September 2018 – The Hopkins Group

I’m often left perplexed after having conversations with clients around insurances, everybody is so ready to protect their cars and their houses, but not their lives and their income!

When I ask a client if they have life insurance, a lot of the time the response is something like “I have that in my superannuation fund” or “that’s standard in my super”. When I follow up with “great, how much do you have?’ or “what is the benefit period?” I get a puzzled look.

According to a 2017 report from The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, around 70 per cent of life insurance in Australia is held within superannuation. However, “the level of underinsurance within the Australian community remains high” with the median level of life cover meeting only 37 per cent of the needs of families with children.

Personally, I think the answer lies in education – informing clients of their options and the value of investing in risk protection – because as a Financial Adviser, I am just not comfortable making plans with your income on an ongoing basis without securing that income now.

Types of Insurance

There are three broad categories of insurance in Australia:

1. Health insurance provides payment for the provision of hospital and ancillary medical and health services.

2. General insurance covers matters not addressed by life or health insurances including home and contents, car, travel, professional indemnity and product liability.

3. Personal insurance is a type of cover that provides financial security to you and your family for events such as serious injury or illness, total and permanent disability, loss of ability to earn an income and death.

While each of these insurances have their benefits, for the purposes of this blog let’s focus on the one many people seem to forget about; personal insurance.

Personal insurances provide a level of protection against your way of living, with financial support to cover any outstanding debts or general expenses. There are four main types of personal insurance.

Life
Total and Permanent Disability (TPD)
Income Protection / Salary Continuance
Critical Illness (Trauma)

Life Insurance

Life insurance is designed to pay out your dependents a lump sum in the event of your death and is intended to provide you with the security of knowing that if something were to happen to you, your family and loved ones would not be left with a huge financial burden.

It can be used to assist with funeral costs, mortgage repayments, providing temporary income for your loved ones and contributions to other financial obligations.

Total and Permanent Disability (TPD)

This cover is sometimes bundled or ‘linked’ with life insurance policies and is designed to provide a lump sum benefit if you are totally and permanently disabled.

Income Protection / Salary Continuance

These policies are designed purely to provide you and your family with a steady stream of income if you cannot work due to illness, injury or disability. Most insurers will insure up to 75% of your gross monthly income, providing you with the security of knowing that most of your daily expenses and financial obligations can be met while you focus on recovery.

Critical Illness (Trauma)

Critical illness insurance pays you a once off lump sum if you fall victim to a serious medical condition like a heart attack, stroke or cancer. Insurers will have a list of specific conditions that you will be able to claim a benefit from, this will vary from insurer to insurer and the level of cover that may suit you.

Generally, this is the most expensive of all personal insurances as it is the most claimed.

The aim of trauma insurance is to give you the peace of mind and provide a lump sum benefit to ease those pressures during recovery.

Inside or outside superannuation?

For certain types of insurance cover (life, TPD and income protection) you may have the ability to hold the policy inside your superannuation fund.

The main difference with holding policies inside your superannuation is that the premiums are deducted from your superannuation balance rather than your personal cash flow. There can also be some tax benefits as you pay for the cover out of your pre-tax super contributions. However the types of cover held in super can be quite limited and will understandably reduce your super balance over time.

Group or Retail Cover?

Group Insurance cover is what most superannuation funds will offer to you as ‘standard’ when you join as a member.

The main difference between group and retail life insurance policies is that group policies are provided by super funds and employers to their members or staff, whereby the super fund or the employer controls the policy. The amount of cover is generally based on your age and occupation.

On the other hand, retail policies are provided through advisers and the policy ownership is determined by you and based on tailored recommendations. They are totally customisable and are based on your individual circumstances and needs rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Some of the customisations available under a retail policy are:

Insured amount
Premium style
Ownership structure
Policy structure option
Policy additions/options

What next?

If you’re unsure about the state of your personal insurance, The Hopkins Group has a team of financial advisers that can journey with you to a place of understanding and security. Get in touch with an expert today and take control of your finances.

—

John Hopkins Financial Services Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representatives of WealthSure Financial Services Pty Ltd Level 1 190 Stirling Street PERTH WA 6000 ACN:130 288 578 AFSL:326450.

General Advice Warning: This advice may not be suitable to you because it contains general advice that has not been tailored to your personal circumstances. Please seek personal financial advice prior to acting on this information.

We are all busy these days. Between family, work and play it can be incredibly difficult to find the time to clean your home. It’s not exactly something many people look forward to doing after all!

However when you do manage to finally set some time aside to roll up your sleeves and get to scrubbing, it’s always a good idea to arm yourself with the right products. To help you out, I’ve put together a list of my go to supplies that will have you cleaning smarter not harder; allowing you to give your rental property the deep cleanse and clean it deserves.

