How Income Protection Insurance Works for Employees Vs Freelancers
For protection during those unexpected circumstances that turn your life upside down, Income Protection Insurance comes in to offer you stability and time to recover. With that in mind, Income Protection Insurance looks different for everyone. If you’re a freelancer or self-employed, you may be thinking, How does Income Protection Insurance work for me?
The truth is, you are looking at some differences from traditional employees. But don’t let that stop you there. Understanding what Income Protection Insurance looks like for you, what you’re eligible for, and how it can protect you if the worst happens is crucial to safeguarding your livelihood and planning for the future.
How does Income Protection Insurance work?
Income Protection Insurance is your back-up plan when you can’t work due to an illness or injury. It typically covers around 70-90% of your regular income to offer you peace of mind when you’re recovering and financially support you to cover essentials such as rent, groceries and utility bills through payouts once you make a claim.
When you’re considering your Income Protection Insurance, factors that affect the cost and the cover include: Waiting Periods, your age, your medical history, your job, Benefit Periods and your lifestyle. Insurers will consider these factors collectively to determine your likelihood of needing to claim on your cover.
You’ll want to consider the amount you need to survive in the event of an illness or injury to ensure you are sufficiently covered. This includes considering the Waiting Period and Benefit Period to determine how self-sufficient you can afford to be before your Income Protection Insurance steps in and how quickly you’ll be back on your feet.
Luckily, you don’t need to figure this out alone. With Morgan Insurance Brokers, we’ll support and guide you in choosing a tailored policy that meets your needs. Our team of experts offer professional and reliable advice to ensure that you’re clear on the terms of your policy. Give us a call on 1300109778.
What if I’m self-employed?
In the world of the self-employed or those in Freelance work, Income Protection Insurance can be more important than ever. Traditional employees are usually protected by sick leave, annual leave and general workers' insurance. However, Freelancers and self-employed individuals do not have access to this form of support. But how do insurers assess self-employed individuals to determine the terms of their Income Protection Insurance? Let’s take a look at how it’s different for you.
- Income Assessment: As Freelancers do not have standard salaries that insurers can refer to, they will assess income based on business earnings. Business expenses will be subtracted from this amount, and then the average across the prior 12 months will be calculated.
- Cover Eligibility: To be eligible for Income Protection Insurance that reflects your needs, you will need to provide consistent evidence of working hours and income.
- Proactive Approach: Some employers offer indirect Income Protection through superannuation contributions, which can be a form of protection you can access through your super fund options. However, freelancers and the self-employed need to independently engage with insurance brokers to access Income Protection Insurance that will cover them.
- Cover Cost: As insurers will consider occupation risks and income irregularity, freelancers may face higher costs when choosing their Income Protection Insurance cover, as consistent pay may be hard to prove. However, base calculations, including age and health, will be similar for both self-employed individuals and traditional employees.
So, obtaining Income Protection Insurance as a traditional employee may be more cost-effective due to evidence of regular cash flow. Generally, the terms of Income Protection Insurance will be assessed similarly to traditional employees across the individual factors. However, for freelancers, income assessment will look different as supporting evidence will be required. Traditional employees also have access to other support systems that are not available for freelancers. Thus, Freelancers have a greater need for Income Protection Insurance.
Morgan Insurance Brokers For You
The most important element to making a smart choice with your insurance is having a broker who listens to your needs and is by your side. With Morgan Insurance Brokers, that’s exactly what you can expect. You don’t have to have it all figured out; that’s what we’re there for.
We give you expert advice to help you choose the right policy. Contact us today for more information.
Top Reasons Why Income Protection Insurance is a Must-Have for Young Professionals
“I’m too young to consider Insurance.” Does this sound like something you’ve said before? It makes sense. What we’ve been taught about Insurance is that if you’re young and healthy, you probably won’t need it. If your employer offers sick leave, their compensation will be sufficient for you. And if you’re a young professional working their way up the ladder, you may even think, I don’t have any assets or significant income to protect. You may not yet, but what about your long-term plans?
