Are you young and independent?
You may think you don’t need to think about insurance at your age, but I’d urge you to think again.
Consider your lifestyle and what you could lose if something were to happen to you.
- You regularly go out with friends.
- You have started a career.
- Perhaps you are paying off the education expenses of previous years investment in your future earning.
- Maybe you are running a credit card and may have some debt on that.
- Maybe you are renting your first property or even buying your first home with a mortgage.
- Maybe you are saving for a deposit on a flat or a house.
- Perhaps you are saving for travel abroad or paying off debts from previous travel you just completed.
Did you know?
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, “Australia’s Health, 2008′, an average of 1,800 Australians, aged 20-29 die each year from:
- Motor vehicle accidents,
- Accidental poisoning,
- Intentional Self-harm.
The top causes of disability in the same age group are:
- Injuries from road accidents,
- Self-inflicted injuries, or
- Anxiety and depression.
What have you got to lose?
A lot … but for a little more than the cost of a daily coffee you can protect yourself and the lifestyle you would like to lead now and in the future.
Insurance products that could suit your needs are:
- Income Protection – If you were on an annual salary of $35,000 and you spent the same amount of time in the workforce as the average male Australian, you have a lifetime earning capacity of $3 million (around 43 years based on Australian Government Productivity Commission report Jan 2007 and assuming your salary increases by 3% due to CPI and other increases)
Isn’t that an amount worth insuring?
- Critical Illness – If you suffer a critical illness such as cancer, this pays you a lump sum so you have choices. Choices to reduce any personal debt have an extended holiday to aid your recovery or fund things such as modifying your home.
- Total and Permanent Disability – This also pays a lump sum to provide you choices in modifying your home or paying for special medical needs.
- Life Cover (possibly) – This pays your family or a beneficiary a lump sum if you die so they can pay off any of your outstanding debts or provide whomever you bequeath the proceeds choice to do things which you may have done together if still alive.
We have commented upon this topic before:
http://plan2prosper.com.au/articles/2007/10/protecting-whats-important-to-you/
http://plan2prosper.com.au/articles/2008/07/is-insurance-an-expense-or-an-investment/
http://plan2prosper.com.au/articles/2006/11/life-insurance-and-the-financial-planner/
And we’ll comment on it again because protecting yourself and your future earning potential is one of the most important things that can affect our families.
Money, as we all know, seems to slip through our hands in the shortest possible time, no matter how good our intentions to save or to do the right thing. Somehow, the dream of the long awaited holiday, or new car, or paying off the mortgage, seems as far away as ever. The reason is often painfully obvious – people work hard for their money and then ignore the essential step of applying sound financial planning to those hard earned dollars.
Financial planning sounds simple – and to a large degree it is. But too many people ignore it. Most Australian households have no financial plan. A sustainable wealth protection strategy is the very foundation of any long term financial plan.
Where to from here?
- Contact us
- Get more information about an Educational Forum for you and your friends
- Register and receive regular email updates
Dan Smith is self employed and is for many families their trusted Financial Planner based in Rockhampton. He has clients in various locations throughout Australia but predominately in Central Queensland and specifically the geographic area encompassed by the Rockhampton Regional Council.