But before we get started, I need to cover a couple of disclaimers. The following list contains my personal preferences and is by no means a sponsored post. It’s not necessarily the brand that’s important in this discussion; it’s more about what the products do and how they work that matters. I also haven’t been particularly environmentally conscious in my selections; but I do think they’re effective at getting the job done.

Secondly, please spot test before you go hard with any of these products. We’d hate for you to follow in one of our team member’s footsteps and create staining in your bathroom because a product designed for ceramic tiles doesn’t sit well on slate!

Now that we’ve got those points out of the way – let’s jump into the list!

Bathroom

The one room we all hate to clean! But let’s face it – neglecting to clean your shower can cause a build-up of soap-scum and in worst cases, mould spores. Gross!

To overcome these issues, I recommend a product like Shower Power combined with a mild abrasive sponge. Spray the product on the glass, tiles and base and leave to sit for 10 minutes. Wipe over, rinse with hot water and voila – look at that bathroom sparkle!

For those who have left the cleaning a little longer than expected, resulting in mould on shower tiles and in the silicone, I recommend using Exit Mould. For this product, you’re going to follow the same instructions you would with the Shower Power but instead allow to sit for 20 minutes before wiping over.

Kitchen

Arguably one of the most important areas of your home to keep spick and span, next to the bathroom, it’s very easy to let the cleanliness slip in the kitchen if you’re not paying attention. All it takes is cooking on your stovetop for the grime to start building!

Dependant on your type of stove top you will need to choose the appropriate surface cleaner.

Gas stove tops should be cleaned with stainless steel surface spray and a non-abrasive sponge/cloth. Spray on, wipe over surface with sponge then follow with a dry cloth.

Electric hobs/glass induction cook tops should be cleaned with a product like Cerapol. Simply switch on your stove top to a low heat, apply the Cerapol cream to the surface and use a cooktop scraper to remove burnt on grime and marks. Wipe with a damp cloth and BOOM, good as new!

Kitchen tiles should be wiped over regularly with a general multi-purpose spray and wipe, but if you find that it’s failing to get the grout back to its original colour the next best thing is to use a product like Gumption.

To use, take a mild abrasive sponge apply the paste to tiles and work into the grouting. Wipe away with a damp cloth and see your tiles be restored back to their former glory in no time! Same rules apply for bathroom tiles (wall and floor).

Walls

You probably don’t notice, but it doesn’t take much to mark-up walls. Luckily, it usually doesn’t take much to clean them up either!

There are a couple of ways you can clean your walls – the first being a product containing sugar soap. You can get this product in individual wipes, but for larger wall surfaces a spray bottle format is probably your best bet. Make sure your paint is a wash wear before applying, then liberally spray the wall with the sugar soap and use a soft damp cloth to wipe down.

For smaller areas, Magic Erasers also work really well. Take a small part of the sponge, run under water of a minute and wipe those marks away!

Floors

Hardwood floors require a hardwood cleaner to keep them looking their best; in this instance I recommend a product like Earths Choice Wooden Floor and Surface Cleaner. Alternatively, a dust over with a microfibre cloth can also work wonders for those times a deeper cleanse isn’t necessary.

Carpets are best maintained by having steam cleaning done every six months, however for spot stain treatments I can’t go past Preen for Carpet. It is FANTASTIC at lifting every sort of stain you could imagine and definitely worth having on hand if you have large carpeted areas.

So there you have it! These are my go to products that will hopefully keep you keep your home sparkling and fresh. But this certainly isn’t an exhaustive list – so if you are still unsure as to which products would work best at your rental property, please don’t hesitate to call on one of the property managers here at The Hopkins Group; we would be more than happy to help! A clean home equals a happy owner and property manager after all!

—

Lauren Wilden-Ross is a Senior Property Portfolio Manager and a cleaning enthusiast! When most people are catching up on Netflix over the weekends, you’ll find Lauren rocking out in her rubber gloves and apron. All of these recommendations are personal and by no means endorsed by a professional cleaner. We have not been sponsored for this post but have drawn on years of experience from advising tenants on the best ways to keep their rentals clean. We hope it’s a useful guide but The Hopkins Group does not take any responsibility for any damage that occurs as a result of a misuse of products. Please read all warning labels prior to using as part of your cleaning routine.

Newsletter

Name(Required)

Email(Required)

Phone

What Type of Services Are You Looking for/ Interested to Know More?(Required)

Additional Information

How did you hear about The Hopkins Group?(Required)

CAPTCHA

Comments

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Personal Insurance Basics