I’m moving into a retirement village – do I still need insurance? 

Moving into a retirement village is a big life change so it makes sense that your insurance needs might be impacted. Here are three things to consider before you make any decisions about insurance. 

Don’t be so quick to cancel your home policy…

If you are selling your home to move into a retirement village, don’t make the mistake of cancelling your home insurance too early. Remember, you are still the legal owner of the property you are selling until settlement is complete. If something were to happen to the property, such as damage from a natural disaster, between selling your home and settlement day, this could have implications for the sale of your house, which might impact your ability to move into ‘your’ retirement village.  Keeping insurance in place can help you continue to protect the assets  you have responsibility for.

Once you’ve moved into the retirement village, you will need to check whether you are expected to arrange your own insurance. Often retirement village management will organise insurance for the entire village, but you will be required to pay your own premiums. Check whether this is the case for the village you are moving into. Policies differ between villages, and some might exclude contents insurance, so it’s important that you understand the policy and know whether your belongings are adequately covered.  

It’s a good time to review your contents sum insured…

You might find you need to or want to downsize your contents and get rid of surplus belongings that don’t fit your new lifestyle. This is a good time to review your contents sum insured to check it is enough to cover the replacement of the assets that you will be keeping. If you haven’t reviewed your contents sum insured in a while, it’s worth checking that any big-ticket items you are keeping are adequately covered under your contents insurance policy. Consider the cost of inflation if you had to buy these big-ticket items again. Review specified items, especially jewellery, and make sure they are updated to reflect their current values. 

It a great time to evaluate your other insurance needs…

Have a look at the insurances you have and decide which ones you need to keep and cancel those you don’t wish to maintain. Insurances to consider include car, contents, health, life and pet insurance. Finally, be sure to let your insurer know that you will be moving and provide them with your new address at the retirement village.