Why Income Protection For Tradesmen Is Especially Important!

There are many inherent risks associated with doing business, being a tradesman and also being a self employed tradesman can significantly increase that risk. Questions arise surrounding your job security. What if I am injured on the job? How will I support my family? How will I meet my financial obligations? These are just a few of the concerns of tradesmen who work in an uncertain environment daily.

Consider an example of an owner operated one man gardening business, with many services offered including lawn cutting, hedging as well as landscaping. Now imagine if the owner of this company broke his leg on the job after falling off a ladder. The doctors said it was pretty bad and he would be unable to work for a few months. The gardening business owner unfortunately did not have an income protection policy and has suffered not only the physical pain from his injury, but financial hardship and the loss of business. Many of his loyal customers have sought other gardeners to fulfill their gardening needs and the gardening business owner has to be relying on his wife to support him and his three kids. Obviously this is a less than ideal scenario.

Income protection is a form of trade insurance that can protect up to 75% of your gross income should you become unable to work due to an injury or illness. Income protection insurance unlike other insurance policies will provide a monthly disbursement if you are unable to work due to an illness or injury suffered. Income protection is important for all workers, but it is particularly essential to tradesmen. Feedback from the Australian insurance industry for tradesmen indicated that tradesmen have the greatest number of loss of income claims when compared to other occupations who often suffer a loss of income due to injury. One could conclude that tradesmen are at a higher risk of losing their income.

Income protection is widely available from companies that offer insurance specifically to tradesmen. Most standard traders will have no trouble receiving coverage from income protection. The premium does however increase based on the type of trade, age and your smoking status. Your premium generally increases as you get older. Higher risk trades are also faced with greater premiums.

There are several options available under income protection policies. The option chosen at application will affect your ability to receive claim payments if an illness or injury arises.

Benefit Period

The benefit period refers to the maximum length of time you will continue to receive benefits once you have claimed for each event.

Waiting Period

The waiting period describes the length of time from the date of your illness or injury that you are unable to work before you will begin to receive benefits from your claim. For a tradesman the typical length of time is 30 days before you are eligible to receive benefits.



Regardless of the cost of premiums, insurance payment for loss of income is a small price to pay for the potential loss of income and business that a tradesman can face if he is injured or ill. Self-employed persons are generally not eligible for workers compensation so the need for income protection is much greater. Alleviate these fears by researching possible income protection policies offered by different companies. Income protection policies offer tradesmen benefits if they are unable to conduct their usual business activities. Protect yourself today.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7659910

Income Protection Insurance: Understanding The Terms

In today's times of financial uncertainties, it is a smart move to have an alternative source of income in case of emergencies. If you want to ease your worries about paying the bills if you lose your job, income protection can cover your income against unforeseen unemployment.

However, before buying this cover online, let us first understand income protection insurance.

Income Protection Insurance (IPI) is an income insurance policy that pays policyholders a fixed amount of money either weekly or monthly if they are unable to work due to illness or accidents.

Otherwise known as salary continuance insurance, this type of insurance can pay up to 75% of the gross annual income of the policyholder in the event that the policyholder is unable to work due to illness or injury.

Usually, a good policy pays out after 30 days that a policyholder is unable to work and will continue to pay out until the policyholder is able to return to work or until the cut-off age of 65.

Importance of Income Protection Insurance:

In this current economic climate, amongst the best insurance policies to get is income insurance for it provides a number of benefits in comparison to other insurance policies such as:

1. Peace of mind for it will provide financial security in the event of unforeseen circumstances such as unemployment due to illness or injuries

2. Payments of benefits are paid regularly either weekly or monthly

3. Payments of benefits are payable in times after the policyholder is unable to work and will continue until the policy holder returns to work or until retirement or the term of the contract ends

4. The monthly or weekly benefit payments paid from the policy to policyholders are free of income tax and National Insurance contributions

5. Insurance company does not have the authority to cancel or refuse to renew the policy provided that the policyholder continues to pay the premiums

6. May provide a waiver of premium option whereby IPI policy premiums are not required while the policy is paying benefits, but the policy cover continues as normal

7. Provides additional benefits that are usually offered for no cost that includes death benefits, cosmetic, or other surgery benefits and transplant benefits

Income insurance provides the needed financial security and peace of mind that you and your family need should you become disabled and unable to earn an income.

There are many insurance companies online that offer income protection insurance. If you want to have the best and the most suitable for you, compare income protection insurance rates and benefits and all other significant details. In this way you will be able to choose from the numerous numbers of insurance companies that offer the most suitable for you.

Choose an Income protection policy with the right level of cover for your situation - consider income protection insurance's limitations on how, when, and for how long you are covered. Do not hesitate to do a thorough research online or ask your friends and families who have already purchased such insurance. In this way, you will be suitably informed of the best income protection insurance for you.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6615328

Do I Need Income Protection ?

I have developed this guide to provide you with some Information to help determine whether you should obtain income protection.

I have attempted to make this analysis simple and to the point, so that you can make an informed choice. It covers some important issues and answers questions such as:

 why do I need Income Protection Insurance?
 doesn't Worker's Compensation cover me?
 will I ever be able to claim?
 how much cover is enough?
 what if I am overseas or have to leave work?



What Is Income Protection?

Most people have heard about it, many don't understand exactly how it works and few have adequate cover in place, if any at all!

So what is it?

It is a highly effective way of helping safeguard a person from the single greatest threat they may ever face - sickness or injury. If sickness or injury renders you unable to work, (and you satisfy the terms and conditions of your policy), then your income protection will go to work for you to pay a monthly income. Quite simply, it will help put food on the table, petrol in the tank, stop the bank from foreclosing on your mortgage, keep school fees paid and generally give you the means to maintain a reasonable standard of living if you are not able to earn your income.

Why do I need it?

When you consider how vulnerable a person's lifestyle is to a loss of income, it may be quite a risk not having your income protected.

Consider how much you earn, multiply that by how many years you have until retirement, and then add a factor for inflation and pay increases. It doesn't take a mathematician to work out that some people may be risking literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars if they were to suffer a long term medical condition without some form of protection.

To put it in perspective, try this quick quiz:

Which is your greatest asset?

Car
Home
Income

Which do you have Insured?

Car
Home
Income

What if I just continue taking my chances?

Recent statistics show that on an average day in Australia:

 214 people are diagnosed with cancer [1]
 41 people undergo coronary artery bypass surgery [1]
 35 people between the age of 35 and 69 will survive a heart attack [1]
 Further, more than 60% of Australians will be disabled for more than one month during their working life [2]
 more than 25% will be disabled for more than three months during their working life [2]

But won't my sick leave cover it?

Many people feel that income protection is only for the self employed and that their sick leave will protect them if they are off work. The truth is that even the most generous employer may be unable to maintain a salary for someone who is not able to work for an extended period.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7210250