You may be saving for an overseas trip, planning to buy your first home, putting aside money for your kids’ education, or preparing to set sail in the years after you’ve stopped working.
Whatever your goal or aspiration, you don’t want it derailed at the last minute by something unexpected, which is why a financial safety net or contingency plan could be your knight in shining armour.
Take a moment to think about the what-ifs
You may have one goal or several, but consider if you were blindsided by an accident or illness and your income took a hit.
Your ability to physically and financially accomplish what you had set out to achieve could be seriously delayed or disrupted. Things like:
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The completion of your tertiary studies
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Saving for your engagement party, wedding or honeymoon
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Your domestic or overseas holiday plans
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Your children’s education and their extra-curricular activities
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Your ability to save for or pay off your home
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Your desire to start or expand your small business
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Your property renovation dreams
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The date you want to retire
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Your recreational goals in the years after work.
It’s easy to see why you might want to safeguard what matters most in this equation—you.
Your wellbeing is a crucial factor in reaching your goals and this is something worth noting, particularly with one in five people being unable to work at one point or another in their lifetime.1
How can you secure your goals?
If something were to happen—say you injured yourself or got sick and were unable to work and earn an income—the last thing you’d probably want to do is abandon your travel plans, sell your home, dip into your kids’ education fund or desert your golf or bridge membership in retirement.
If you don’t have a financial buffer in place, things that may be worth thinking about could include an emergency fund where you set aside some savings, taking out personal insurance, or if you’re already insured, checking the level of insurance you have is adequate.
While these things won’t prevent an accident or illness, they can give you peace of mind that you can cover the day-to-day and any additional costs that may come your way, so you don’t have to postpone the goals on your horizon.
The types of protection available
If you’re not familiar with personal insurance, you can buy different forms through your super fund, which is where more than 70% of policies are held currently2, or via an insurance company, broker or financial adviser.
The four main types that are available, although not always through super, include:
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Income protection
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Trauma insurance
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Total and permanent disability
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Life insurance.
In the meantime, good luck achieving your goals, whatever they may be, and if you’re after tools, technology and experiences to help give you the best chance of realising what you want to accomplish, please contact us on 02 9299 1500 if you would like to discuss.
Source: AMP 18th August, 2016
