AFA slams ACA comments on insurance
TheAssociation of Financial Advisers(AFA) has hit out at comments by the Australian Consumers’ Association (ACA) financial services senior policy officer Catherine Wolthuizen in which she stated that life insurance needs had become a secondary issue for many consumers and other options were available.
The comments were reported by The Age newspaper in Melbourne in an article covering community attitudes to life insurance.
At that time Wolthuizen said that fewer families were dependent on a single wage earner and the issue of a the larger wage earner dying was not such a concern with young families.
Wolthuizen also said there were a number of other insurance alternatives available which were more attractive to consumers in the areas of coverage as well as costing less than life insurance.
AFA president Robin Yates has slammed the comments as irresponsible and cautioned consumers not to take this information on board as advice.
He has also suggested that those who do take this statement as advice could sue the ACA in the event the family lost a wage earner.
"I am stunned that Catherine Woltuizen should claim that young families with both parents working are not concerned about the need for life insurance to cover survivors in the event of a sudden death of one of them. This is one of the most ill-informed comments I have heard in 30 years of practice in the financial services industry."
Yates says industry groups can have opinions and should be able to discuss them publicly but comments such as those above fail to recognise the impact a death can have on the finances of a young family.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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