How much is enough?

70% of Australian homes are underinsured¹. Is your home one of them?

It’s easy to forget how quickly your house can increase in value or how your possessions can accumulate, and there are many reasons why your home may be underinsured. Here are some of them:

• Increased building costs – the cost of building goes up. New laws demanding greener, more environmentally friendly housing have added upfront costs to building.
• Accumulation – Our possessions grow over time. Have you thought about the cost of replacing your entire wardrobe? If you added up the cost of your shoes, suits, dresses, casual wear, coats and hats, you’d be amazed.
• Upgrading – We replace our belongings with new ones over the years – the new luxurious sofa replaces the one from our first home or the teak garden furniture replaces the plastic.
• Our leisure pursuits widen – Over the years, we collect golf clubs, sporting apparel, fishing equipment, gym equipment, tennis racquets, camping gear, bikes, the list goes on.
• Children happen – and with them comes a whole variety of furniture, clothes, gadgets and of course toys!

How to avoid underinsurance on your home and contents

Read these handy hints and take action today.

• Review the replacement value of your home and contents every 12 months, especially if you live in high-risk areas (cyclone, bushfire, hail).
• When carrying out renovations to your home you should not wait until your renewal date to increase the sum insured on your policy. 
• Go through each room in your house and list what it would cost to replace each item. Use our home and contents valuer to make the process easier.
• Check the sum insured against rebuilding costs – particularly for policies of 10 or more years.
• Make sure your home is regularly maintained and repaired to prevent disasters such as fires and theft from occurring.

Important information: ¹ASIC Report #54, from September 2005. The information in this brochure does not take into account your particular objectives, financial situation or needs. Please consider the information in light of your particular circumstances. AMP GI Distribution Pty Ltd (ABN 40 098 080 810) (AMP) has an agreement with GIO General Limited (GIO) to distribute general insurance products issued by GIO and branded AMP. AMP receives a commission (being a percentage of the base premium) if you purchase or renew a general insurance policy arranged by an AMP General Insurance Adviser. Your AMP General Insurance Adviser will receive a percentage of that commission and can tell you the amount of commission received if you ask.