These are common misconceptions surrounding the topic of Income Protection Insurance. Here’s the thing: it is highly beneficial for a young professional to explore Income Protection Insurance. The reasons may differ from older individuals seeking a financial safety net, but it is still important to consider how getting protected earlier is beneficial for your future.
And if you’re still not sure, let’s have a look at the top reasons why.
Reason #1: Access to Cheaper and More Flexible Policies
Young professionals are likely to have the option of cheaper Income Protection Insurance as their risk to insurers is lower. As young professionals are generally considered young and healthy, they can protect their livelihoods at a lower premium. They also have the freedom to explore more flexible options that can cover them over a longer period. They can choose a longer benefit period that covers their entire career, even through career and circumstance changes, such as a mortgage or dependents.
Applying as a young individual increases your chances of full coverage with minimal limitations to your Insurance whilst decreasing the likelihood of facing enhanced costs for your Income Protection Insurance cover. If you were under the impression that Income Protection Insurance was costly, now you know it doesn’t have to be.
Reason #2: Guarantee Financial Independence
Considering Income Protection Insurance as a young individual is an excellent way to achieve financial independence. Many young professionals want to move away from any familial reliance, but lack savings to fall back on as they are in the early stages of their careers. To facilitate the achievement of long-term goals, a backup plan is good for your peace of mind. By getting covered earlier, you can be assured that your income is protected in the event of an illness or injury, so that your career goals and financial stability don't suffer any repercussions.
Income Protection Insurance during the early stages of your career is a good way to consider the long-term success of your career plans and expedite your journey, as you don’t need to worry about setbacks. The choices you make today can guarantee you success in the future. Reach out to our team today to find out how.
Reason Number 3#: Cover Your Expenses and Your Lifestyle
Income Insurance Protection typically covers around 70-80% of your income when you’re unable to work. As a young individual, life doesn’t stop. Your lifestyle doesn’t need to be impacted, and neither do you. Through regular monthly payments, you can ensure that you stay updated with your expenses and costs. You can also afford the luxury of investing in assets that you would otherwise be too nervous to commit to. With Income Protection Insurance, you can confidently keep what’s yours.
By getting covered earlier, you can maintain your lifestyle when you’re unable to work due to unexpected circumstances. It can give you the peace of mind you need whilst you focus on treatment and recovery. For many young individuals, ensuring a quick recovery is necessary for their well-being. Recovery needs to be stress-free. Morgan Insurance Brokers understands the importance of recovery; it doesn’t have to be difficult.
Get Income Protection Insurance With Morgan Insurance Brokers
Our team of experts at Morgan Insurance Brokers are always ready to provide you with reliable and trustworthy advice if you’re not sure how to get started. They can help guide you through your options and suggest which choices may be most beneficial based on your circumstances and goals. You can find out what your Income Protection Insurance can look like today by giving us a call or submitting a request online.
You can protect your today, tomorrow and future with us.
You don’t need to do this alone. Contact us today.
How to Reduce Home Insurance Premiums – Why an Insurance Broker Is Your Best Bet
Home insurance is essential for protecting your biggest asset, but many Australians struggle with rising costs. If you’re looking for cheap home insurance without sacrificing cover, the good news is there are plenty of ways to lower your premiums. From boosting security to choosing the right excess, smart strategies can make a big difference. But the single most effective step you can take is using an insurance broker.
Home Insurance Tips to Lower Premiums
Improve Home Security
Insurers offer lower premiums for properties with reduced risk. Installing locks, alarms, and CCTV systems shows you’re protecting your home against theft or damage, making you eligible for discounts.
Bundle Your Insurance Policies
Many insurers provide discounts if you combine home and contents insurance with your car or landlord policy. But be careful, not every “bundle deal” is truly cheaper. An insurance broker can compare deals and ensure you’re actually saving money.
