ADVERTORIAL
Your Cost of Living Is Going Up. What Happens to Your Family’s Cost of Losing You?
With petrol prices surging, interest rates at decade highs, and global uncertainty reshaping retirement plans overnight, more Australians over 40 are asking a question they’ve long avoided: if something happened to me today, would my family be okay?
by Sophie Taylor, May 2026 · 5 min read
Margaret, 64, from the Mornington Peninsula, had worked for 38 years. She and her husband David had done everything right, paid off most of the mortgage, put the kids through school, and built a modest super. They weren’t wealthy, but they were comfortable. Then, on a Tuesday morning in March, David had a cardiac episode on the way to the garden centre.
He survived. But the experience shook both of them in a way they hadn’t anticipated.
“It wasn’t the fear of death that kept me up at night,” Margaret later recalled. “It was the realisation that I had absolutely no idea what I would have done. The mortgage. The car. The bills. I hadn’t thought about any of it. I’d just assumed he’d always be there.”
That’s the quiet, unspoken risk millions of Australian families are carrying right now especially as the world around them becomes increasingly uncertain.
The World Has Changed. Has Your Cover Kept Up?
Australians over 40 are navigating a financial environment unlike anything many of us have experienced in our adult lives. Consider what has changed in just the past three years:
4.41%
Average health insurance premium rise approved for 2026, highest since 2017
Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Australian Government
4.35%
RBA cash rate as of May 2026, up from 0.1% just six years ago
Source: Reserve Bank of Australia
$8,200+
Average cost of a funeral in Australia, with 1 in 3 exceeding $10,000
Source: Funeral Costs Report
At the same time, geopolitical instability, from ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe and the Middle East to mounting trade tensions in the Asia-Pacific, is creating profound uncertainty in global markets. Superannuation balances that took decades to build have faced significant volatility. The rise of artificial intelligence is reshaping entire industries, creating new anxieties about employment, pension sufficiency, and what retirement will even look like for many Australians.
Against this backdrop, the question of life insurance has never been more relevant or more urgent for Australians aged 40 to 80.
“In an uncertain world, the one thing you can control is what you leave behind.”
Right Life Insure Financial Adviser
What Margaret Did Next?
After David’s scare, Margaret spent a week making a list of everything she didn’t know: the exact mortgage balance, which utility accounts were in David’s name, what would happen to his pension, and whether the small life insurance policy he’d taken out in his 40s still reflected the life they’d actually built.
What she found surprised her. The policy David had was for $50,000, an amount that felt significant when he took it out fifteen years ago. Today, with a remaining mortgage of $180,000 and rising household costs, it would barely cover six months.
Margaret was able to find a company offering life insurance with terminal illness^ starting from $6.41 per fortnight**. Within three minutes, she had a picture of what cover was available, what it would cost, and crucially, that no medical examination was required, she simply needed to answer some health and lifestyle questions.
“I thought we’d missed the window,” she said. “I assumed life insurance was something you had to sort out when you were young. I had no idea you could still get meaningful cover in your 60s.”
What Margaret didn’t know and what many Australians don’t realise:
✔ Australians aged 40-80 can often access life insurance without a full medical examination, simply answer some health and lifestyle questions.
✔ Cover could take out up to $250,000* in life insurance depending on age and personal circumstances.
✔ Premiums can be structured to remain stable and predictable even on a fixed retirement income.
✔ Cover can help pay off a mortgage, funeral costs, or outstanding debts.
How Does Life Insurance Actually Work at This Stage of Life?
Life insurance for Australians aged 40 to 80 works differently to the complex, medically underwritten policies many people remember from their younger years. A new generation of policies has been designed specifically for this life stage, simpler, faster, and accessible without the need for a doctor’s appointment.
Here is how it typically works:
For many applicants between 40 and 80, no medical examination is required. Simply answer some health and lifestyle questions. If approved, your cover begins almost immediately, and your premium is set at the time of application, giving you predictability on a fixed income.
Cover can range from $10,000 to $250,000*, depending on your age and personal circumstances. The lump sum is paid directly to your nominated beneficiary, your partner, your children, or whoever you choose, and can be used for anything: mortgage payments, funeral costs, living expenses, or simply as a financial legacy.
Critically, the payout is not affected by market conditions, interest rates, or superannuation volatility. Whatever happens to global markets between now and the time a claim is made, the amount your family receives is fixed. In an era of genuine financial uncertainty, that certainty has real value.
What Happened to Margaret and David?
Six weeks after David’s cardiac episode, Margaret and David sat down together at the same kitchen table where they’d always made their big decisions. They found a company offering life insurance that is available to David at 66, and found cover that would settle the remaining mortgage and cover funeral costs for less than the cost of their Streaming Service subscription and a weekly coffee.
“It was nowhere near as complicated as I expected,” Margaret said. “And I can’t tell you how much lighter I feel. Not because I think anything is going to happen to David. Just because now, if it did, I know I’d be okay.”
That peace of mind is what a right life insurance policy is really about. Not fear. Not morbidity. Just knowing that you have done everything to help protect your family.
Don't leave your family guessing.
Find out in minutes if you qualify for affordable life insurance cover. Free, with no medicals required, simply answer some health and lifestyle questions.
*From $10,000 up to $250,000 of cover available (depending on your age and personal circumstances when you apply). The benefit amount will not be paid if you die or are diagnosed with a Terminal Illness^ as a result of an intentional self-inflicted injury or attempted suicide that occurred before the policy commencement date or within the first 13 months of the policy commencement date. A waiting period may also apply during which the benefit amount will only be paid if you die due to an accident. Refer to the Product Disclosure Statement for full details
^Terminal Illness is as defined in the Product Disclosure Statement and will not be paid during a waiting period should one apply. Upon payment of a Terminal Illness^ claim, the policy and cover will end.
**Your actual premium may be different and will depend on your age, gender, smoking status, chosen benefit amount and personal circumstances.
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