Income Protection Insurance for Builders!

Are you without Income Protection? As a builder, it may be financially damaging!

A lot of you may be thinking, I’m 10 foot tall and Bullet proof! Really? Listen to my story…

I have a client who owns a beauty salon, and who’s husband is a builder – self employed (Let’s call them John and Mary). Until Mary met me, she didn’t have any insurances, but now everything is in place. She feels really confident that if she accidentally hurt herself she would get her income protection to cover her personal and business costs. This means that there won’t be a downturn in her finances if she couldn’t work.

For the last 6 months, she has been trying to convince her husband to do the same. But he has a different view on things. He is a young, fit, 30 year old.. what could possibly go wrong??

Well, I’m glad you asked! John also plays Soccer with his mates on the weekend, and guess what happened a few weeks ago whilst playing? John broke his leg. John can’t work for the next 8 weeks, and is running up medical bills to the tune of around $5,000, and of course can’t earn an income for at least 8 weeks. The financial consequences are enormous!

Let’s see what would have happened had he had Income Protection as a builder

Most policies have what is called a waiting period. Let’s say the waiting period is 30 days. This means if you are off work for 60 days (8 weeks), you will get paid your income protection for the last 30 days once you have satisfied the wait period.

For people, who have more physical work – be it chiropractors, beauty therapists and of course Tradies, builders etc, I always chat to them about having an accident option included. This means if you have an accident, you will get paid despite your waiting period. This really limits the period between you being unable to work, and having your insurance claim paid to you.

“I already have cover in place”

Even if you have cover in place, it is a great idea to have this reviewed. I have met with builders before who were severely underinsured when they thought they had everything in place… and I have had builders and tradies who had the right amount of cover. Either way, at least you and your family have peace of mind that you are protected.

The information provided in this article is of a general nature only. It has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs.  Before acting on this information you should consider its appropriateness having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs.