1. How does Advice Plus help me determine my insurance needs?
In the event of death or disablement of a key family member, we first need to understand, what are the key outcomes you require for your family;
- Where will they live and is there a mortgage that needs to be managed?
- What one-off expenses might be incurred such as funeral costs and estate fees?
- How much income does your family require to maintain a reasonable lifestyle?
- How long will your children be dependent for and what is the potential cost of their education?
- When will your partner retire and how will retirement income be funded?
Next, we determine your capacity to meet these expenses on your own;
- Do you have any assets that can be sold now or in the future i.e. personal savings, Kiwi saver, holiday home, investment property or business?
- How much income will your partner earn and for how long?
- Do you think Government Superannuation provided in retirement will be sufficient?
With all of these taken into account, we can determine whether there will be a shortfall that requires an insurance solution.
More importantly, we now have a personalised formula that can be regularly reviewed, reducing the chance of being over insured.
2. What about my existing insurance?
Once we have determined your key requirements regarding insurance protection we will provide you with clear advice on how relevant your existing insurances are to meet your needs. Only when it has been clearly determined that your existing cover does not meet your requirements will we recommend additional or alternative protection.
3. What types of insurance should I consider?
This will strongly depend on who is incapacitated and how the surviving or healthy partner can cope with the financial requirements of the family.
In many cases, protection in the event of death of the key family member is a risk event that needs to be protected. Life insurance is usually recommended here.
Next, we need to ensure the household can continue to meet its cost of living needs when a key, income producing family member can no longer work. Income Protection can be an ideal solution to this problem.
Permanent disablement insurance, critical condition/trauma insurance and medical insurance are also additional covers that might need to be considered depending on individual circumstance.
Advice Plus will work through a comprehensive process to identify your key areas of exposure and recommend the most suitable solution for your needs.
4. How do I make sure I’m not over insured?
Advice Plus’s structured process enables us to precisely calculate your insurance needs taking into account all of your own available resources first.
This transparent approach also provides a clear structure for reviewing your policies to ensure you are not over insured in the future as your personal debt reduces and your own assets and income increases.
Call us to discuss this further.