ASU Insurance Policy

BuddSnow

I have just turned 64 and looking for an ASU as I am self employed and the director of my own company with no other staff. I have contacted numerous companies but have yet to find one that covers at my age. I don't need Life Insurance or loss of limb or a broken limb as I already have that. A recent horse riding accident that put me off my feet for nearly 3 weeks with no income, made me start looking and the results are  all rather disappointing 

MyRealNameToo

So you have two income streams? The company work and the self employment? What's the split between the two?

Are you needing the unemployment component or just the accident and sickness? Some ASU will cover self employed but not all do 

How much longer are you looking to be working for? I assume you are aware that ASU only pays out for 1 or 2 years?

ASU market massively shrank after the PPI scandal and even more so when in Covid times many insurers stopped writing it or increased premiums 4x for those who did keep writing it. Obviously the premiums are revalued annually and are likely to rise quickly as you age. Increasingly companies are also calling ASU Income Protection which causes confusion with the other similarly named product. 

Income Protection/ PHI may be another consideration, though it doesnt by default cover unemployment, but gives better cover that can't be cancelled and prices can be fixed. It also pays out to the defined retirement age rather than just 1 year if you do get something bad. It's better product but its price reflects this. 

Weighty1

Unfortunately, I think you may find yourself in a situation where you are unable to find the type of cover you want.  Typically, for the long-term income protection plans available on the market you have to be under age 60 at the point of application and for the short-term 'Accident, Sickness & (optional) Unemployment' type policies you have to be aged under 64 at the point of application.  There may be an exception on the ASU type policies out there but there's none that I'm aware of.

To offer a bit of solice, if you were able to find cover, especially with the long-term income protection plans which are the preferable type, if you needed it to start paying out really quickly ie <1-month 'deferred period' then there's a good chance that the premium would be so prohibitive that you'd not want to take it out anyway.