Consider a Higher Excess
Choosing a higher excess means you’ll cover more of the small incidents yourself, which discourages lodging minor claims. By claiming less frequently, you’re signalling to insurers that your policy is lower risk, helping you secure better premiums over the long term.
Maintain and Upgrade Your Property
One of the most effective ways to reduce home insurance premiums in Australia is to prevent the need for claims in the first place. Insurers calculate your premiums based on the likelihood of you making a claim, so homes that are well maintained are generally seen as lower risk.
For example, repairing a damaged roof before it leaks can prevent costly water damage claims. Upgrading old electrical wiring reduces the chance of house fires.
By taking proactive steps to maintain your property, you’re not just protecting your home—you’re also reducing the chances of future claims. Over time, a strong claims history (or lack of one) plays a huge role in keeping your premiums more affordable. In short, maintenance today means fewer headaches tomorrow and more control over the cost of your insurance.
Avoid Over-Insuring
Many homeowners unintentionally pay for more cover than they need. While this doesn’t directly reduce claims, over-insuring can result in unnecessarily high premiums. A broker can help you calculate the right level of cover for your home and contents, ensuring you’re adequately protected without overspending. Keeping your policy accurate and realistic avoids disputes during claims, which also contributes to smoother long-term premium management.
Why an Insurance Broker Is the Smartest Way to Get Cheap Home Insurance in Australia
While these home insurance tips can help, the biggest challenge is comparing the dozens of policies on the market. That’s why partnering with an insurance broker is the best move. Here’s why:
Access to Better Deals
Brokers have relationships with multiple insurers, including specialist providers not available directly to consumers. This increases your chances of finding cheap home insurance premiums.
Negotiation Power
An experienced broker can negotiate directly with insurers to secure discounts, better excess options, or extras at no additional cost.
Personalised Advice
Every property is different. Brokers look at your home’s location, age, and risks (like flood or bushfire zones) and recommend the most cost-effective cover.
Ongoing Reviews
An insurance broker doesn’t just help you once and "set and forget", they review your policy every year, ensuring you’re still getting the best deal as your home value and risks change.
Final Thoughts
Reducing home insurance premiums is possible with the right strategies. Improving home security, maintaining your property, and adjusting your excess all help, but the smartest way to achieve long-term savings is to use an insurance broker. With their knowledge of the insurance market, they can secure cheap home insurance that fits your needs without cutting corners on cover.
If you’re serious about lowering your premiums while keeping your home protected, an insurance broker is your best bet.
Why a Broker Matters When Insuring Your Child Care Centre
Running a child care centre means parents trust you with their most precious people. That trust deserves a child care insurance program built for real-world risks, not just a policy off the shelf. That’s where a specialist broker earns their keep, particularly when you’re changing insurers and small wording differences can create big coverage gaps.
The sensitive question: does your policy cover sexual abuse claims?
It’s uncomfortable, but essential. Not all policies respond the same way to sexual abuse or molestation (SAM) allegations. Some exclude SAM entirely; others hide it behind low sub-limits, strict reporting conditions, or confusing endorsements. A good broker will interrogate the wording line by line:
- What are the limits and sub-limits?
- Are defence costs in addition to limits?
- Is vicarious liability for the centre and management covered?
- What are the reporting requirements and timeframes?
These details matter most when emotions run high and your reputation is on the line.
Claims-made vs occurrence: avoid the “switching gap”
Another common trap appears when you move insurers without checking how your Public Liability was structured. Was your policy previously on a claims-made basis? If so, coverage is triggered when the claim is made, not when the incident occurred. If you shift to a new insurer, especially to an occurrence-based policy, prior incidents might fall into a grey zone unless you’ve protected your “past”.
A broker will map this out and fix it. Morgan Insurance Brokers has access to insurers that can offer a retroactive date on your Public Liability to cover retrospective work, then restructure the program to an occurrence-based policy going forward. That means historical activities are picked up, and future incidents are handled in the more intuitive occurrence format. Way better.
