Young, Free & Unprotected

When we’re young and free with the world at our feet, we think that we’re pretty indestructible (I remember that time). Life’s all about fun! Travel, drinking, friends… who wants to think about grown up things like insurance? While we might not want to think about it, it doesn’t stop that fact that we all need it.

Let me throw some figures at you… According to the place with all the info (The Australian Bureau of Statistics), they say that:
– In 2009, 15% of people in ‘prime working age’ are disabled.
– There are 275 new cases of diabetes in Australia every day, while two million of us are at risk.
– One in five Australians will experience a mental health problem in their lives.

And the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare put out a report that said:
– Males were 2.2 times more likely than females to be seriously injured as a result of a land transport accident, while just over 50% of those seriously injured were aged less than 30 years.
– For those seriously injured due to traffic (on-road) accidents, 28.2% were judged to be suffering from injuries which were considered to be high threat to life.

Of AMP’s 2010 claim, youngest to claim on Total & Permanent Disablement was just 18 years old, Terminal Illness was 24 years old, and Income Protection was 19 years old.

But what does that mean for you as a young nipper? Well, those figures don’t discriminate against age. We like to think that these figures are for the 15% of the older population or the two million people other than me.

But the reality is that it has to happen to someone, so it might be you. While we can take measures to reduce the risk, we can’t eliminate them and so we should look at ways of ensuring that other aspects of our lives are not negatively affected by it. Personal insurance gives you that freedom to know that if something did happen, you wouldn’t have to worry about the money needed to pay for rehab or maybe the cost of the experimental treatment, renovations to your home or even just having your partner or your parents stop work to be by your side in your recovery.

If we look at the statistics, you’re more likely to have a major medical injury or illness than win tattslotto but I bet you’ve bought a ticket or two in your life. If you think you’re in with a chance to win the big bucks, then you’re in with more of a chance to have something go really wrong with your health. So, why wouldn’t you take out insurance?

Also, taking out insurance while you’re young can save you thousands in the long run. While you’re young, you’re relatively healthy and therefore taking out insurance is cheaper. You are more likely to get standard rates, which means that you are no more of a risk of claiming than anyone else your age, unlike when you’re older, rounder and doing less exercise. If you can get standard rates at a young age, you can take out level premiums. This means that you can spread the risk of claiming over the life of the policy rather than just year by year and save a heap in the long run!

So take time out from all the stuff young people do these days and do a grown up thing for just a minute or two! Once it’s in place, you don’t have to think about it again (we’ll review it for you to make sure that it stays relevant) and you can go back to your Contiki tours, absinthe and ipads. Oh and it covers for anywhere in the world.

To read more, click here.