Last week a little noticed article appeared in the Courier mail about a private member’s bill being introduced into state parliament covering the removal of tax on certain life insurance products – this is not the main story, because as with all private member’s bills introduced into parliament it will be voted down.

But what the newspaper article said was a statistic that for once I agreed with – that the reason for the introduction of the bill was to make insurance more affordable for the average family – given that only 4% of average families have adequate insurance to meet their needs.

Having never met a widow who complained about having too much life cover and seeing an awful lot of average Australian families every week I can say I wholeheartedly agree with that thought.

I was recently made aware of the statistic that in every hour of every day in our wonderful country that:

• 31 babies are born;
• 15 people die; and
• 47 people are diagnosed with a critical illness.

But I hear you say, it won’t happen to me. Sure it won’t, but look at those dreadful boating tragedies we have seen in the past week, I am pretty sure none of them had planned for the awful events that befell them. (Actually statistically, there is a 100% chance you will die! – you just don’t know when)

As we do not know what is just around the corner, it is up to you to ensure that the emotional turmoil and pain your family will go through when you die or become disabled does not turn into long term financial ruin.

So talk to your financial planner, get him/her to review what you have in place and update where necessary – after all if you don’t want I am sure your family can always turn to welfare, its what you would want isn’t it?

This publication has been prepared to provide you with general information only. It is not intended to take the place of professional advice and you should not take action on specific issues in reliance on this information. In preparing this information, we did not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person.

Before making an investment decision, you need to consider (with or without the assistance of an adviser) whether this information is appropriate to your needs, objectives and circumstances. This information is provided for persons in Australia only and is not provided for the use of any person who is in any other country.

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