When the worst really does happen - protecting your income
By Ebony Escalona
Risky business
Did you know….
According to the BVA Voice of the Profession survey 61 % of production animal vets, 65% of equine vets and 66% of mixed vets were injured by animals in the course of their work over a 12 month period. Of the 61% of production animal vets reporting an injury one in five reported it as quite severe or very severe and again of the 61% reporting an injury one fifth had to take time off due to their most severe injury.
The majority of veterinary professionals will receive no financial products (above statutory minimum) as employee benefits. Sick pay is most likely to be statutory minimum, which begs the question how long would your finances last if you could not work?
Let’s find out about YOUR financial facts
Many of us will have had our head in the sand when it comes to assessing what our actual financial situation looks like. It’s often a job for “tomorrow”. The problem is tomorrow never comes.
Here at VetYou we have created a Financial Health Check Support Sheet so you can objectively see what your emergency reserve is (if any), what non-negotiable financial responsibilities you have and how long your funds would last if your income ceased.
The questions we have laid out will help you assess the urgency of action required to help support your financial security. Mine is urgent! This is a great first step though- knowing our financial facts and the ballpark estimate of what we would need cover for should the worst ever happen.
Download and fill in the Financial Health Check Support Sheet before watching our online discussion back.
“The financial health check really is the beginning of any financial plan. Before you can start saving or get a protection policy in place, you really need to understand what your current situation is. This will allow you to see what income is coming in, what your expenditure is, so, if something did happen to me what’s the minimum level of income I would need replaced, to be able to continue paying those bills so things like council tax mortgage, utility bills and things like that, and food and drink. It is a great place to start, not just for the protection that we’re going to talk about, but for wider financial planning” Andrew Snowball, Financial Advisor
Watch back our Face Up To Finances Online Discussion below. From the live viewer comments we hope it will be useful for you!
“Thank you Ebony, this has been really useful! And thank you Andrew and the other speakers!”
“Thank you so much! So interesting and really useful!”
So what solutions are out there?
Watch back our online discussion where Andrew Snowball takes us through the differences and benefits of the following financial solutions in case of death or short term/long term illness:
- Term Assurance/Family Income Benefit (FIB)
- Whole of Life protection
- Income Protection
- Critical Illness (CIC)
Considerations when selecting solutions
Income Protection -What if you are off work due to accident or illness?
- Pays a tax-free income linked to % salary after a pre-selected deferred period
- What % do you NEED covering?
- When do you need this to kick in (deferment period)? To answer this think about how long your savings will last
- Benefits can rise each year by inflation or fixed percentage
- Benefits payable until you are fit to return to work or selected retirement
- Choose a policy that pays benefit on “Own Occupation” basis
- Review the amount for which you are covered regularly.
- make sure you review this if you switch to less clinical work for instance as your premiums will likely fall- save you some cash!
Critical Illness- When severe illness strikes
- Pays a one off tax-free lump sum
- Payment of lump sum not linked to ability to work
- Not linked to any employer benefits
- Association of British Insurers (ABI) Core & Additional Illnesses covered (heart attack, cancer and stroke)
- Often taken to cover a mortgage – but what about your family?
Life insurance- Should premature death occur
- Term Assurance: lump sum over a specific number of years.
- Whole of Life: lump sum cover that lasts the rest of your life (until you die).
- Family Income Benefit: regular income paid to surviving family.
Do you under-estimate your worth? Think it will never happen to you? You are not alone
We spend a lot of our time sharing with owners the benefits of insurance for their pets should the worse happen, don’t we?
We also insure our cars, phones and houses for the same thing and yet when it comes to our bodies and minds- our most valuable assets we aren’t always so proactive at protecting our worth.
The common reason why we don’t insure or protect ourselves is that we don’t think we are worth anything. We MASSIVELY underestimate our worth! And most of us think nothing bad is ever going to happen to us!
So, take out a pen and paper- write down your yearly salary and then times this by the number of years you will work until retirement…
What is your figure?
For a veterinary professional on 30k working for 40 years that’s 1.2 million pounds! And that is likely undervalued! We are of course worth more than the money we make.
So, if protecting that income cost you 20 quid a month or even if 100 quid a month I would say that was value.
Remember price is what you pay, value is what you get….
Your questions
We took a lot of questions from the floor including
- What are the usual sick pay times in veterinary practice? My experience was a couple of weeks?
- Are mental health conditions (like OCD) counted as pre-existing disease?
- Are you able to recommend any companies that understand what vets need from insurance?
- Do umbrella companies need to pay sick? As technically employed by them
- I assume these policies go up if you have preexisting conditions? Would one be better value over another form of insurance in these circumstances?
- What percentage of your salary would you expect to pay on insurance?
- How long do you have to have proof of a salary bracket as a freelancer to ensure that if you make an income protection claim you will be paid out the correct % of it?
Ready to take action?
Here at VetYou we can help you open up your conversation about your finances- there is no shame in where you are. We are here to help you get back in control of your financial future. We can hook you up with a financial advisor just like Andrew who gets us and we can share solutions that have been selected with the veterinary professional in mind.
It was great to heat the ONE action listeners in our online discussion stated they were going to take..
“take my wife’s credit card off her” Ben
“I’ve already sent an enquiry to VetYou about income protection” Kate
“Review what I have and make sure it fits for what I do now” Gudrun
“Complete the financial health check support sheet!” Emma
“Do a financial assessment first. But I already know it’s not going to be good.” Ana
“Book an appointment with a financial advisor!” Jane
” Work out what’s the length of time I can survive (savings +employer sick pay) before I need an income” Paul
“Do my financial health check support sheet! :)” Bethan
“review levels of insurance as currently probably over insured and wasting money” Adrian
” Follow up on initial fact finder enquiry with Lighthouse via VetYou and re-assess my income protection” Jessica
So click below for support in taking action on your financial future today.
Your future self may just one day thank you….
