Keyman Insurance Australia Keyman Insurance Calculator
This calculator helps you assess the financial risk associated with key people in your business. By estimating lost profit, disruption costs and liabilities, it provides guidance on appropriate life, TPD and trauma cover to support business continuity.
'Calculator results are estimates only and not quotes. Actual quotes will be provided by licensed brokers after you submit an enquiry.'
1. Business
2. Key people
3. Results
4. How it works
Step 1 – Business details
Used to estimate profit at risk if a key person is lost.
Step 2 – Add the key people
Add each key person whose death, disablement or serious illness would materially affect the business.
Step 3 – Recommended key person cover
Total Life-style Cover
Total TPD-style Cover
Total Trauma-style Cover
Individual recommendations
Heads-up: This is a general planning aid only. Tax treatment, policy ownership, revenue attribution and whether cover is for capital purpose or revenue purpose can change the correct structure.
Step 4 – How the calculator works
This calculator uses three broad need types:
Life-style key person cover: for permanent loss of a key person due to death, including profit loss, debt support, replacement and project continuity.
TPD-style key person cover: similar to life cover, but with additional allowance for permanent business adjustment and long-term replacement issues.
Trauma-style key person cover: shorter-term liquidity for disruption caused by serious illness or injury where the person may recover but the business still suffers a material setback.
Key questions a business should still work through with an adviser:
Is the cover for a capital purpose or a revenue purpose?
Who should own the policy – the business, the individual, or another entity?
How will the proceeds be used if a claim occurs?
Could tax treatment differ depending on purpose and ownership?
How to use our Keyman Insurance Calculator
Our Keyman Insurance Calculator is designed to help Australian businesses estimate the financial risk of losing a key person and the level of insurance that may support business continuity. By modelling likely lost profit, disruption costs and liabilities, it provides guidance on suitable Life-style, TPD-style and Trauma-style cover amounts. This matters because the death, total and permanent disablement, or serious illness of a high-impact director, rainmaker, technical specialist or operations leader can reduce revenue, delay projects, increase costs, and threaten loan covenants or supplier obligations. The calculator is a general planning tool only and is not personal financial advice.
To complete Step 1 Business details, enter each field as accurately as possible to avoid misleading results:
1) Business name (optional) Use this to label your scenario if you are comparing multiple businesses or structures.
2) Industry Select the closest match to reflect typical margins and disruption realities in your sector.
3) Annual turnover Enter normalised annual revenue (not an unusually strong or weak year).
4) Gross profit margin Provide your approximate gross margin percentage, as this is used to estimate profit at risk if the key person is lost.
5) Business debt and liabilities to protect Include loans, overdrafts, guarantees or obligations you would want covered to stabilise the business.
6) Business disruption period Choose the expected recovery window (for example 3, 6, 12 or 24 months). Be realistic about recruitment lead times and client retention.
7) Contingency, legal, recruitment buffer Add a buffer for unforeseen costs such as specialist recruitment, legal fees, contract penalties, interim contractors and PR.
8) Rounding Select a rounding option to align recommendations with typical insurer benefit increments and budgeting.
In Step 2 Key people, add each key person and complete the on-screen impact inputs for that individual. If you are unsure, use conservative assumptions, document why, and consider running best case, expected case and worst case scenarios.
In Step 3 Results, review the total recommended Life-style cover (death), TPD-style cover (permanent disablement) and Trauma-style cover (serious illness with shorter-term liquidity needs). Use the JSON summary for adviser handoff or internal records. If results look too high or low, revisit margin, disruption months, liabilities and buffer settings. Insurance definitions, ownership, tax treatment and whether the purpose is capital or revenue can materially change the appropriate structure, so consider speaking with a licensed adviser and read the relevant PDS before acting.
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Knowledgebase
Elimination Period: The time period between an injury and the receipt of benefit payments from an insurer, particularly in disability insurance.