Income protection can provide you with the peace of mind that your expenses will be covered if you can't work due to illness or injury.
Have you ever wondered what you’d do if you were out sick for a prolonged period of time?
Would you have enough savings to cover all of your bills? Would your employer pay you sick pay for months or even years on end? Or would you be able to get by on any social welfare support that you may be entitled to?
If your answer to these questions is No, then you might want to consider income protection.
Income protection is a type of life insurance policy that pays you money if you can't work due to a medium to long-term illness, injury, or disability.
And for a limited time, Zurich is offering new income protection customers cashback on their premiums.
But before we look at the offer, a reminder about income protection in a bit more detail,
What is income protection insurance?
Income protection is a type of life insurance policy that pays you money if you're out of work for an extended period of time due to illness, injury, or disability.
There is usually a deferral or wait period of 26 weeks that you must be out of work before the payment kicks in. But then the money will be paid out until you are fit to return to work again or until the policy ends.
You can use the money to pay your bills, mortgage repayments, groceries, or to cover expenses you might incur due to medical treatment.
Income protection can also be known as ‘permanent health insurance’, however it's a different form of cover than private health insurance.
Unlike other types of life insurance, income protection premiums also qualify for tax relief at your marginal rate. So if you're quoted a premium of €90 a month for example, the net cost to you will only be €54 if you pay tax at the 40% rate.
You can read more about income protection here.
What’s on offer?
For a limited time, Zurich is offering all new customers two months’ cashback on their income protection premiums.
To qualify you must apply for a policy between 10th April and 31st May 2024 and the policy must be issued by 31st October 2024.
The cashback will then be paid within four months of your policy being issued. And the money will be paid via electronic funds transfer (EFT) to the account you're using to pay your premiums.
A typical income protection policy could cost from €70 to €90 a month (before tax relief) depending on the amount of income you’re looking to cover, meaning you could get back up to €180 or more!
You can easily apply for an income protection policy with Zurich on bonkers.ie. Everything can be done online and our Dublin-based insurance team will be on hand throughout the application process until your policy is issued.
Insights
Recently Aviva, which also sells income protection, took a look through its database on income protection claims, which helps underline the importance of taking out this type of insurance.
- The average length of a claim is 7.5 years - this is a pretty significant amount of time and far longer than the three to six months' sick pay that major employers provide
- The longest claim is 32 years, with the claimant starting when they were just 29
- Psychological, musculoskeletal, cancer, neurological and cardiac issues accounted for the majority of claims. Claims for psychological issues rose 7% last year when compared with the previous year
- The average age of a claimant is 46 for women and 49 for men
- Mental health claims are higher among women than men
The same report showed Aviva paid out €18m last year to 163 customers who were diagnosed with a specified illness. Specified illness cover is a form of insurance that pays out a tax-free lump sum if you’re diagnosed with a serious illness during the term of the policy.
Here to help
Wrapping your head around life insurance policies can be confusing. So if you have any questions around this new offer from Zurich, or on income protection in general, we’re happy to help!
Feel free to get in touch with us on any of our social media channels.
