Love Insurance is Life Insurance

Any financial plan must start with risk protection and is never complete if the risk pillar is not standing firm with life insurance protection embedded into your plan. In South Africa, we have an estimated R 34 trillion risk gap.

To put it in perspective, if all advisors in South Africa do their best to close the gap with advice to clients to add life insurance to their financial plan, they won't be able to do it during their lifetimes.?We can only hope to reduce the risk gap over time through awareness and ongoing good advice.?We must mitigate the risk to our families and ourselves by understanding the importance of life insurance, having conversations with our financial professionals regularly and reading more about the benefits of life insurance. Life Insurance is essential to protecting the future of those who do not only love you but who rely on you for financial support.?In the event of death, life insurance will provide your loved ones with the financial support they need for their future when you are not there anymore to look after their future.

Life insurance must be seen as an investment for your loved ones. One of the main reasons you should invest in life insurance is that you love someone and want to protect them financially. Life Insurance is an "A Promise Kept", as stated by Faisa Stafford, CEO of Life Happens*. What can be more profound and noble is to keep your promise to your loved ones with Life Happens, events and moments. It is the ultimate act of love. It is the way to show your loved ones you care.?

It is essential to not look at life insurance as a "grudge or necessary evil" purchase. It is time to perceive life insurance as an "investment" into our family's and dependants' lives, as well as our own when it comes to disability and critical illness protection. Yes, I said an investment, as there will be a return on the investment at any given time as Life Happens. Perceptions are the main culprit for the massive risk gap in South Africa, and we must change perceptions.

We must know we are not indestructible or immortal, and life events can and will happen; it is just a question of when and how. There is no better example to realise this than during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic we have all observed over the last 2-years. We must appreciate how vital it is to protect the financial wellbeing of our loved ones and dependants, as then we will close the gap within our financial plans to ensure adequate risk cover. We need to adjust our mindsets. For example, we are all drivers of vehicles and insure our cars, but not the driver's Life always. Our ability to earn an income far exceeds the value of the vehicle – it is therefore as important, if not more so, to protect their families against loss of income as the driver of the family's wellness.

It is one thing to get your life insurance in place, but it is more essential to keep it in place.?It means we must stick to our long-term financial plan and not sacrifice our plans when the going gets tough financially, as we observe under covid-19 now. In this regard, we must work with financial planners to safeguard the financial plan and rebuild as and when required during financial stress situations. We must find ways and means to make room in our budget to cover our risk protection expenses. The current increasing cycle of inflation and pressure on interest rates will be eating away at our household budgets. Many consumers are desperately trying to make ends meet under covid-19 conditions, blowing it all out of proportion. Sadly, for many households, the first thing that gets cut from a budget is short term and long term insurance policies and protection. When financial challenges arise, consumers panic and make drastic financial decisions to maintain their lifestyles. However, your life insurance is vitally important when it comes to supporting you and your family's lifestyle. If finances are already tight while you're able to earn an income, think about what would happen to your family if something happens to you; your income stops, and your life insurance payments have lapsed.

With your financial planner, you must focus on your budget and every detail related to it. You will be surprised that there is indeed an opportunity with sacrifices to reduce spending while maintaining critical risk policies in place. Life and risk insurance is vital, so have a conversation with your financial professional. If you do not have one, visit www.letsplan.co.za and find a Financial Planning Institute approved financial professional to help you.

*www.lifehappens.org

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