If you run a business, let me ask you something directly. You’ve probably insured your premises. Your vehicles. Your equipment. Maybe your inventory. If a fire hit tomorrow, you’d have cover. But what about the one thing that actually pays for all of that? The revenue-generating engine behind every decision, every invoice, every expansion? You. In ten years of advising family businesses and working professionals across Brisbane’s west and greater Ipswich, this is the gap I see most often. Not in investment strategy. Not in superannuation. In personal risk insurance: the cover that protects your income, your family, and your business if you can’t work due to illness or injury. Let’s talk about why this happens, what it actually means, and what to do about it.
The Uncomfortable Truth
The One Asset Every Business Owner Forgets
If you’re a business owner, your ability to earn an income is your single most valuable asset. Not your commercial property. Not your equipment. Not even your client base, because without you, much of that revenue stops.
Yet when I sit down with new clients and ask about their personal risk insurance, the most common response is some version of: “I think I’ve got some cover through my super.”
Sometimes that’s true. Sometimes it isn’t. And almost always, the cover they have, if it exists at all, hasn’t been reviewed against what their family and business actually need.
This isn’t a criticism. It’s human nature. Insurance is the thing we all know we should review, and almost never do, because thinking about illness, injury, or worse is something we’d simply rather avoid.
But avoidance has a cost. And for business owners, that cost doesn’t just affect you. It affects your employees, your clients, and everyone who depends on your continued ability to show up and run the show.
Not sure if your cover is adequate? Book a no-obligation insurance review with Jonathon.
What Adequate Cover Actually Looks Like
This is where I want to be candid, because I’m not in the business of fear-mongering.
Adequate insurance isn’t about buying every policy available. It’s about understanding the specific risks you and your family face, and then putting the right cover in place to address them. No more, no less.
For a business owner, that might look like:
- Income protection structured to cover business overheads during a period of incapacity, not just personal living expenses.
- Life insurance sufficient to clear business and personal debts, and provide ongoing income for your family.
- TPD cover that accounts for the reality that you may not be able to return to your business.
- Trauma cover to bridge the gap during a serious illness, because the mortgage doesn’t pause while you recover.
The right structure also considers how these policies are owned. Some cover is best held inside superannuation (for cashflow and tax efficiency), while other cover is better held personally or through a business structure.
This is where I need to be clear about what I do and don’t do. I’m a financial planner, not an accountant. When the conversation involves complex trust structures, tax-deductibility of premiums through a business, or buy/sell agreements between business partners, I coordinate closely with your accountant to make sure the structure is right from every angle. My role is to advise on the insurance strategy itself: what cover you need, how much, and where it should sit. For the tax and structuring mechanics, we bring in the right expertise alongside mine.
YOUR OPTIONS
The Four Types of Cover Every Business Owner Should Understand
Most people can’t tell the difference between income protection, life cover, TPD, and trauma. Here’s what each one actually does.
Income Protection
Replaces a portion of your income (typically up to 70%) if you can’t work due to illness or injury. For business owners, this is often the most critical cover, because without your income, everything else stalls.
Life Insurance
TPD (Total and Permanent Disability)
Trauma (or Critical Illness) Cover
Usually, people I meet have a fragmented version of this. Perhaps some default life and TPD cover inside their super fund, set up years ago and never reviewed. What they rarely have is a structured insurance plan, one where the types of cover, the amounts, and the ownership structure have been matched to their actual circumstances.
If You’ve Been Putting This Off
If you own a business and you’ve read this far, here’s what I’d gently suggest.
You already know this is important. The reason you haven’t acted isn’t that you don’t understand the risk. It’s that reviewing insurance feels overwhelming, time-consuming, and probably involves someone trying to sell you something.
That’s not how I work. My first meeting is a no-obligation conversation. No ticking clock. We sit down, at my office, at your place of business, or over a video call, and we look at what you currently have. We talk about your family, your business, your debts, and your income. And then we figure out, together, whether the cover you have matches the life you’ve built.
If it does, I’ll tell you. If it doesn’t, we’ll map out what’s needed, and you decide whether to act on it.
The worst outcome isn’t finding out you’re underinsured. The worst outcome is never finding out at all.
Let’s make sure the life you’ve built is properly protected. Book a no-obligation insurance review with Jonathon, at our Middle Park office, at your business, or over a video call.
The information in this article is general in nature and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation, or needs. Before acting on it, consider its appropriateness to your circumstances and read the relevant Financial Services Guide and Adviser Profile before making any decisions. DeMar Financial Planning Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative (ASIC No. 1310175) of Lifespan Financial Planning Pty Ltd (AFSL 229892).
Ready to start the conversation?
The first meeting is at no cost and no obligation. If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you - and probably point you to someone who is.
