We often think it’s important to insure our lives, but how many of us think about the financial implications if we were unable to work due to an accident, injury or illness? How many of us could cover our incomes in these events? Pay our mortgages, support our families, and maintain our standard of living? The sad reality is that unless we have substantial savings, the loss of income at a time of illness can be financially devastating, particularly for self-employed people, with no sick pay arrangements in place. Even if you are employed, most employers will only support you for a short period of time and then, without provision in place, you will have to rely on state benefits to live. For many, this is not a sufficient replacement to allow you to maintain your standard of living.
How can you protect yourself from loss of income?
Income protection is an insurance policy that pays out if you’re unable to work because of accident, injury or illness. Depending on the type of policy you have, Income protection usually pays out until retirement, death or your return to work. However, some short-term income protection policies, which last for one, two or five years are also available at a lower cost. Neither income protection or short-term income protection pays out if you’re made redundant – but they will often provide ‘back to work’ help if you’re off sick, as well as other provider benefits such as physiotherapy and back to work incentives. .
Typically covering 50-70% of your income, tax free (so that you have some incentive to return to work), an income protection policy will ensure you are able to meet your essential monthly outgoings if you cannot go to work.
However, finding the right income protection product for you can be tricky if you are not aware of the variations of cover available. You will need to select:
- The Best Provider
- An Appropriate Benefit
- The Correct Term
- A Deferred Period
- A Claim Period
- Type of Premiums
- Optional Benefits
- And more!
Our team have the expertise to research and select the insurances that are most suitable to meet your needs within budget. With a thorough understanding of the market, we know which products are catered specifically for certain occupations from high risk manual jobs such as builders, carpenters and scaffolders to products that are catered towards NHS workers.
You probably already insure your car, phone, pets … the list goes on! Ask yourself this – if you had a machine in your house that produces £1000 for your income every month, would you insure it? That machine is YOU so why do you not have Income Protection in place?