26 September 2023
Insurance in super can seem confusing, but it doesn’t have to be! It’s really all about giving you peace of mind, as it provides financial support to protect what (and who) are important to you if you pass away or have to stop working due to illness or injury.
So, let’s demystify it for you! Here are 5 things you need to know about insurance in super.
1. You don’t have to compromise your monthly budget
The cost of living isn’t getting cheaper and most of us don’t have a whole lot of extra cash in our monthly budget right now– but thanks to your super account, that doesn’t mean you have to forgo insurance. Your insurance premiums (payments) are taken out of your super account balance, so you aren’t sent monthly or quarterly bills like you would be with other types of insurance outside of super. While it’s important to remember you will be reducing your balance for retirement, it’s great knowing you have the cover, without the hit to your day-to-day expenses.
If you’re worried about your balance going down, some of our members choose to add extra to their super to cover the cost of fees. Learn more about making these extra payments on our voluntary contributions page.
2. You can get different types of insurance cover
When you’re young and healthy, death, illness and disability are hardly top of mind. But unfortunately, you never know what life has in store for you, so it’s best to be protected.
GuildSuper offers three types of insurance cover to protect you and your loved ones:
Death cover (which includes Terminal Illness)
Total and Permanent Disablement (TPD)
Income Protection
Death cover (also known as life insurance) can help ease financial stress by paying a lump sum to your beneficiaries (the people you nominate to collect your benefit) if you die, or to yourself if you become terminally ill. One of the perks of having it through super is that GuildSuper buys death cover in bulk, which means that it can be cost-effective.
TPD cover can pay you a lump sum if you become totally and permanently disabled and can’t work anymore. It can help you pay for rehab or medical expenses, any debts you have and general cost of living into the future. TPD usually means that you have an ongoing and serious injury or illness, which you are unlikely to recover from.
Income Protection can help if you become ill or injured (at any time) and temporarily can’t work. It provides monthly payments for up to two years or five years depending on the situation to support you while you’re not earning your regular salary or wage
You can learn more about these on our types of cover page.
3. One fund equals one set of fees
We’ve mentioned that your insurance fees come out of your super account balance, which is great in many ways. But one thing lots of people don’t think about is that if they have multiple super accounts with different funds, they’re probably paying multiple sets of insurance fees too! The solution? Consolidate, friends! If you roll all your super into the one fund, you’ll guarantee you’re only paying one set of fees. Visit our transfer your insurance page to find out more.
4. Once you’re eligible, you get insurance automatically
Once you reach age 25 and have more than $6,000 in your account you may get automatic insurance. Pretty simple, hey? If you’re eligible, GuildSuper will provide you with insurance cover automatically when you join and deduct fees from your super, so you don’t even have to set up a direct debit payment or remember to pay regular bills. Find out more about eligibility for insurance on our insurance in super page.
5. No pesky life-admin
As we’ve mentioned, when you get insurance through super you often get it automatically – no time-consuming paperwork is required. You also don’t have to go through a process called underwriting. Underwriting is essentially an assessment of risk, that can be very time consuming and invasive – to get other types of insurance from providers outside of super you may need to provide all sorts of personal information such as medical history. With insurance in super, you’re given access to the default insurance for your age without having to provide any additional information. That means less life-admin and more living life!
Want to learn even MORE about insurance in super? Visit our website for everything you need to know.