Your income is important and keeps your family secure. So, if you are in a situation where you’d like to protect it if anything happened, you might want some income protection.
Income protection policies provide a monthly payment to help replace your income if you are unable to work because of an accident or illness.
Short-term income protection policies will pay out for a fixed amount of time. Long-term income protection policies are designed to replace your income for a longer time like until retirement.
How does income protection work?
Income protection is an insurance policy, so you pay a monthly or annual premium for it like any other type of insurance. If you can’t work because of sickness, disability, or other reasons (depending on your policy criteria), you will receive a regular income until you either return to paid work, retire, pass away or the policy term comes to an end.
The amount that is paid could be anything from 60% to 65% of your pre-tax income, and payments (which are tax free) will start after a pre-agreed waiting period, which could be weeks or months.
Income protection is different to life insurance or critical illness cover, both of which do not pay regular amounts but instead give you one-off lump sums in the event of your death or the diagnosis of a critical illness.
Find out what life may have in store for you
We all hear news of a friend or a relative who
- is off work for a few months, or
- has been diagnosed with a serious illness, or
- has unexpectedly died.
It’s shocking and all the more difficult to imagine it happening to us.
What are your chances? Are you prepared?
Enter just a few personal details to see the Protection Calculator results for you.