Re: FN-FORUM: Can anyone recommend an Income Protection Plan?

date posted 11th April 2008 11:05

Quoting Anthony Cartmell [EMAIL REMOVED]

>
>> Who do you guys get your protection plan from?
>
> I did have one, then I read the small print.
>
>> Any recommendations?
>
> Read the small print. On my plan I would have had to have lost an arm, and
> a leg, and have something else seriously wrong (you needed 3 things out of
> the list of disabilities) before they'd pay out. Since the likelihood of
> being so incapacitated and not actually being dead seemed so small, I
> ditched the policy.

Absolutely - Income Protection Plans are one of the things regularly =20
listed as "big rip-offs" if you look at MoneySavingExpert.com or =20
Fool.co.uk - they're so hard to claim on and get money from that it's =20
just about pointless.

>
> How about providing your own plan? Open an internet savings account/cash
> ISA or similar, and pay into it, say, =C2=A320/month. Be strict and keep t=
he
> cash for emergencies that cause your income to drop. You'll quite quickly
> build up a nice amount of savings, which is yours to spend when you retire
> if nothing goes wrong :)

Savings plans are a good idea, definitely. Also, health insurance =20
through Bupa or something, so that anything that is wrong gets dealt =20
with quickly, rather than joining the end of a waiting list...

Bear in mind, though, that =A320 a month only amounts to =A3240 a year - =20
not a great deal of income protection. Better than nothing, but not =20
much. Depends on what you can afford, though. You can now put =A33,200 =20
(or 3,400, can't remember) per year into a cash ISA, or double that if =20
you're buying shares to go into it as well. That's just over =A3260 per =20
month, and might be more of a cushion should things go wrong.

Alex
http://www.ozbon.com