TAL Life Insurance Review

Life insurance

Accelerated Protection life insurance will pay out a lump sum in the event of the policyholder's death or the diagnosis of a terminal illness. The main purpose of this type of cover is to help provide for your family after your death and to take care of your family's finances so they can focus on dealing with their loss.

TAL Accelerated Protection life insurance includes the following features and benefits:

• Death benefit: This is a lump-sum payment of the nominated benefit amount if the life insured dies.
• Terminal illness benefit. The nominated benefit amount can be paid out early if the policyholder is terminally ill and not expected to live longer than 12 months.
• Advanced payment benefit: 10% of the benefit amount (up to a maximum of $25,000) can be paid in advance to help your family deal with day-to-day finances.
• Repatriation benefit: The advanced payment limit is increased to $35,000 if the policyholder dies overseas.
• Inflation protection benefit: Your cover automatically increases every year in line with the Consumer Price Index.
• Premium freeze benefit: Your premiums stay the same by reducing your cover each year. This is available on stepped premium policies only and only after the policyholder's 30th birthday.
• Guaranteed future insurability benefit: This means you'll be able to increase your cover after significant life events (for example, getting married or having a baby) without having to provide additional health information.
• Other benefits: These include a financial planning benefit, a grief counselling benefit and a child's critical illness benefit.

TAL also offers the following optional benefits:

• Premium relief option: This option lets you waive your premiums if sickness or injury means you are unable to work for at least 3 months.
• Business insurance option: This option lets you increase your insurance without providing additional health information after a valid business event, such as an increase in your share of business ownership or an increase in the level of a business loan for which you are a guarantor.

Critical illness insurance

TAL Accelerated Protection critical illness insurance pays out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a specified medical condition like cancer or have a heart attack or stroke. The benefit will be paid even if you're still able to work. There are 2 types of plans available: Standard and Premier.

Some of the key benefits of the Premier plan include the following:

• Advancement benefit: This benefit provides cover for immediate expenses if a certain event happens – for example, if you lose hearing in one ear or are diagnosed with partial Alzheimer's disease.
• Female critical illness benefit: This benefit will be paid for conditions like pregnancy complications and congenital abnormalities.
• Needlestick benefit: This benefit is available if you work in certain occupations and suffer occupationally-acquired hepatitis B or C.

Benefits featured in both the Standard and Premier critical illness insurance plans include the following:

• Critical illness benefit: This benefit is a lump-sum payment of up to $2,000,000 for a range of conditions, such as heart attack, stroke, dementia, blindness, cancer and kidney failure.
• Paralysis support benefit: The lump-sum payment is doubled to a maximum of $2,000,000 if the policyholder becomes paralysed.
• Death buy-back benefit: You can repurchase your life insurance after the payment of 100% of the critical illness benefit, paralysis support benefit or TPD benefit (if applicable). This benefit only applies if critical illness insurance or TPD insurance (if applicable) is attached or linked to life insurance.

Optional benefits on critical illness insurance plans include the following:

• Critical illness reinstatement benefit: This lets you repurchase your critical illness insurance after you've been paid a critical illness benefit, advancement benefit, needlestick benefit or female critical illness benefit.
• Double critical illness option: When critical illness insurance is attached to life insurance, this benefit means that payment of the critical illness benefit will not reduce your life insurance and future premiums will be waived.
• Premium relief option: This option lets you waive your premiums if sickness or injury means you are unable to work for at least 3 months.
• Business insurance option: This option lets you increase your critical illness insurance without medical underwriting after a valid business event, such as an increase in your share of business ownership or an increase in the level of a business loan for which you are a guarantor.

TPD insurance

TAL Accelerated Protection TPD insurance pays a lump-sum benefit if you are totally and permanently disabled. The benefits of this type of insurance include the following:

• TPD benefit: A lump-sum payment of up to $3,000,000 if you become totally and permanently disabled.
• Accommodation benefit: TAL will reimburse the cost of accommodation for your immediate family member of up to $250 per day if the policyholder is confined to bed more than 100km away from home.

TAL's TPD insurance policies also feature the following optional benefits:

• Death buy-back option: You can repurchase your life insurance after the payment of 100% of TPD insurance. This is only available when TPD insurance is linked to life insurance.
• Double TPD option: Available when TPD insurance is attached to life insurance, this benefit means that payment of the TPD benefit will not reduce your life insurance and future premiums will be waived.
• Premium relief option: This option lets you waive your premiums if sickness or injury means you are unable to work for at least 3 months.
• Business insurance option: This option lets you increase your critical illness insurance without medical underwriting after a valid business event, such as an increase in your share of business ownership or an increase in the level of a business loan for which you are a guarantor.

You must also be an Australian resident to apply.