What a broker actually does for you
- Coverage audit & gap analysis: We compare your operations to your current wordings, endorsements, and schedules to spot blind spots
- Market access: Brokers open doors to insurers who understand child care risks and are willing to add retroactive dates or custom endorsements.
- Transition plan: When switching, we line up effective dates, seek retroactive coverage, consider run-off if needed, and ensure no lapse between policies.
- Claims advocacy: If an incident occurs, you get a strategist, lodgement, evidence, experts, and negotiation so you’re not learning the process in the middle of a crisis.
Practical next steps when changing insurers
- Pull the paperwork: Prior policies, schedules, endorsements, and claims history.
- Confirm the basis: Was liability claims-made or occurrence? Note any retroactive/continuity dates.
- Scope your risks: Ratios, activities, transport, excursions, ratios of staff to children, and third-party providers.
- Ask specifically about sexual abuse: Get the answer in writing with limits and conditions.
- Bridge the past: Use a broker to secure a retroactive date and restructure to occurrence going forward.
The result is confidence: parents know you’re prepared, regulators see diligence, and you can focus on care, not clauses. If you’re considering a change, partner with a broker who understands child care. Morgan Insurance Brokers can source the retroactive solutions and organise your cover so yesterday and tomorrow are both looked after.
General information only. Consider your objectives and always read the full policy wording.
The Difference Between Waiting Periods and Benefit Periods in Income Protection Insurance
When it comes to Income Protection Insurance, there are a few terms you’ll hear frequently, but what do they mean? Understanding your Income Protection Insurance cover is essential and can make all the difference when submitting a claim with your cover.
While you may be familiar with how Income Protection Insurance can protect you, there are aspects of your coverage that can be negotiated to ensure that your cover is tailored to benefit you. A commonly asked question is: What is the difference between your Waiting Period and your Benefit Period?
Believe it or not, these two terms are significantly different and can impact your understanding of your Insurance cover if they are misunderstood. So, let’s break it down.
What is my Waiting Period?
The Waiting Period of an Income Protection Insurance cover is defined as the length of time you will need to have between when your absence from work commences due to your illness or injury, to when your insurance benefits and payments can begin. Your illness/injury will need to be certified by a doctor, and your waiting period will be considered from the date this is confirmed. The most common waiting periods to choose from are 30, 60, or 90 days, depending on the terms of your policy.
How your Waiting Period Impacts your Cover
Shorter waiting periods mean your funds will be available to you sooner, though they are usually associated with higher premiums. Whereas longer waiting periods reduce premium costs, they also mean that you will need to rely on savings or other support until you can access your benefits.
Regardless, your first benefit payment will be made to you in arrears. If your waiting period is 30 days, your first payment should be expected around 60 days after you stop working. When choosing your waiting period, it is important to consider your financial circumstances and how long you could comfortably afford to survive without your benefits if necessary. If you’re able to cover yourself financially for longer, your Income Protection Insurance may be lower in cost.
What is my Benefit Period?
The Benefit Period refers to the maximum length of time you can expect your Income Protection payments to be made to you if you remain unable to return to work for that particular claim. Typical benefit periods range from one to five years or up until a specific age, such as 65. A coverage that pays out until 65 will be more costly than a shorter-term benefit period of 1 year. There are policy limits that may apply to your cover. For instance, you need to meet your insurer’s definition of disability and other policy conditions to continue to receive payments, where a Maximum benefit period may apply.
You may also be offered a graduated benefit, depending on your insurer and cover, where, if you can return to work on a part-time basis, your benefit period will be extended until you’re able to return to work at full capacity.
How your Benefit Period Impacts your Cover
Choosing the most suitable Benefit Period for you is essential, as if you are still unable to work when your benefit period ends, your payments will stop. However, a longer benefit period (one that pays up until the age of 65, for example) will be more expensive. Your benefit period only applies to you whilst you are unable to work. So, if you return to work early, your payments will also stop. Choosing the right Benefit period for you depends on several factors, including your job security, age, health status and budget.
