Published: April 22, 2009 - 01:00 PM
The growth in risk insurance is set to continue
As the global economic crisis plays havoc with the saving plans of many Australians, people are reassessing their retirement plans and insurance needs. In difficult times people take a greater interest in their long-term financial position and how risk insurance can protect their loved ones in the event of a sudden loss of income. Risk insurance includes: life insurance, income protection insurance, total and permanent disability cover and trauma cover insurance.
The growth in the risk insurance market in Australia has been substantial. According to a recent report from Richard Weatherhead, of Rice Warner Actuaries, the overall risk insurance market has grown by over 9% per year over the last 15 years. However even with this considerable growth many Australians are still underinsured with the average level of cover for a working age person is only 2.9 years of earnings. Typically cover on death should be far higher than this at around 10 times annual earnings.
As the size of the risk insurance market as increased so has the number of available products and competition for retail customers. Most insurance plans allow people to maintain cover when switching providers which means they can shop around for better deal.
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