4.4 billion reasons to protect your family (of which you may not have been aware…)

It always surprises me when people say that one of the reasons they won’t protect their family is because insurance companies don’t want to pay out claims. My response is usually a confused “Huh? Whaddya mean? Ummmmm, that’s their job…”

I’m a member of a great service called the Risk store which publishes insurance claim statistics each year. According to their figures, more than *$4.4 billion dollars was paid out in life insurance claims last year! We’re talking death cover, total and permanent disability, income protection, and trauma.

That’s $4.4 billion dollars paid out to help re-build family lifestyles, assets, and businesses after the devastating effects of illnesses and injuries.

To really break it down –an average of $17.6 million was paid to Australians every working day in 2012.

Ok, now think on this - not one of these claimants expected to claim on their insurance.

That’s a lot of people who didn’t ever want to claim – but had to. How glad do you think they and

their family were, to have been wise enough to plan for the unexpected?

And something else to think on - if these claimants hadn’t had insurance policies in place, where else would they have got that kind of money?

Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt there are people with very legitimate grievances against their claim process, my point is that it’s a rarity and that there are at least $4.4 billion reasons in the last year alone to protect yourself and your family’s financial security.

In most cases conflicts over claims come down to the quality of the specific company or the definitions within the policy. That’s why you should always get professional advice from people (like us!!!!) who can not only help you select the best company and policy for you - but even more importantly - in the event that something unforeseen does happen, we deal with as much of the claim work as possible on your behalf.

We feel this is the most valuable part of our insurance service, and obviously our clients do too because we recently received this email from one of our clients after the claims process: “Thanks Michael for a tremendous result. You have been very professional & balanced in your advice through this somewhat unsettling period.”

So next time you’re tempted to justify not protecting your family by saying insurance companies don’t pay their claims, just remember that over $17 million dollars was probably paid out between breakfast and dinner.

Clearly this is a personal soapbox of mine, and if you’d like to hear more of what I have to say on the matter, click here for a recording of my most recent “You & Your Money” radio segment on 98.1FM Radio Eastern.

Talk soon,

Caren

With thanks to the Risk store for all statistics, and thought provoking claims information.

*Statistics based on claims from AIA Australia, AMP/AXA, Asteron/Suncorp, BT, Clearview, CommInsure, OnePath, Macquaire, MLC, TAL, Zurich.

The success you can achieve when your personal & business goals are in alignment

The most successful businesses are run by people who love what they do. This is great, but of course there’s real danger that your business can become all-consuming when you love what you do.

Your personal goals (family, lifestyle, community, spiritual) need to be in harmony with your business goals. When they’re not, tensions develop, breakdowns occur, and achieving any of your long-term objectives becomes almost impossible.

And it’s a lot more involved than simply striking a “work-home” balance. It’s about ensuring your fundamental values and purpose are aligned for both yourself and your business. This involves:

   ∙  Planning

   ∙  decision making;

   ∙  careful execution;

   ∙  asset protection;

   ∙  regular review; and

   ∙  a clear picture of the “ultimate” reward you expect from

      your business.

 

I guess I understand this because Michael (Moschetti) and I live and breathe it. As partners at home as well as the office, we realised a long time ago that we could only achieve true success by reconciling our business aspirations with what we wanted from life personally.

Because it’s so important, we recently wrote an e-Paper together called “Business – it’s Personal”. In this paper, we share our story, as well as give practical tips and strategies for you to implement in your own business including:

   ∙  How to align your personal and business goals

      (a step by step guide);

   ∙  How to protect against obstacles and risks that may

      prevent you from reaching your goals; and

   ∙  The steps you must take now, to achieve the financial

      and personal rewards you’re working towards.

To read "Business - it's Personal", just click here - we’ve tried to keep it as entertaining and jargon-free as possible.

You may also like to click here to listen to a recording of my most recent “You and Your Business” segment were I talk about this topic on Radio Eastern 98.1FM.

Talk soon,

Caren