Life Insurance Needs Calculator
Work out how much life cover you need, with a contractor-specific view of business debts and lost revenue instead of sick leave.
Australia has no general government survivor-income scheme comparable to a state pension death benefit — Centrelink bereavement assistance is a small, short lump-sum/payment-continuation only, not ongoing income replacement. Self-employed/ABN contractors have no compulsory employer-paid death/TPD cover (no SG is paid to them), so any life/TPD cover typically has to be held personally or inside their own super fund; default insurance bundled inside a super account can lapse after 16 months without contributions being received, which is a real gap for contractors with lumpy income.
Why contractors need a different life insurance number
Australia has no general government survivor-income scheme comparable to a state pension death benefit — Centrelink bereavement assistance is only a small, short lump-sum or brief payment continuation, not ongoing income replacement for a family that's lost a breadwinner.
That gap matters more for ABN contractors, who receive no compulsory employer-paid death or Total and Permanent Disability cover, because there's no Superannuation Guarantee flowing in to fund it. And even insurance held inside a super account can quietly lapse after 16 months without contributions being received — a real risk for contractors with lumpy, irregular income.
What this calculator works out
- An income-replacement need, defaulting to 10 years and adjustable to your circumstances
- Outstanding business and personal debts that would need to be cleared
- For contractors, revenue-replacement in place of sick leave or workers' compensation
- A comparison of holding cover inside super versus a stand-alone policy
