Monday, 13 July 2020

LIFE: Why I'm Considering Income Protection

*Advertorial Content - Guest Post
If the Covid-19 pandemic has taught me anything, it’s that life is truly unpredictable. Who’d have thought that we’d experience something like this in our lifetime that would disrupt everything we knew? It’s got me thinking about safeguarding mine and my family's future against the ‘what if’s’ which led me to considering insurance cover.

 In particular, income protection. Income protection is a life insurance product that is basically designed to cover a percentage of your salary (usually around 50-70%) if you become too ill or injured to work. And it’s not just the employed that this applies to - self-employed people can get income protection too and actually, it’s probably more important than for anyone else. 

How does income protection work?
Income protection allows you to continue paying the essential bills such as your mortgage or rent payment even when you can’t go out to work. Upon claiming, it pays out regularly until you can either go back to work, until the policy ends or you retire or pass away. You can also claim more than once a policy, which is really handy. 
If you’re employed, you might be eligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). This is great but at £95.85 a week, it might not be enough to get you by. Income protection is a weight off your mind when you need it most, so that you can focus on getting better. 

Of course if you’re self-employed, no work is likely to mean no income. You can’t rely on things like SSP. Income protection is all the more important if you’re self-employed. You can take out an individual policy rather than a business one, but you need to ascertain on what basis the insurer will pay out. 
Is it expensive?
Income protection is an affordable product, however it’s different for everyone and will completely depend on your own individual circumstances. Premium prices are based on your age, your marital status, whether you smoke or have previously smoked, your lifestyle (such as whether you have any high risk hobbies like extreme sports), your job, your health (current health, your weight and your family medical history), the deferral period you decide on and how much income you’d like to receive each month.

You need to consider how much income you’d like to receive each month. I’d want enough to cover the mortgage repayments and bills at least, but it’s also important to consider day-to-day living costs - especially if you are usually out every weekday working in an office. As lockdown has taught us, you’ll probably end up spending more money on food if you’re at home all the time. 
Income protection is certainly an important insurance product - potentially one of the most vital as the vast majority of us have a regular income to protect. There’s a lot of information online that can sometimes be a bit overwhelming, so turn to an insurance broker if you’re unsure and need some help and advice. 

Feel free to leave a comment - I love reading every single one :)

Helen x
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12 comments

  1. I definitely need to look into this! Lockdown has proved how important it is to stay on track of your finances and budgeting! Sim

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  2. Your blog post is so clear and have but things in perspective for me. My husband and I both don't have any income protection but I think we definitely need to look into getting this

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  3. Income protection is definitely important. It is just one of those little things that many of us don't think about but can mean the difference between struggling and staying afloat.

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  4. I agree. For anyone that relies on income like self employment or high risk industries this looks like a great things to have. Definitely looking into this moving forward

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  5. ITs not something we have ever looked into but in reality this year has made us rethink a few things, including this as my wife is self employed etc,great tips.

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  6. My fiancee has income protection as he's self employed and if he couldn't work for whatever reason we would suffer so we deemed it well worth having x

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  7. It's food for thought and definitely worth considering as life is really unpredictable during the pandemic x Going to look into it!

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  8. I would of never thought about it before now but reading up about it I think I will definitely be looking into it a bit more

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  9. This is so important to have, I could not believe when I heard SSP was under a £100 a week...it is disgraceful really x

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  10. This is something I honestly hadn't thought about - but it really makes sense. I will have to look into this as it would be nice not to have to worry about one more thing.

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  11. I haven't heard of income protection before, it sounds like a good way to protect yourself.

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  12. income protection is so important, we have it but thankfully have managed to scrape by

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