Protect your Home
We recommend that once you have decided on your new mortgage you should protect your home as you never know what challenges life will throw at you.
We are here to help you meet these challenges enjoying some comfort from knowing that you have valuable financial cover if the unthinkable happens, and a product that is comprehensive and flexible - so that it can change as your circumstances change. People get married or divorced, move to a bigger house, change mortgage provider, have children or get that well deserved promotion at work. So whatever changes happen in your life your plan can change with you.
We are not only Independent whilst researching your mortgage, we are also
Independent when choosing a protection, with ability choose from a host of insurers. In short we can shop around to find the most cost effective and appropriate plan for you. Such products are comprehensive and flexible aiming to provide protection against the financial effects of death, critical illness, disability or unemployment - depending on the cover you choose.
These plans pay out a cash lump sum, or monthly payments if you prefer, to give financial support for you or your family, if you make a valid claim while the plan is in force. Some of these products are exclusively available through Financial Advisers and are based on a menu idea allowing you, with help from your us, to pick and choose the right cover.
A range of benefits are available including:
• Life Cover
• Critical Illness Cover
• Income Protection (Disability Income Benefit)
• Unemployment Cover
Life Cover?
For a monthly premium, a lump sum equal to your mortgage (or different if required) will be paid in the event of you and/or your partner dying.
Critical illness Cover?
For a monthly premium, a lump sum equal to your mortgage (or different if required) will be paid in the event of diagnosis of a critical illness.
Income Protection? (PHI)
For a monthly premium you may provide yourself with a replacement income (up to a maximum minus state benefits),up until the maximum age of 65,so that, in the event of you loosing your income due to accident or sickness, you will avoid financial hardship. eg, An income of £900/month increasing at 5% / year until the age of 65.
Accident Sickness & Unemployment Cover? (ASU)
For a monthly premium, you may provide yourself with a replacement income to cover your mortgage and related products in the event of you being SICK, ILL, or UNEMPLOYED. This benefit will last for 9-12 months.NB.redundancy only is also available.EG.an income of £350/month for 9 months.
Accident ,Sickness,Unemployment and Income Protection
A comparison of the pros and cons of each is set out below. Accident, Sickness &
Unemployment Cover (ASU
Income Protection Policy (IP) When does the policy start to
pay out?
Usually after 30 days sickness or unemployment
You can choose whether it pays out after 1, 3, 6 or 12 months absence due to sickness only – this should be tied in with when your employer stops paying you How long does the policy
pay for?
Usually either 9 or 12 months maximum
For as long as you are off work ill, up to your selected retirement age
What does the policy cover? Typically the mortgage costs, but some insurers allow additional cover to be added
Usually up to selected maximum of your gross income (paid tax free) Does the policy cover
unemployment?
Yes No
We usually recommend income protection policies. This is because:
• There is no need to protect your income during periods where your employer will still pay you. This is often what happens with ASU cover.
• My primary concern for clients is the impact of long-term illness. Most people can get by if they loose their income for 6 months (through agreements with the bank etc.). The impact of long-term sickness is far more significant, but with an ASU policy you do not protect against the implications of this, you only defer them for a year.
Conversely an IP policy will provide long-term protection.
• Whilst an IP policy does not protect against unemployment, the implications of this are often less significant than those of long term sickness. This is because you are likely to receive a redundancy package, and can still do temporary work while job hunting.
Critical illness?...What Would be Your Future?
FACT: YOU HAVE A 14 MILLION TO 1 CHANCE OF WINNING THE NATIONAL LOTTERY. FACT: A HEALTHY MALE AGED 20 TO 45 HAS A 4 TO 1 CHANCE OF SUFFERING A CRITICAL ILLNESS BEFORE THE AGE OF 65*
FACT : A HEALTHY FEMALE AGED 20 TO 45 HAS A 5 TO 1 CHANCE OF SUFFERING FROM A CRITICAL ILLNESS BEFROE THE AGE OF 65*
*SOURCE O.P.C. CANCER STATISTICS 1983.MORTALITY STATISTICS FROM GENERAL PRACTICE 1981/2.CANCER SURVIVAL 1981 REGISTRATION.
Would A Critical illness Leave You….
1 ABLE TO MAINTAIN YOUR PRESENT DAY STANDARD OF LIVING? 2.SELF SUPPORTING?
3.DEPENDENT ON FRIENDS AND FAMILY?
Protect Yourself Against……..