It is essential to understand that the Benefit period refers to a single claim and is one of the most significant factors in determining the cost of your cover.
Why choose Morgan Insurance Brokers?
Our team of experts are dedicated to ensuring that we provide you with the reliable advice that you need to make the right choices for your protection. Our approach to Insurance is one that you can trust. We know how complicated understanding your Income Insurance Protection cover can be; with us by your side, it doesn’t need to be.
Contact us today to find out more. We’d love to answer your questions.
How to Choose the Right Income Protection Insurance for Your Needs?
Remember when you completed that long run on the weekend and injured your back so badly you had to miss work the next week? Did you feel the repercussions of a smaller payslip that week?
With Income Protection Insurance at Morgan Insurance Brokers, you don’t need to worry about catching that East Melbourne winter flu, dislocating that dodgy knee, or any other unforeseen circumstances that can occur in day-to-day life.
So, how do you choose the right Income Protection Insurance for your needs? There are several factors to consider before you decide on the right Income Protection Insurance cover.
What if I don’t need Income Protection Insurance?
It is estimated that around 29% of Australians have Income Protection Insurance, with tens of thousands of Australians finding themselves in the position to claim income protection insurance every year. You could be one of them.
You may be hesitant to explore Insurance Protection further if you don’t think you will need it. We all want to believe that serious accidents won’t happen to us. However, Insurance Protection is much more than cover for the worst-case scenario. Some common claim examples include:
- Severe Flu
- Mental Health Break
- Pregnancy Complications
- Broken Leg
- Back injury
These all sound common enough, right?
You can identify the right Insurance cover for you and your needs; it doesn’t all look the same.
So, how different can Income Protection Insurance be?
Well, choosing your Income Protection Insurance begins with your occupation. Occupations with higher levels of physical risk (Construction workers and Emergency service workers) may face higher premiums as they are more likely to face work-related accidents. A lower-risk occupation may be entitled to cheaper Income Protection Insurance cover. If you’re an office worker accustomed to sitting behind a desk all day, you may find that your cover won’t cost you all that much. What price would you pay for a contingency plan?
Another factor to consider is your age. Lower premiums are usually expected with younger age groups. Age is used to determine the increase in premiums due to the correlation between age and the heightened risk of health issues, which may result in extended periods off from work.
Income Protection Insurance can also vary in the percentage of income covered. A higher cover will usually be 75%, although this will be more expensive than a lower cover of 60%.
You can tailor how long you require payments from your Insurance Protection Insurance. If your cover is for a shorter period (e.g, 2-5 years), this may be significantly lower in cost than one that covers you through to retirement age. Do you plan to run a marathon next year, and you’re getting worried about the physical side effects and setbacks it may cause you in your workplace? You can opt for a shorter cover for a stress-free training period.
Finally, you’ll want to assess the waiting periods of your cover. This defines the time between when you find that you require your cover and when the benefit payments begin. For example, if you’re a casual worker who requires a larger safety net in the event of an unforeseen circumstance, you may want to consider a shorter waiting period so that you can ensure you’re covered quickly.
Consider Premium types
When considering your premium types for your Income Insurance Protection Cover, you will need to evaluate your financial circumstances, life plans, age, health, and generally what you feel will be most suitable and comfortable for your situation.
Stepped Premiums are generally lower in cost initially. They can increase over time, but are typically a safer option for young working professionals who want a contingency plan that won’t interfere with their budgets.
Level Premiums are consistent and generally benefit more long-term decisions. Whilst higher in initial cost, they can become more cost-efficient if maintained over many years. If you are expecting a fixed income for the foreseeable future or have begun making retirement plans, a level premium may be more beneficial as it provides stable and predictable cover.
Not sure where to start?
You’re off to a good start. It is important to consider all your personal factors and assess which cover you may benefit from the most. Our professionals at Morgan Insurance Brokers can provide you with general advice and help you get started.
Don’t wait for a situation to happen tomorrow; get protected today. Contact us today for a quote.
