Compare The Best Private Life Insurance Plans Today

Life insurance premiums can be either stepped or level premiums. A simple way of thinking about it is that stepped premiums go up as you get older, while level premiums are not fixed to your age.

The price of your premiums - whether quoted outside of a policy or within an active policy, the price of your premiums tends to increase with age as you get older. It makes sense because the older you are, the more likely you are to make a claim.

Stepped premiums usually start lower than level premiums but will increase as you get older. Depending on other factors, such as your policy type, your annual life insurance premium could even increase by as much as hundreds of dollars in just the first few years.

Level premiums are a little more stable as they are not linked to your age. They will be a bit higher than stepped premiums at the start, but any rises are not linked to your age – your costs will only rise if your insurer puts the premiums up and your premiums rise with inflation.

Which is better? It depends. You will want to consider how long you want to keep the policy and how much it will cost as you get older. You do not want to be stuck with a life insurance premium you can’t easily afford when living off retirement earnings.

Some insurers also offer hybrid premiums, which is a combination of level and stepped premiums. Hybrid premiums are initially more expensive than stepped premiums, but are generally cheaper than level premiums. Hybrid premiums increase over a set period of time and then lock into a premium once you turn a certain age.

The four main types of life insurance are:

1. Term life insurance (term cover, death cover, life cover)
2. Trauma cover (critical illness cover)
3. Total and permanent disability cover (TPD cover)
4. Income protection (IP cover)

Learn more about the different types of life insurance and how they operate. Compare Club can help you discover term life insurance, TPD, income protection or trauma insurance from our panel of 10 insurers so you can find the best deal on the type of cover you want.

Most people want to know that when they pass away, their family will be able to pay for:

• Any funeral and death expenses
• The mortgage and any other major debts
• Childcare, education and living expenses
• Good quality of life and extras (i.e. holidays, leisure etc.)

The best way to figure out how much life insurance you should have, of course, is to consider what these figures look like for your family. Would your family be able to sustain the lifestyle they currently have (and love) if you were to pass away or are too sick or injured to work?

Taking time to consider your finances is important. It is worth thinking about how much money your family may already receive from your superannuation, shares, savings, and existing insurance policies if you pass away or are too sick or injured to work.

Knowing these figures will help you compare life insurance providers and find a policy to support your family's needs while staying within your budget.

Everyone is different with a different financial situation. A single thirtysomething with no children may decide they need less cover than a dad with five children who is the primary earner for the house.

Because everyone’s life is different, it’s difficult to definitively say which provider has the best or cheapest life insurance in Australia. For example, if you’re a smoker who’s married with no children, then the best life insurance policy for you will be different from someone who doesn’t smoke and has several children.

At Compare Club, our life insurance comparison service helps people determine which policy is best suited to their life stage and budget. We’ll provide you with competitive life insurance quotes from our panel of insurers so you can select the best possible option for your circumstances. Get started today.

Retail insurers require you to answer questions about your medical history and lifestyle before agreeing to cover you. This is commonly known as a medical underwriting process.

If you are a smoker, you will likely pay higher life insurance premiums for your policy than a non-smoker would. As a smoker, the life insurer perceives you as a higher risk due to the ill effects smoking has on human health.

The insurer may want to know whether you smoke or not, how long you have been smoking for, how many you smoke a day and other details regarding your lifestyle choices, including any potential drug and alcohol use.

But comprehensive life insurance for smokers is still possible. Different insurers have different criteria regarding their customers who smoke. While one insurer may not insure you, it does not mean you cannot get affordable life insurance with a different provider.

You will also need to be completely truthful. The Duty of Disclosure is a legal requirement, and if you do not disclose the fact you smoke or have any other medical conditions, you may invalidate your claim.

For example, suppose your doctor knows you smoke, but your insurer does not. When you eventually pass away, your insurer will potentially be able to access your medical records and may deny your family's claim.

Affordable life insurance for smokers is possible. If you do not smoke often or have recently quit, you may not need to pay as much as someone who smokes two packs a day.

What if you choose to quit? You will need to have been off the cigarettes for at least 12 months to get a non-smoker rate, and some insurers may still consider the fact you are now an ex-smoker (due to the medical conditions you may or may not have developed from the time you spent smoking).

Sometimes a life insurance company will allow active policyholders to adjust their policies if they have quit smoking so they can renegotiate a non-smoker's rate.

If you’re a smoker or ex-smoker who wants to find an affordable life insurance policy, Compare Club is ready to help. Get started today.

There are a few different ways you can compare life insurance.

You could go through a financial adviser who may have access to a panel of insurers and, therefore, multiple policies on the market.

