Tradies less likely to have life cover

New research has discovered labourers and tradesmen are least likely to have Life Insurance cover.

The survey, commissioned by NobleOak, discovered 44 per cent of labourers and tradesmen have Life Insurance, TPD cover, Trauma cover or Income Protection Insurance, 11 per cent below the national average (55 per cent).

These results are surprising given the high-risk nature of their jobs and that Life insurance isn’t part of a tradies tool kit, especially when they are working with power tools and up ladders on a daily basis.

By comparison, professionals, including doctors, dentists and lawyers are most likely to be covered (72 per cent), followed by office workers (65 per cent) and stay at home parents (47 per cent).

This shows that stay at home parents, traditionally women, understand the value of being covered.

Price is often the main reason given for why people don’t have life insurance. So here are some tips on how to overcome these barriers.

Tips on making Life insurance and Income Protection more affordable

If cost is an issue for you, there are some things you can do to save on your premiums:

• Premium freeze – with this option, premiums are frozen at the same rate and the cover is adjusted each year to match.
• Premium pause – once you’ve had Income Protection cover in place for more than two years, you may be able to pause your premiums in certain circumstances, such as becoming unemployed or taking maternity leave.
• Reduced cover – some cover is better than none at all, and if your income has reduced you might want to consider reducing your cover until you are back on track, rather than dropping your policy altogether. This usually works out to be less costly than dropping all your cover and trying to restart with a new policy later.

If you don’t need financial advice, then you should also consider buying direct rather than using an adviser. That way you won’t be paying unnecessary fees or commissions.

If you do buy direct make sure your cover is fully underwritten. This means you answer all the health and lifestyle questions at the time you apply so you don’t pay for any unnecessary cover. Plus you’ll know exactly what you’re covered for and there are no surprises if you make a claim.