Compare Life Insurance

There are four main types of life insurance, which all protect you in a different way: life cover (death benefit), income protection, TPD and trauma. There are variations in what each underwriter's policies include and in how they fit together – to say nothing of the options and extras.

Policy Type	Provides Cover For	Lump Sum	On-going
Term Life	Death from illness or accident, or terminal illness diagnosis.
Income Protection	If you be unable to work for a short period after an accident or illness.
TPD Insurance	If you become permanently unable to work.
Trauma Insurance	If you suffer from one of a defined list of serious conditions.
Funeral Insurance	Death from illness or accident. A low-cost alternative to term life insurance.
Key Person Cover	Protects a business from the financial impact of losing a key employee.
Buy/Sell Insurance	For small businesses, gives partners an option to buy out each other's shares at a pre-agreed price.
Shareholder Protection	A contract between all the shareholders of a business which sets out what will happen if one no longer able to run it.
Business Expenses Cover	For small businesses or the self-employed, to help you pay fixed business costs while unable to work.

Each insurance company uses slightly different definitions for the illnesses and events they cover. Some focus on offering stronger benefits for conditions which are more likely to affect men than women, or vice versa. Others offer specialised insurance options for risks which apply to specific occupations, such as ‘needlestick' insurance for medical professionals or police and emergency workers.

There are even more things to consider if you want to own your life insurance policy through your SMSF. It can be really beneficial to hold some types of life cover within your superfund, but others are best held direct, and some underwriters will allow you to link policies to create an extremely tax-efficient structure.

Working out which policy will give you the best cover for the life you lead can be tricky. Above all, what you want is the certainty that if you ever have to make a claim, the insurance company will pay the amount you need.

We realise that all this makes your decision harder. And once you start reading the fine print it can get even more complicated. Our life insurance specialists are here to help you to make sense of all the options, so you can choose the policy that gives you the type and level of cover you want.