year's life insurance premium.

January 2011