Alzheimer's Disease - Aorta Graft Surgery - Aplastic Anaemia -Bacterial Meningitis - Benign Brain Tumour-Blindness -Cancer - Cardiomyopathy - Coma -Coronary Artery By-Pass Grafts - Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) -Deafness - Dementia - Encephalitis - Heart Attack - Heart Valve Replacement or Repair -HIV infection - caught from a blood
transfusion, physical assault or accident at work
Kidney failure -Liver failure - Loss of hands or feet -Loss of Speech - Major Organ Transplant -Motor Neurone Disease - Multiple Sclerosis - Paralysis of limbs -Parkinson's Disease - Primary Pulmonary Hypertension - Progressive Supranuclear Palsy - Respiratory failure - Stroke - Systemic Lupus
Erythematosus - Terminal Illness-Third Degree Burns - Total and Permanent Disability-Traumatic head injury . *SOURCE O.P.C. CANCER STATISTICS 1983.MORTALITY STATISTICS FROM GENERAL PRACTICE 1981/2.CANCER SURVIVAL 1981 REGISTRATION.Information gathered from legal and
general’s list of critical illnesses and subject to terms and conditions.Please ask for more details.
If you're an employee and unable to work because you're ill, you may be able to get Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). Some employers have their own sick pay scheme instead. Who is eligible?
If you're working for an employer under a contract of service (even if you've only just started), you're entitled to Statutory Sick Pay if the following apply:
• you're sick for at least four days in a row (weekends and bank holidays are included)
• you're earning at least £87 a week on average Who isn't eligible?
You can't get Statutory Sick Pay if you're away from work because any of the following apply:
• you're taking part in trade union action
• you're in legal custody
• you've been getting Incapacity Benefit in the eight weeks before your illness How it works
Statutory Sick Pay is paid for every day you'd normally be working. It starts on the fourth day of any period of sickness and lasts for a maximum of 28 weeks.
If you get sick again within eight weeks of the previous period of illness, you can claim Statutory Sick Pay from the first day.
In some cases you can return to Incapacity Benefit if you have a linking letter and you are sick again within 104 weeks (two years) of your last payment of benefit.
If your employer has their own sick pay scheme instead of Statutory Sick Pay, you'll need to make sure you understand and follow the rules (which may be different from Statutory Sick Pay).
How much do you get?
The standard rate for Statutory Sick Pay is £72.55 a week. How it's paid
Statutory Sick Pay is paid by your employer, usually on your normal payday in the same way as your wages or salary.
Statutory Sick Pay is subject to tax and National Insurance contributions, although your earnings may not be high enough unless you get other payments on top of Statutory Sick Pay.When Statutory Sick Pay ends
If you're still sick after 28 weeks, you can apply for Incapacity Benefit.
Incapacity Benefit.
If you can't work because of illness or disability you may be able to get Incapacity Benefit (IB), a weekly payment for people under State Pension age - currently 60 for women and 65 for men.
Who is eligible?
You may be able to claim Incapacity Benefit if any of the following apply to you:your Statutory Sick Pay has ended, or you can't get it . self employed or unemployed you have been getting Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and have not gone back to work for your employer because you are incapable of work you were under State Pension age when you became sick
You must also have been: paying National Insurance Contributions unable to work due to sickness or disability for at least four days in a row (including weekends and public holidays) getting special medical treatment and unable to work for two or more days out of seven consecutive days
or you must:be aged between 16 and 20 (or under 25 if you were in education or training at least three months immediately before turning 20), and have been too ill to work because of sickness or disability for at least 28 weeks, and have been too ill to work before you turned 20 (or 25 if you were in education or training at least three months immediately before turning 20)
If you've been living or working abroad
Living or working abroad can affect your Incapacity Benefit claim. But you may be able to claim if you've either:paid enough UK National Insurance Contributions (NICs) in the past (and the equivalent in certain other countries - ask your local Job centre Plus office for details) worked abroad for an employer based in the UK and paid NICs for the first 52 weeks of that employment
If you haven't paid enough National Insurance contributions
You may be able to claim Incapacity Benefit even if you haven't paid enough National Insurance contributions if the following apply:you're aged under 20 (or 25 if you were in education or training at least three months immediately before turning 20) you've been sick for 28 weeks you're present and resident in Great Britain for 26 weeks in the year before you claim
How it works
Incapacity Benefit is paid at three weekly rates:short-term (lower) IB is paid for the first 28 weeks short-term (higher) IB is paid from weeks 29 to 52 long-term IB is paid from week 53 Please note all information is given as a guideline and should be checked with your local benefit office as state benefits change regularly.
‘We believe that everyone is different’.
‘Different attitudes to risk, expectations and needs’.
We offer a full range of protection plans for a set term chosen by you - maybe to tie in with the length of a mortgage, or for a longer period. You can protect yourself or your business with plans that can be flexible and can be tailored to fit in with the way your circumstances can change, at any stage of your life.
We do not believe in making rigid ‘one size fits all’ blanket recommendations. It is only after we have fully understood your particular circumstances, and most importantly your views on such protection, can we then make appropriate recommendations.
Let’s talk……….. Independent advice tailor made for you and your circumstances. For further information on the available products, please contact us on 08459002125.
Bristol Mortgages Online is a trading name for Worldwide Investment Corporation ( Company registration number 6090190, FSA number 465805) who are an appointed representative of Owen and Associates (FSA
