Elizabeth Gould's Story

Elizabeth Gould is a mother, now in her forties, who has had a number of careers including working as a lawyer, management consultant, marketing manager and in senior roles in multi-national executive recruitment firms. Having barely recovered from being the victim of a major crime during which she had to defend her two small children, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2004, had a mastectomy in January 2005 at which time she took six weeks off and then worked through Chemotherapy through to August 2006.

There were worrying signs in the remaining breast in 2006 and as a result Elizabeth had another mastectomy. To date, she has had a total of nine operations.

Not just emotionally but financially too, John's family now faced an uphill battle. Previously, John was a senior manager and earned more than $100,000 a year. He and his wife had a substantial mortgage, other loans and children at university and private school.

Due to his condition John found himself unemployable and stopped working.

Fortunately, 10 years prior to the accident, John had taken out Income Protection insurance. Over the period of his cover he'd paid around $9,800 in insurance premiums.

Income Protection insurance has proven to be the Maher family's financial lifeline. Over the last 14 years, John has received more than $1.1 million and he will likely continue to claim his monthly benefit until age 65. His projected Income Protection insurance benefit approximately $1.8 million.

As John says:

"Insurance was my greatest ever investment. I remember thinking at the time that nothing was likely going to happen to me – but you never know what lies around the corner."

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