Protecting Your Family’s Future Requires Planning Today
Do you have the right insurance?
The correct life cover does more than just insure your family against the loss of your income; it is also there to protect your children against any debts you might have incurred during the economic downturn.
What will happen to your family if you do not have the correct life cover? And, if you do have the correct life cover policy, have you considered how much you are paying per month? More than likely you are paying more than you should be.
Financial pressure
While every parent knows that it is important to plan for their family’s future, the current economic climate is putting all families under enormous financial pressure. Recession has brought change to Ireland − that change is reflected in salaries, mortgage rates and the rising cost of insurance. Anyone who has invested in a home, started a family, and taken out insurance policies, would assume they are well covered.
Pension levies and pay cuts in the public sector and job losses or 'work practice adjustments' (codeword for a substantial pay cut with poorer working conditions) in private companies, more and more Irish families are now having serious trouble with debts that are under protected.
Outlook for 2010
It is true that 2010 has a brighter outlook than last year, however, financial experts say we are not out of the woods just yet. The ‘credit crunch’ has Ireland firmly in its grip and amongst those most seriously affected are families with mortgages, personal loans and credit card debt. Although many of these debts were in place before the recession, what was also in place was the ability to pay them off, albeit gradually.
Where families were managing their money and living within their means before a drop or loss of income, now, it is impossible to make those same payments on a reduced salary. The government is not helping the situation by reducing child benefits, as well as certain social welfare benefits while increase the cost of life cover through a levy.
In previous years when families came under financial pressure they used their ‘get out of jail card’, which was an equity release. However, with the availability of credit drying up and our most valuable asset, our home, plummeting in value, that temporary fix no longer works. There is no NAMA for families. It is up to each parent to dig his or her family out of trouble, but sometimes it is not clear which is the best way to proceed.
Take action today
My recommendation for you is to seek the advice of an independent financial planner. Get a review of your mortgages, personal debts, insurance policies, redundancy cover and pension with the view of reducing your monthly outgoings. It will be comforting to know that even in these hard times your future plan is sound and you are not over paying for any financial product.
It is your job to protect your children’s future, but it is the job of your financial planner to make sure that protection is right for your family.
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Would you like some FREE advice about sorting your finances?
Allan M. Cuthbert (Q.F.A) is a professional financial planner based in Cork and he is not affiliated with any bank or insurance company. Allan is offering Primary Time readers a FREE consultation to see if he can save them money on the insurance they need to keep their families protected no matter what happens.
Call: 021 234 8990
Email: allan@financialwellbeing.ie
Web: www.financialwellbeing.ie
