Income Protection

BGM

Hi,

I currently have mortgage protection + ~20%, and i am concerned that this is no where near enough to cover things if things went a bit wrong.

Therefore, what i'm after is something that will cover all my fixed out goings, plus a bit more in the event of sickness, accident and most importantly unemployment..

I will be working on the assumption that a redundancy package would go a fair way to paying off the credit card.. but other then that i'd be pretty stuck.

I need to cover mortgage, car payments, and bills etc.. without adding it all up exactly, id probably need ~£1500 a month and that's being optimistic.. the reality is probs a bit more..

does anyone have any advice for me, sites to look at, insurance options i should be looking at..?

i am currently in the process of getting accident sickness and unemployment insurance quotes from a company called crystal clear.. but iv never heard of them and honestly they were the first people that i have got in contact with. The only issue iv got here is that they would only cover my monthly bills.. i feel the +20% would be pretty handy!

on the other hand 'income protection' schemes don't seem to cover unemployment so readily..

eager to hear your views, thanks!

chris

dunstonh

on the other hand 'income protection' schemes don't seem to cover unemployment so readily..

"proper" income protection doesnt cover unemployment. Only the budget payment protection plans do. The best option is to go with permanent health insurance (PHI) with a standalone unemployment only plan or to go with a PPI for the 12 month period and then a PHI with a 12 month deferment.

BGM

dunstonh wrote: »

"proper" income protection doesnt cover unemployment. Only the budget payment protection plans do. The best option is to go with permanent health insurance (PHI) with a standalone unemployment only plan or to go with a PPI for the 12 month period and then a PHI with a 12 month deferment.

well.. i've never heard of PHI, any preference as to who to get it from?

also, is PPI (payment protection insurance???) just the covering of the bills etc, i.e. not an income substitution lump sum..

i was considering just getting an income and mortgage protection policy from ant insurance and being done with it as that will cover me for an amount i am comfortable with and also cover me for accident sickness and unemployment...

thoughts?

ty!

OshayAway

The policies that Ant Insurance offer are inferior to PHI which is what dunstonh refers to.

It is for this reason that there are planed measures to improve clarity of income protection including an end to 'product name-jackers' (i.e. using the term 'income protection' to in reference to ASU / MPPI / PPI etc).

The differences vary but put simply, PHI is more comprehensive in every area. The main downfall of IPP / MPPI / ASU is the exclusions that are imposed resulting in very poor claim statistics. Most, like ant, do not publish these at all. If you ask, they will tell you that they pay out 100% of valid claims! (sounds better than 25% of all claims doesn't it?!).

Some PHI income protection policies now do not have any standard exclusions whatsoever. Quite different to policies that put strict exclusions on even the most common cause for claims, anxiety / stress / depression / mental disorders.

Having said that, there are providers that offer ASU / MPPI / PPI which don't have as restrictive exclusions as Ant.

BGM

ok, cheers for clearing that up.. looks like ant is off the radar then.

it's starting to become a bit clearer now..

so, to achieve my goal of being covered for all my existing bills plus a little bit extra in the event of accidents, sickness AND unemployment

i should get an accident and sickness plan (any recommendations?)

and then a separate unemployment plan (again, recommendations?)

i am guessing that these should be in addition to my current mortgage protection insurance?

as i don't know if both fo the above will pay out together to cover my needs? hmm.. perhaps not as clear as i thought

argh!

lisathisissilly

You should speak to an IFA or specialist protection insurance adviser, how much cover you can have depends on your salary- some cover more than others but often for unemployment it is 50% gross salary.

Some PHI schemes will cover you for more- around 60-70%. As for who is best depends on your circumstances and what you need- seek some independent advice. Things such as your occupation can make a huge difference to who the best provider is for your circumstances.

Insurance_guy

There are so many vested interest discussions going on here. Antinsurance provides short term income protection insurance with fewer exclusions than most and probably the shortest lead time on the market before you can claim. It is untrue and unfair to rubbish Antinsurance because the policy might not suit your particular needs. I'm sure it has proved a life saver for hundreds or thousands of people.

Income protection insurance includes loss of job through redundancy as well as loss of income through the inability to work because of accident or sickness. I'm not rubbishing Permanent Health Insurance but I really wish people would stop giving the impression that PHI is somehow similar to IP because it isn't. For a start if you have PHI you're not covered for regular unemployment i.e. lose your job due to redundancy and PHI won't pay out. PHI can also be expensive if you have it kick in straight away, so its cheaper to have a long lead period but the down side is you won't get paid out for a while. PHI can provide your salary until you reach 60 or 65 so in that respect it is very good and IP is usually a set time such as 12 or 24 months. I've done the maths and anyone thinking between PHI an IP is better off taking an IP policy that kicks in straight away and also a PHI policy that kicks in when the IP payout period ends, this saves a fortune.

The problem with names is that everyone knew where they were when PHI was called permanent health insurance but suddenly about 5 years ago someone decided it would be a good idea to hijack the name income protection insurance for that type of cover and this has confused potential customers ever since.

OshayAway

Insurance_guy wrote: »

There are so many vested interest discussions going on here. Antinsurance provides short term income protection insurance with fewer exclusions than most and probably the shortest lead time on the market before you can claim. It is untrue and unfair to rubbish Antinsurance because the policy might not suit your particular needs. I'm sure it has proved a life saver for hundreds or thousands of people.

What exactly is your affiliation with Ant Insurance? In several of your 10 posts in the short time you joined this forum you have recommended them, in one post stating that you wish you could provide a link to their site.

No one has suggested that there is never a need for MPPI, just the limitiations and alternative options worth considering for more comprehensive cover on the A/S dissability side of things.

As a matter of fact, Ant do not offer anywhere near the most competative MPPI / ASU cover. Defaqto, who score financial products by how comprehensive they are (i.e. how many features and benefits / fewest exclusions etc) give Ant 3 out of 5 where others are 5/5. Therefore, if someone did want ASU / MPPI, Ant would not be their best option as a cheaper or similarly priced policy with fewer exclusions would obviously be preferential.

So, what is your vested interest?

Spam Fitters anyone?

The_silver_surfer

BGM wrote: »

ok, cheers for clearing that up.. looks like ant is off the radar then.

it's starting to become a bit clearer now..

so, to achieve my goal of being covered for all my existing bills plus a little bit extra in the event of accidents, sickness AND unemployment

i should get an accident and sickness plan (any recommendations?)

and then a separate unemployment plan (again, recommendations?)

i am guessing that these should be in addition to my current mortgage protection insurance?

as i don't know if both fo the above will pay out together to cover my needs? hmm.. perhaps not as clear as i thought

argh!

I have my own Income Protection cover with Pruprotect they have a five star star Defaqto rating. They cover you for around two thirds your income if you are unable to work due to accident or sickness. You can also bolt on unemployment cover to this. Their premiums are pretty average in comparrisson to everyone elses.

In regard to income protection most people set cover out to their retirement age i.e. 60-65 (the younger the cheaper), you can set the cover to kick in after 13, 26 or 52 weeks for example (the longer the cheaper your premiums).

However you should find a specialist broker/IFA who will search the whole of the market for you as there may well be a better deal.

Wutang_2

However you should find a specialist broker/IFA who will search the whole of the market for you as there may well be a better deal.

I am a independent PMI (private medical insurance) specialising insurance broker. Anything posted on here should not be considered advice and is for discussion purposes only.

Genius

lisathisissilly

Am I missing something?

PMI is not even remotely like PHI or IP so why the sarcy comment?

Seriously- find yourself a good IFA- see if any of your friends can recommend one.