Interesting research out of Australia, yes I know Aussie. However, as our closest neighbour, most research has some value for insight or application in our market too.

What is interesting with this, is the insurance uptake across all products is generally better in Australia, with house car and contents being the most similar to us.

This research was specifically about insurance literacy, most of the time these reports are on investment or financial literacy or subject matter and insurance is treated as a by-line. Which for those relying on it, it is far from a by-line.

It seems there is plenty to write about this week. 

Russell Hutchison has said the following on his blog moneyblog this week.

An Australian man whose daughter went to live in Syria claims she did nothing wrong by going there, and was misled into the venture which was supposed to be for humanitarian purposes. Headlines describe her as a "Jihadist." But her motivation is not the point as far as the insurance claim is concerned.

I was reading a policy working recently and it had a definition of death in it that I found humorous. Not that dying is humorous but the way it was written was.

Death/Dies - Means irreversibly dead with no possibility of resuscitation.

It was along the lines of doh! yeah already, it’s life cover, you’re dead it pays, what’s hard about that.

Thinking about it, we’ve had stories reported in the media about people being pronounced dead, then waking up in the morgue or the autopsy table, some hours/days later.

As an insurance adviser it is interesting watching people's behaviour. Most people are put off talking to an insurance adviser because they might sell them something. I'll talk about that 'something' later.

As an insurance adviser I look at the big picture and sit across a number of disciplines. Insurance is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, providing financial support in time of need and loss. Those times of need and loss can be wide ranging. From your possessions, to something happening to you or your family, to something happening to your business or your employees.

A really good question. Let's tackle over insurance first

With over insurance, in its simplest form, if the risk is not realised, you've paid more for the transfer of risk than you had too. What I'm meaning is if you don't die, don't have a trauma, don't have a loss of income or property, then the risk being covered hasn't been realised.

For example, if you have a $500,000 mortgage and have a $1,000,000 life policy and you make it to retirement having paid off the mortgage. Then you have likely paid double what you needed to, to transfer the risk. Assuming your need was limited to just the mortgage over that time.

Insurance and shades of grey, no not 50 shades but certainly something most people don't like to hear when it comes to insurance. Most people want to hear black and white. My experience is every claim has shades of grey and they are rarely cut and dried. There is always something that pops up; most are foreseeable, some not so much.

Where I am going with this is the differing effects different policy wordings have at claim time.

For example there are a few insurance company trauma policies where a good angina attack could almost qualify for a trauma claim and then there are others where you have to be half dead and not working, probably not working in a manual job ever again, before you could claim.

By posting this, I’m going to raise a contentious topic. One that clients often do not understand, advisers generally avoid discussing, providers publicly discourage but operationally encourage and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) is starting to have a closer look at.

I have stated the previous parties in a very specific order, from most impacted to the one with the stick they can use, and the players in between.

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will have come to realise that there more to life insurance than just having a policy, dying and getting some money.

I have touched on this subject in other posts; this is another post that explores this much more deeply. Level premiums are a somewhat lesser used but potentially considerable part of your insurance planning.

I’ve got insurance this under insurance thing doesn’t apply to me? It probably does apply to you

What I’m referring to by underinsurance are the various studies around the world, that are pretty consistent with saying about 70% of the population are under insured when it comes to life insurance.

Why do I say it probably does apply to you?

This is where as an adviser, I’ve sat down across the table and the eye’s have rolled, saying here we go again.

You know what, it probably is a good idea, she has been thinking what if?

Especially 'what if you're not here?'

Something that often pops up in the insurance industry and media, but what does it really mean for you.

Over insurance is where you are carrying more protection than you need and under insurance is when you have less than you need.

This is not about you having insurance or not, it is about you having the right type of insurance, at the right level for your situation.

Looking at the numbers, most households will have some form of insurance. It might be House, Contents or Car cover, it may also be Life or Medical Insurance.

What the numbers do tell us though, about 80% of households, possibly higher, will have exposure if someone was to be disabled and 75% of you would have to use the public system for medical treatment, or pay your own way for private medical treatment.

Exclusions and policy terms, another good reason to regularly review your insurance coverage

An unfortunate fact of life is; time marches on and we all get that little bit older. This also means the policy you took last year, five years or ten years ago may not be quite as appropriate now as it was at the time you first took it.

It oft be said, ’All my insurance adviser does is turn up and sell me more insurance’. While this may be true, I hope it's for the right reasons, you have more risk. This is the point, your risks change.

What is surprising is how people set and forget their insurance, be it life or property insurance. A great example is a past colleague who had not reviewed his contents cover since university, $40,000 then might have been a great deal, now a successful business owner with teenage kids it barely covers what's in his lounge.

Policy anniversary letters, why does the premium always go up?

This is a common comment I hear from clients, that and 'It's got too expensive can you do some thing about it?' If you are a Willowgrove client you are likely to be getting your first or possibly your second anniversary letter from the insurance company, so this is relatively new for you, if you did not have insurance cover before we met.

The simple answer to the title is; you are a year older and age is part of how the insurance company assess risk. Bluntly put, being a year older the chance of you claiming has increased.

What is not always understood with the annual policy renewal is your cover level has probably increased too. In recent times the level of cover increases have been up as high 5% inflation, though the last couple of years have been a bit lower.