TAL Life Insurance Review 2024

Overview

Originating in New Zealand in 1869, TAL Life is now firmly established in Australia with almost 4.5 million customers. 

TAL has over 150 years of experience and is owned by parent company Dai-ichi Life Group.

They paid out $2.7 billion in claims in 2020.

What types of cover does TAL Life offer?

Nobody likes thinking about falling ill, having an accident or worse, but it’s important to be prepared if something were to happen to you. It’s all about providing a secure financial future for anyone who depends on you.

If you’ve got no dependents but not much in the way of savings, you may simply want income protection to cover your bills. Have a history of illness in your family? You may want to consider trauma (critical illness) cover. And if you have a growing family or big financial commitments like a mortgage, you might prefer the reassurance of life cover.

TAL Lifetime Protection offers a wide range of options, some of which you can pay for through your super. 

Life cover

TAL Life Cover provides a lump sum payment that can be used to pay off debts, cover day-to-day expenses and help with your dependents’ future needs. 

Key features:

• A lump sum payment if you die or are diagnosed with a terminal illness

• No limit on any financially justifiable cover amount

• A repatriation benefit of a maximum of $35,000 if you die overseas

Critical illness cover

TAL Recovery (Trauma) Insurance gives you a one-off payment if you become critically ill or injured and need extensive medical treatment to recover. Cover is available for a range of serious illnesses, including many types of cancer and heart disease. A confirmation of diagnosis is needed before the benefit is paid.

Key features:

• A lump sum payment if you suffer from 40 critical conditions, including permanent loss of speech or a stroke

• Paralysis cover, which means that your benefit will be doubled if you become permanently paralysed

• Can be bundled with TAL Life Cover for lower premiums

Total permanent disability (TPD)

If you suffer a serious injury or illness and become permanently disabled, you may not be able to continue working. TAL TPD insurance gives you one less thing to worry about. Our TPD guide has more information on how this type of cover works.

Key features:

• Lump sum payment if you become permanently disabled

• Cover available up to $3 million

• Advanced payment benefit of 25% or the maximum of $500,000 if you suffer loss of of use of a single limb (permanent) or loss of sight in one eye (permanent)

Income protection

Your ability to earn an income is one of your greatest assets, so it makes sense to protect it. With up to 70% of your income each month, TAL Income Protection takes the pressure off so you can focus on getting back on your feet.

Key features:

• Monthly payments to replace part of your income if you can’t work because you’re sick or injured 

• Cover available up to $30,000 per month

• Death benefit of up to $10,000 if you die

• Bed confinement benefit which pays a benefit if you are confined to your bed for at least 72 consecutive hours

What member benefits does TAL offer?

Members have free access to the TAL SpotChecker guide for at-home skin checks, along with the ‘Slice of Life’ blog that hosts a range of health and wellbeing articles.

Can I get TAL life insurance through my superannuation?

Yes, you can get life, TPD and income protection through your super. Compare Club can help with this. 

Trauma/critical illness cover isn't available with your superannuation through any insurer. 

Want to know more about how life insurance works with superannuation? Read our guide.

Performance of TAL

According to Moneysmart.gov.au, TAL’s number of finalised claims between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021 has a 97.5% acceptance rate, with an average claim time of 1.2 months.

The industry average during this period for claiming on advised life insurance policies is 1.5 months to settle a claim, with a 96.6% acceptance rate. TAL has a 15.7% policy cancellation rate, which is slightly higher than the industry average of 13.6%.

Maximum cover amount*

• Life cover – Any financially justifiable amount

• TPD – $3 million

• Critical illness – $2 million

• Income protection – $30,000 per month

*Cover amounts are subject to financial underwriting.

Maximum entry age

• Life cover – 75 for stepped premiums, 60 for level premiums

• TPD –  62 for stepped premiums, 60 for level premiums

• Critical illness –  61 for stepped premiums, 60 for level premiums

• Income protection – 59 or 55 depending on your occupation class

Expiry age

• Life cover – policy anniversary before your 100th birthday outside of super, policy anniversary before your 75th birthday inside of super

• TPD – policy anniversary before your 65th 

• Critical illness – policy anniversary before your 70th birthday

• Income protection – policy anniversary before your 65th birthday

Key exclusions

TAL Insurance has listed its key exclusions by product type. You can see them below.

Life cover

A Life Cover claim will not be paid if the Life Insured’s death was caused or contributed by:

• Suicide within the first 13 months of the cover commencing, being reinstated or increased

TPD

A TPD Cover claim will not be paid if total and permanent disablement is either caused, or contributed to, by:

• A self inflicted injury or attempted suicide

Critical illness

A critical illness claim will not be paid if:

• The claim arises because of an intentional, self inflicted act by you

• If you make a claim within three months after the plan start date for a critical illness where the qualifying period applies, including stroke, heart attack or angioplasty

Income protection

TAL will not pay any benefit under if your disability, sickness, injury or death is caused directly or indirectly by:

• An intentional self-inflicted act, suicide, or attempted suicide

• You committing or attempting to commit a criminal offence or incarceration

• Normal or uncomplicated pregnancy or childbirth

• An act of war

• A permanent or temporary ban being placed on you that stops you from performing the duties of your working occupation

If you want to know more about TAL’s policy exclusions, please check the PDS.

TAL life insurance costs

Everybody’s different, so your premium will be based on your individual circumstances, including your age, occupation and your insurance needs.

That's where Compare Club's specialists can help, by working  out what type of policy is right for you at a cost that fits in with your budget.

Of course, it’s worth consulting a financial advisor before making any financial decisions.

FAQs

Who owns TAL Lifetime Protection?

TAL Life Insurance is part of the Dai-ichi Life Group.

Do I need a medical exam to get life insurance with TAL?

Possibly yes, as the underwriter may require blood tests to be done. If this is the case however, it will be at no additional cost to you.

Does smoking affect my premiums?

Yes. Smokers can pay up to 60% more for their premiums than non-smokers.

Does TAL life insurance include funeral cover?

An Advanced Payment benefit of up to $25,000 is included with Life Cover insurance held outside of super.

Is it easy to cancel TAL Life Insurance?

Yes. You can cancel in writing within the cooling off period, which is 30 days from the start date at no cost to you. You can cancel at any time after the cooling off period in writing; however, premiums paid through monthly instalments are not eligible for a refund.

Where can I buy life insurance with TAL?

Compare Club’s life insurance experts can help you find an affordable policy quickly and easily, and take care of the paperwork for you.

The information contained in this guide is of general nature only and has been prepared without taking into consideration your objectives, needs and financial situation. As such, it is important that you consider the appropriateness of any advice and the relevant product disclosure statement (PDS) before proceeding. Any opinions expressed within an article are those of the author and do not specifically reflect the views of Life Insurance Comparison Pty Ltd.