Large super funds regularly change their insurance coverage and terms. These changes affect your
personal financial situation.
Earning potential in your professional life is probably the greatest asset you own. To put this into
perspective, a 34-year-old who makes an average of $80,000 could make $2,480,000 in her lifetime,
ignoring pay raises and promotions. Your current salary can serve a variety of purposes, including living
expenses, paying off your home, making major travel plans, and saving for retirement.
As such, consider protecting your earning potential during your working life to be a top priority.
Throughout your life, you may experience events that adversely affect your earning potential. This may
be temporary, permanent, or partial, and income support can help make up for shortfalls during these
times. We believe that a benefit period through age 65 offers the best long-term support as not all
events lead to complete and permanent disability.
Generally, income security benefits are available for two years, five years, or until age 65. Recently, Rest
Super stopped offering benefit options through age 65 and changed these members’ income protection
to a five-year benefit period without consent. The impact of this kind of change can have disastrous
consequences on your financial situation. If you lose your income, you will only receive support for the
next five years and will be exposed to a fragile financial situation in the long term.
If you have long-term income protection benefits from Rest or another large superfund, it’s a good time
to contact your Financial Adviser to discuss the impact of these unexpected changes on your financial
situation. It helps you understand the difference between coverage (also known as group coverage) and
coverage purchased privately through an insurance company (also known as retail coverage) and which
one best suits your needs.