Can you buy Peace of Mind?
(Simplifying Life Cover, Income Protection and Illness Cover)
For some reason two quotes from Arnie in the Terminator movies always stayed with me.
The first was – ‘’ I need your clothes your, boots and your motor cycle’’ to a poor unfortunate biker in a bar who should have just handed everything over without a fight (I hope he had good life cover!).
And the second was ‘’Come with me if you want to live’’ to Sarah Connor when rescuing her from hospital (she thought he was going to kill her!).
While the role of a financial adviser isn’t quite as glamorous as that of Arnie in full blockbuster movie flow, the Terminator was ultimately protecting his client (Sarah Connor) and financial advisers look to protect their clients and their loved ones also.
I think the financial adviser equivalent to both of the above quotes would be as follows (said in your best Arnie accent!)
‘’I need to protect your Life, your health and your income’’
And
‘’Come with me in case you don’t live!’’ (Or get seriously ill)
In trying to protect our clients we are really trying to buy some peace of mind and protect them against the ‘’it will never happen to me’’ events that unfortunately do happen in life and to have proper protection in place if any of them do actually happen.
So, while we can’t fully guarantee peace of mind, we can certainly go some way towards it with some planning in case the ‘’what if ‘’ does actually happen.
In this case I am referring to 3 simple ‘’what ifs’’ that we all need to consider.
- What if you get seriously ill?
- What if you die unexpectedly or a lot younger than you hope?
- What if you couldn’t work for an extended period of time or worse never again??
How would those who rely on you cope in any of the above scenarios and is there anything you can do before any of them happen?
The simple way is to protect your life, your income and your health.
Surely everyone does that already?
Indeed, you would think so but amazingly many people don’t and lots of those who do are under-insured or not in the appropriate plans.
So, what do I have to do?
Well, the reality is that you don’t actually have to do anything because its optional and therein lies a large part of the issue.
On one hand you have to insure your car, your house and your mortgage debt so everyone has home insurance, mortgage protection and car insurance and on the other, there is no obligation to insure or protect your life, your health or your income if you don’t want to. Because its optional many people either choose not to put any cover in place at all or put it on the long finger and many end up regretting this when something does happen.
You don’t have to insure your mobile phone, your pet, your annual holiday, your sports equipment etc. but many people choose to because these are seen as valuable and important.
Don’t most employers provide Death in service and income protection?
Yes, lots of jobs come with Death in service benefit, and some income protection but it varies widely and people should check their entitlements to make sure they have enough cover and if not, they should look to take separate additional personal cover.
So, what should I be doing?
- Protect your income by taking out an income protection policy that will cover your income if for some reason you cannot work for a period of time (or permanently).
- Protect the standard of living of those who rely on you by taking out life cover so that if you die suddenly or unexpectedly your dependants have adequate resources to maintain their standard of living.
- Protect yourself against large medical bills and potential loss of income for a period of time so that if you get seriously ill you have a payout to cover medical and living expenses until you recover and get back to work.
While we can’t guarantee 100% peace of mind, you can rest easier knowing that your loved ones will be catered for should something go wrong by taking some or all of the above steps (and each situation will be different) This is where the financial adviser comes in!
How much does it cost?
This depends on many factors and you would have to weigh up the costs of the alternative also if the ‘’what if’’ does happen.
So, what should I do?
The best thing would be to talk to a good financial adviser who can look at the big picture with you and look at your current levels of cover (if any) and advise on appropriate levels and work with you on your budget and put an affordable level of cover in place.
So make an appointment to speak with one of the team at Wealthwise where we can carry out a full review and make appropriate recommendations particular to your own unique circumstances.
…Until then as Arnie might say ‘’Hasta la vista’’!
