Salary Protection 101
Salary protection may not be as popular as life or disability cover, but it is crucial as insurance if you get ill or injured. This type of cover serves as a safety net for you and your dependents if you can’t work by paying you a percentage of your salary in monthly payments until you can go back to work, or you reach retirement age (if you can’t work again).
If you’d like to get a salary protection plan, you should do your research. Insurers don’t offer the same benefits on their salary protection plans. Therefore, you should ensure that you know what you’re covered for exactly. It would help if you asked yourself the following questions:
- How much will you be paid monthly?
- How long will the monthly payments be made and how will this affect your future claims?
- What are the exclusions on your policy?
Summary
- Typically covers temporary and permanent disability.
- It gives you monthly payments while you can’t earn an income.
- Payments are usually a certain percentage of your salary.
- Generally, payments continue until you can start working again or until a set retirement age.
Why do I need salary protection?
If you couldn’t work due to illness or injury, would you afford to pay your bills and maintain your standard of living? If your answer is no, then you need salary protection. Salary protection replaces your monthly income to help you survive while you can’t work. You can use your salary protection payments to pay your bond or car repayments, your children’s school fees, and your living expenses.
If you work for a company that provides group income protection, you may already have this type of cover. If this is the case, we suggest that you assess if this cover will be sufficient. However, you should speak to your employer to confirm if you’re covered under group income protection. If you’re not covered, you’re welcome to apply for Standard Bank’s insurance services’ Salary Protection.
How much cover do I need?
We all have different needs as individuals and our circumstances may differ. The amount of cover you’re eligible for and your monthly premiums will depend on your age, health, lifestyle, hobbies and occupation, and income requirements.
When you get salary protection, you need to be mindful that your circumstances and needs can change. You may be earning more money or less than when you took out your policy, or you could be self-employed with multiple dependents. We recommend that you review your policy when your circumstances or lifestyle changes to ensure that you are not underinsured. We also encourage you to inform us if you change jobs, stop or start smoking, or take up a risky sport so that we can adjust your risk profile (and premiums) accordingly.
Visit our Salary Protection page to get a quote online or request a call-back.