You may be paying for coverage that you Don't Need. Find out why.
Are you are paying for insurance, but are unsure of what you are covered for? Then, it’s time for you to review your insurance policies. If you are not familiar with insurance terms, get a professional insurance adviser to review & summarise your insurance plans for you.
Insurance policies purchased for personal and family protection fall into one of these five categories; life, disability, critical illness, long-term care and health insurance.
Starlight isn't a life insurance specialist. However, we have met with competent life insurance advisers and gathered from them that many people are paying for coverage that they don't actually need! As a working professional or business owner, every cent counts. Hence, we thought that it will be good to spread the word to our creative community and share about these common pitfalls:
1. Your insurance plans aren’t covering you in the right areas
The amount of insurance coverage that you need evolves with your life stage. It depends on factors such as your financial obligations (think housing loans), the number of dependents you have and how many years you’ll need to support them.
For those of us with no dependents, you’ll probably don't need a high payout for death. In fact, disablement protection would be a bigger concern to you. In case you get disabled, you need a plan that gives you regular payout to sustain your living & medical expenses.
2. Your insurance plans may have duplicate benefits
You may have two or more insurance plans with the same type of benefits.
Do bear in mind that for some benefits such as ‘medical expense reimbursement’, you can only claim from one plan.
3. You may be putting all your eggs in one basket
It is common for people to pay high premiums for 1 or 2 insurance policies - usually Whole Life or Critical Illness plans, as these are the most highly marketed ones.
Retirement Planning and Income Protection are very important areas that tend to be neglected. If you are working on a limited budget, review your existing plans and consider how you could make adjustments to broaden your protection. Find out more about Income Protection.
4. You could be footing extra charges
Insurance companies have to factor in bank charges and other administrative costs for every payment transaction. If you have plans that are on monthly GIRO, find out if you could pay for them yearly instead. You’ll make some savings that way.
5. You could reduce your premium if you have recovered from a health condition
Underwriting is stringent for many types of insurance plans. For applicants with health conditions, insurers usually mete out loading (charge more premium) or exclusions (not covering the particular health condition & related ones). If you have recovered from the health condition that you had previously declared, you could approach the insurance company and ask for the loading/exclusion to be removed.
About Starlight
We have been the trusted partner for many business owners & freelancers in the creative industry since 2011. We help:
business owners acquire cost-effective insurance coverage such as Film-All-Risk, Public Liability, Equipment-All-Risk, E&O.
professionals & students power-up their careers through career exploration, resume & portfolio review, interview preparation & job matching.
To find out more, please visit our website www.starlightmediaconsultants.com or contact us directly.