Financial Protection

When should I put financial protection in place?

There are some key times of life when you should consider putting financial protection in place.  These include when you buy a house or take on a long-term rental; when you get married or have children and therefore have people who are dependent on you.  You should also consider what would happen for you as an individual should you be unable to work and earn money. Would you be able to rely on others to help you with your expenses and would you be comfortable with borrowing or accepting money from friends or family?

When you get a mortgage, most lenders will require you to have life insurance in place to cover the cost of the borrowed sum in case of death.  It’s sad to say, but once you’re over the age of 40, there is a four times greater chance of being unable to work due to an accident or illness than of dying, so life insurance alone may not be enough.

As protection policies are based on an individual’s age and health history, the younger and healthier you are when you take out the policy, the cheaper it will be.

The protection marketplace is very competitive and can be confusing in terms of costs and benefits.  We add value for our clients by ensuring that you are paying the best price for the benefits you need, either by reducing the cost you pay or finding you better cover for the same monthly cost.

How much will it cost?

The cost of cover depends on factors such as your age, health history, the type of work you do, the level and length of cover you want and how soon you will need payments to kick in.

For a 25 year old, who is fit, healthy and a non-smoker, working in a relatively low risk profession, a monthly premium for £1,000 of income protection with a policy provider offering good benefits, starting within 3 months of falling ill, the premium could be as low as £25 a month.

For a 40 year old in a similar health and work position and with the same policy requirements, the cost would be approximately one third higher.

Business Protection

Protect your business against the risk of something happening to a business owner, director or key individual, which means they are not able to work.

As a business, losing a key person, even for a short period of time, can have a big impact.  This is particularly true if you are a small or medium sized business and don’t have the luxury of carrying a backup person in your current team.

We can help you put in place different products which will help see you through the tough times.  These include:

• Cross Option agreements – Partnership and Shareholder Protection

This covers the death of a business owner, allowing the remaining business owners to control the future of their business by providing funding to buy the shares from the estate of the deceased owner.  In this way, it also helps the beneficiaries of the deceased’s estate.

• Key Person Cover

This is life insurance taken out by a business on the life of someone crucial to that business. It provides a financial safety net if a key member of staff dies or, if critical illness cover is included, is diagnosed with a serious illness.  It is geared towards mitigating losses for a business and can help ensure that the business survives the blow.

• Relevant Life Plans

These protect against the death of an employee from relatives’ perspective by providing a tax-free cash lump sum to their family if they do pass away. With a relevant life policy, it’s the business that makes the payments, not the person covered. You don’t need to pay any national insurance or income tax on the premiums, but you can still get the benefits of corporation tax relief.

Need something more?  Find out about the other services we offer: