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Income Protection Australia
(also know as salary continuance, sickness & accident insurance)
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If you want to get an Income Protection Insurance quote online and are happy with the insurer being Zurich - feel free to use our Online Income Protection Insurance with Zurich Ezicover in Australia at: www.incomeprotectiononline.net.au
Why is income protection insurance important?
Probably the most crucial and flexible insurance, income protection insurance for self employed or employees is designed to replace your income if you are unable to work due to sickness or accident, covering you 24 hours a day, worldwide. I like to call it the 4 ANY's: ANY accident, ANY illness, ANYwhere at ANYtime.
A simple back injury can put you out of work for a long time and we know of a few clients that have previously gone bankrupt without income protection.
Your most valuable asset can be your ability to produce an income and this must be protected. It is said that one in three Australians are disabled for longer than six months during their working lives. People insure their cars, home and contents, yet maintaining all of these material possessions is reliant on our ongoing ability to earn an income.
Ask yourself? - How long could you survive financially if your income stopped tomorrow? Our income protection calculator below will show you what you could lose.
We can explain the income protection benefits and how it will provide a monthly income during periods of longer term incapacity.
Why compare income protection insurance & how does it work?
Income Protection for self employed or employees is designed to substitute your normal income from personal exertion (usually up to 75%) with monthly payments, if you are unable to work as a result of illness or injury. The cover can be structured in a number of ways and the following options impact quite considerably on the premium cost:
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We have put together an income protection calculator to show you the value of your potential income and what you can insure yourself for. The income protection calculator should be printed off to future reference.
Waiting Period (or Excess Period)- The amount of days you will need to wait from disablement before you can put a claim in for replacement benefits. Variables are 14, 30, 60 and 90 days or 6, 12 and 24 months. Choice can vary depending on possible sick leave or cash reserves you would use in the event of a claim. The longer the Waiting Period, the cheaper the insurance premium.
Benefit Period- The maximum period of time a claim will be paid. Choices are normally 2 years, 5 years or through to age 65. But you can also get 1 year, 10 years and to age 55. Once a full Benefit Period has been paid, then the policy ceases. The shorter the Benefit Period, the cheaper the premium.
Claims Escalation (optional)- if a claim occurs, this will index the payments each year in-line with the Consumer Price Index or a set percentage. Usually more applicable for longer Benefit Periods such as 5 years or through to age 65.
Agreed Value or Indemnity Value:The monthly sum insured for an Agreed Value policy is derived from your gross income at the time the cover commences. This is especially beneficial for self employed workers (or business owners) because sometimes their income in the previous financial year may have dropped prior to making a claim.
Why does this sometimes happen? Sometimes when business is getting tight and not as much income is coming through the door, the owner (you) can get stressed and distracted, which can lead to a drop in you health and/or increase chance of an accident, which in turn can lead to an Income Protection claim.
Therefore, under Agreed Value any drop in income will not affect your Income Protection sum insured amount because it was ‘Agreed' upon when you first took it out.
The monthly benefit in an Indemnity policy is derived from your gross income at the time of claim (i.e. it is restricted to the sum insured or 75% of your income 12 months prior to claim, whichever is the lesser).
Ths is not usually a problem for most employees as their income usually always increases. These type of policies are cheaper than Agreed Value.
Tax deductible: Income Protection is fully tax deductible.
What is the best income protection insurance for me?
We will research the most appropriate product for you. Unlike some forms of insurance, there are substantial differences between the quality of one income protection quote compared to another.
The way in which the various policy features and benefits of an Income Protection Australia policy are defined can play a critical role in determining whether a claim is payable - therefore we pay for independent research which compares and rates the various products available to consumers. We utilised their evaluation to assist in selecting an the best income protection insurance policy for you.
Each income protection comparison are from insurers based here in Australia.
