If you are self-employed, the chances are that from time to time you worry about just how you might cope if you were ill and unable to work.
Unlike a conventional employee, you are not going to benefit from your employer paying your salary for a specified period of time.
That’s why, it might be worth finding out a little more about accident and sickness insurance (companies such as Drewberry Accident and Sickness Insurance are specialists in this area).
Sickness and accident cover
This type of cover typically breaks down into two.
Some policies will pay you a regular monthly income in the event you are unable to work due to an accident or sickness. Those payments may continue for a specified period of time of perhaps one or two years. (There are also rare policies that may run for up to 60 months).
It might be typically possible to also include unemployment cover in such a policy, though that would normally only pay out for 12-24 months (depending on the provider) and clearly might not be applicable in situations where you are self-employed.
A form of similar cover is traditionally called income protection insurance, which would continue to pay you a monthly income over an extended period of time perhaps up until your normal retirement date.
In both cases, the amount of monthly income would depend upon the policy you have selected but is normally available up to a maximum specified percentage of your previous income level.
Circumstances covered
A range of illnesses and accidental injury might be covered by these types of policies.
Broadly speaking, they may be claimable against in circumstances where you were able to obtain medical evidence that you were unable to work due to a specified medical condition.
It is worth noting that some insurance providers use the definition of own occupation whereas others might use that of suitable occupation.
This is a very important distinction because a policy written under the auspices of own occupation, might typically pay out in a situation where you were unable to continue with your normal work. By contrast, a policy definition of suitable occupation might mean that the provider would expect you to take alternative occupation, other than that you would normally engage in, if you were physically able to do
As you might anticipate, all policies contain terms, conditions and exclusions. You should read these carefully and seek the advice of an experienced broker, if necessary, to explain them to you.
Typically, this type of cover might exclude circumstances where you were purposefully responsible directly for your inability to continue work. Examples might include things such as elective cosmetic surgery, pregnancy, engaging in criminal activities, the use of so-called recreational drugs or injury in highly dangerous sports etc.
Reassurance
If you are unfortunate enough to be unable to continue to work when you are self-employed, you may find that very quickly your financial situation deteriorates and perhaps even things such as your home are put at risk.
Having some form of on-going monthly income from this type of policy might just enable you to continue a relatively normal life until such time as you recover your health.
Don’t miss a thing here at Business Plus Baby Click here to get my newsletter and I’ll also send you a copy of my e-book Running a business around a family: 9 steps to success.
Image courtesy of Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net