Could Your Family Survive Without Your Income?

Could you continue to cover your basic day-to-day living costs, household bills, rent or mortgage repayments if you unexpectedly suffered an illness or had an accident that prevented you from working? You may be entitled to sick pay and benefits, however, these may only support you for a short period of time. Regardless of gender, if you or your partner is the primary home maker, then it’s not easy to make the shift to becoming the main breadwinner.

You may think this won’t happen to you and of course we all hope it doesn’t, but it’s important to recognise that no one is immune to the risk of illness and accidents. Not many of us currently consider how we would handle the interruption of our income for a period of 20 years or more through disability and illness, or even the death of a partner, and the knock-on effect this could have on our retirement income.

For example, a recent Zurich survey of more than 6,000 people in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, found that 1 in 2 respondents see their personal risk of becoming unable to work as less than 10 per cent. Yet in Western Europe, up to 25 per cent of the workforce could become unable to work during their lifetime.

This is where income protection plans could be crucial. Income protection insurance is a long-term insurance policy to help you if you can’t work because you’re ill or injured.

• It replaces part of your income if you can’t work because you become ill or disabled.
• It pays out until you can start working again, or until you retire, die or the end of the policy term – whichever is sooner.
• There’s a waiting period before the payments start. You generally set payments to start after your sick pay ends, or after any other insurance stops covering you. The longer you wait, the lower the monthly payments.
• It covers most illnesses that leave you unable to work, either in the short or long term (depending on the type of policy and its definition of incapacity).
• You can claim as many times as you need to, while the policy lasts.

It could help safeguard you and your family against an unexpected loss of income so you have one less thing to worry about, leaving you to focus on your recovery. The plan will continue to support you until you are well enough to return to work, or until you reach your selected plan end age.

What are you waiting for? Your income matters so protect it! Find out how much your cover could cost by applying for a free, no obligation quote below…