Insurance protection for accident/illness

PUMPKIN

Hi
I hope this is the right place to post this, My Husband is a self employed handyman and we are looking to get some insurance incase he had a accident or illness that prevented him from working.
However looking for insurance is a mind field i tried typing in google and alot came up so was wondering if anyone can tell me were do i start.
Thanks sally

Quentin

Although you can get some insight into the various income protection insurances available by doing some surfing via google, it may be better to go to a broker for advice - this sort of insurance can be complex and expensive, and there is little advantage buying it "blind" off the net before discussing it with a broker.

You can get quotes for income protection insurance from the usual financial sites (eg moneysupermarket) to give you an idea of premiums and types of cover available.

dunstonh

You can get quotes for income protection insurance from the usual financial sites (eg moneysupermarket) to give you an idea of premiums and types of cover available.

They only do the budget payment protections though. Not PHI. For self employed in partcular PHI is better than PPI unless there are budgetary issues.

the-chauffeur_2

If I can add in one other thing you should bear in mind when looking for this type of cover for the self-employed . . .

. . . almost all income protection insurers base their calculations of the amount of benefit they will pay on the amount of earned income the individual reports to the Inland Revenue. For the employed, this generally isn't much of an issue because they are paid salaries which are automatically declared as being taxable income.

But the self-employed can structure the way they pay themselves in a number of more tax advantageous and/or creative ways that maximise their income - for instance, by paying themselves a minimal salary and recording more substantial sums once or twice a year as dividends. Whilst there's nothing wrong with this approach from a tax avoidance (and not evasion) standpoint, if the policy states that it will only replace reported income, the insurer will base its calculations on that minimal salary level - and not the total income including dividends. Not surprisingly, this can leave the insured with a shortfall he or she wasn't expecting . . .

As others have said, this is a complicated area - and the above is one more reason why consulting an independent financial advisor is such a good idea.

HTH