Or you could talk to your family and friends and see which life insurers they are with. Ask if they find their life insurance premiums are fair and if their policy is suitably comprehensive for their needs. However, keep in mind that what works well for one person does not work for everyone.

When deciding on a life insurance policy, try calculating life insurance premiums to see how much you’ll pay, determining how much coverage the policy provides, and clarifying the insurer's past performance and percentage of claims paid out, payment options, and the insurer's overall mission/core values. For example, if good customer service is important to you, does the insurer have a local customer care team? How do current members rate their overall experience?

There is a lot to consider, and you will want to explore all your options before making a final decision. The fastest and easiest way to compare different life cover products from our panel of insurers* at once.

All you need to do is enter a few details about yourself, and we will do the rest. We compare policies from a panel of ten life insurance providers to find suitable life insurance policies aligned with your budget.

The answer to this question is not a clear yes or no. It is worth exploring exactly what is and is not covered in-depth if you are looking to take out income Protection.

It is dependent on many factors such as whether you have a pre-existing condition and how severe that condition is.

It is dependent on many factors, such as whether you have any pre-existing medical conditions and how severe each pre-existing condition is. Learn more about getting life insurance with a pre-existing condition.

Even if you have been diagnosed with a medical condition now or in the past, it does not stop you from getting income protection insurance. Whether mental health-related claims will be covered or not under your policy is up to the individual insurer.

It’s important to remember that mental illness is an umbrella term that encompasses many different conditions that range widely in severity. Depending on the nature of your condition and what level of cover you need, your income protection insurance premiums can vary significantly.

Something like mild stress at work will be treated very differently by an insurer than a condition like multiple personality disorder.

The best way to find out if mental illness would be covered or not is to speak to the insurer or get professional or general advice.

And if you are currently looking for mental health help in general, we recommend speaking to somebody like Beyond blue or a qualified medical professional. They are better equipped to help you than we are.

Once the policy papers are signed and filed away, a policyholder may be left wondering, “do life insurance policies pay out?” After all, you will want to know that you are paying for something worthwhile.

Luckily, if you have disclosed the truth in your insurer's underwriting process, read and understood the terms and conditions in detail and can keep paying for your policy until the end, then there are not many reasons why your policy would not pay out.

However, some circumstances could prevent your beneficiary from being able to claim.

This can include some of the following reasons:

• Your beneficiary's contact details have changed, and your insurer cannot locate them.
• You have inadvertently lied on your life insurance application, and your insurer has discovered your non-disclosure upon your death and it was connected to your death.
• You have missed a few payments, and your policy has now lapsed.
• You have forgotten to tell your loved ones about your life insurance policy, and therefore, when you pass away, nobody knows to call up and make the claim.
• You passed away due to risky behaviour such as travelling to a war zone (note that some insurers will not cover this.)
• There are exclusions in your policy. This could be a pre-existing condition that was excluded when you took out the policy.
• The claim is due to self-harm. It is worth noting insurers usually will not let your beneficiary make a claim if you take your own life within 13 months of taking a policy out.
• You are fighting in a war.
• Your claim is due to illegal activity. Insurers will not pay out if you have been killed or injured while robbing a bank, for example.

You should always check with your insurer and read your policy papers in full, as there may be other reasons why your specific life insurance policy may not pay out.

Generally, a life insurance payout is not counted as taxable income. This means that after your beneficiary goes to make a claim on it, they will not need to pay taxes on the money when they eventually receive it. There are a few exceptions to this rule, however.

If the policyholder has arranged for the insurance company to hold the policy for a little while before transferring it to the beneficiary - say, the policyholder wants the beneficiary to turn 18 first - then any interest earned in that interim period may be taxable.

Learn more about tax on life insurance payouts.

No, you can’t claim tax deductions for your life insurance premiums. While you can’t claim on term life insurance premiums, you can usually claim 100% on premiums for an income protection policy. Learn more about income protection insurance.

It doesn’t cost anything to shop around for a new life insurance policy and switch your cover. Australians are lucky in having a range of competitive options for life insurance so they can compare policies and make the right choice.

While there’s no cost attached to switching, changing your life insurance is not a decision to be taken lightly. You should make sure that the policy you are switching to meets your needs and circumstances, and is affordable.

Compare Club will help you compare life insurance policies from a panel of insurers and provide you with an estimate that fits your needs. Get started today.

The most cost-effective type of life insurance will be different for every person since everyone has a different life. For example, what is cost-effective for someone with pre-existing medical conditions will differ from what is cost-effective for someone who doesn’t.