Disability Cover ensures You’re Paid when you Can’t Work

Surviving in South Africa when you’ve got a job is challenging as it is. Sso when you find yourself without a regular monthly income, it can devastating. For the self employed person, income protection is critical. Having a disability policy is critical.

Injury and the inability to work can be a massive financial blow. However, there are steps you can take to help make ends meet when you’re unable to work.

Will you be Among the 70% of South Africans With Disability?

South Africans don’t quite understand how insurance works. And the truth is they may even be paying for some cover that they don’t need. They may also be under-insured for events that could actually affect them. Look at disabilities for instance. There are a staggering 70% of South Africans who will suffer with a disability in their lifetime. And that means so that they can’t earn an income.

According to FMI’s RealityCheck Consumer Survey, 700 South Africans were surveyed, and 48% this group thought that life insurance was death cover. However the CEO of FMI says they should know there is a greater need for disability cover than life cover.

A Disability Policy is More Important Than Life Cover

If you become disabled, how are you going to provide for yourself and your family? It is why Disability Insurance is sometimes regarded as much more important than life insurance.

When you die it is one less mouth to feed, but a person who has become disabled needs to eat, and they also sometimes require months of very expensive rehabilitative treatment. They may even have special needs, requiring home adaptation to cater for their disability.

Protect Future Earnings With a Disability Policy

Disability cover can also protect future earnings through income protection cover. People can choose what percentage of their salaries they want cover for such as 75% to 100%. That applies until a certain retirement age.

The question is how do people protect themselves from the effects of disability? How much disability cover you need will be dependent on your personal requirements and your finances.

You will also need to choose whether you want a one-off lump-sum cash benefit or you want to receive a payment at the end of each month. Lump sum payments link to permanent disability while income benefit usually links to a shorter-term disability with the idea of you returning to work soon.

What is your Disability Policy’s Definition of Disabled?

The idea is to receive payment in such a way that you can be independent of others for as long as possible. You need to make sure that you know your particular policy’s definition of disabled. This is because the definition can vary among underwriters. Make sure you understand the fine print and what you have cover for.

Certainly those looking for disability cover need to find out what they are covered for, for how long and also whether the benefit should increase each year.

Disability isn’t something Reserved for the Elderly

Don’t think disability won’t happen to you. Do research and you’ll see that a huge percentage of income protection claims are from people under the age of 40. Consider disability cover, bearing in mind that you will need to cover the requirements of those who depend on you as well.

 

Use the form on this page to apply for disability insurance and life cover

All info was correct at time of publishing