Income Insurance: New To Business Options

Balance Advisors — Whangarei, NZ, — Teamwork

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When starting a business, many people think about insuring the new assets they’re taking on, i.e. property, stock or commercial vehicles. But if you’re starting a business, it’s also likely that you will be taking on new debt and new risks, and you need to keep the business running in order to continue to service expenses and any loans.

Speaking from our own personal experiences, starting a business is an exciting venture, but because things don’t always go to plan, it’s important you consider having a back-up plan to get by when things don’t quite go to plan.

There are many types of insurance that might help to protect your business. Below we’ve outlined three types of insurance protection cover you may want to consider when you start a new business.

Talk to us and we will help investigate your options and determine appropriate insurance protection cover.

Life Insurance

When you think about protecting your business, life insurance might not be the first thing that comes to mind.

Life insurance can often be thought of solely as personal financial protection for your family, but it can protect your business too and may help your family "keep the business going" if you were not longer around.

Have you considered what would happen to your business if you unexpectedly passed away or were diagnosed with a terminal illness? Would your family want to be able to keep the business open?

Would it be possible to see the business quickly to cover any debts, or could life insurance help pay off any business loans you may have?

If you aren't sure, it would be worthwhile talking to us about this.

Start-Up Income Protection &/or Business Disability Cover

Designed for new business owners who have been trading for three years or less, this type of insurance protection cover gives you the confidence you'll need while your business gets off the ground. The monthly payments cover your business from disruption if you face an illness or injury that stops you from working.

What would happen to your business's income if you or a key employee fell ill and weren't able to work for an extended period of time? Is there enough resource in your business to keep it running, so you can continue to draw an income? Would it be practical to hire in a locum or a contractor, and how would you cover the cost?

Business Disability Insurance (sometimes referred to as key person cover) is designed to inject cash into your business ot cover the absence (through illness or injury) of you or one of your key employees.

Business disability cover can be used to hire a contractor to cover the work that the insured person (you or a key employee) would normally be doing, or supplement some of the lost business revenue you might face if unable to work.

Alternatively, Income Protection Insurance which provides you with replacement income each month for a period of time if you're unable to work due to illness or injury might be a bitter fit. This can help take the financial pressure off you and your family, so you can concentrate on your recovery and getting back to work.

We can help you determine whether Income Protection or Business Disability Insurance (or both) would be relevant for you.

Business Expense Cover

If you do get sick or hurt, you may still be able to work but at a lower capacity than previously. But even if you're not making as much money as usual, your business will likely have fixed overheads that still need to be paid.

Business Expense Cover pays business expenses for up to 12 months at a time if you’re unable to work because you’re sick or injured.

If you’re a small business owner, your business is probably committed to costs (e.g. rent, insurance, property costs etc… services such as phones, internet, power etc… equipment expenses such as leasing or financing costs etc… staff salaries and related payroll tax, accountancy fees and other ongoing costs)

Employee Insurance Cover

A powerful way to reward your people.

In a nutshell, you get outstanding insurance cover for your employees, which your business buys ‘in bulk’ – usually with no underwriting and at a cost much lower than equivalent cover currently offered for individual policies.

When you take out an Employee Insurance plan for your employees (the members), you can select just Life cover, or a more comprehensive combination of Life, Trauma, TPD and Income Protection covers.

Employee Insurance cover is a great way to show you care about your employees. How would you react if one of your employees died or was off work due to illness? How might you support an employee (or their family) while they are off work?

Employee Insurance is a real answer to these questions – and a great way to attract, retain, reward and care for your staff too.

What makes up an Employee Insurance plan?

To put an Employee Insurance plan in place, you only need a few things:

* 10 or more employees

* A genuine employer / employee relationship

* clear eligibility rules

* 100% of eligible employees covered and

* premiums paid by the employe