Making sure your income is protected is likely to be one of your main financial priorities. However, your income and existing commitments may not allow you to take out the very best income protection cover.
That’s where affordable salary protection insurance comes in as it offers the benefits you need for a reduced cost.
There are several ways you can ensure you obtain the cheapest income protection insurance.
The benefits of income protection insurance
Income protection is designed to provide you with financial support for a set period (typically up to one year) if you can’t work due to an accident, sickness or unemployment.
You can normally cover around 50-60 per cent of your income up to a certain maximum annual limit. After a ‘deferred period’ – the time you must wait before you can make a claim – you are paid a sum on a monthly basis to allow you to meet your mortgage and other financial commitments.
The ‘deferred period’ can be chosen at outset and is typically 4, 13, 26 or 52 weeks. If you do have savings that you can use in the event that you can’t work then you may be able to choose a longer deferred period which will usually result in cheaper premiums.
3 ways to secure the cheapest income protection insurance
If you’re looking to take out income protection cover then it’s important that you compare all the cheap income protection insurance quotes before you buy to ensure that you're getting the best cover possible for your money.
There are a number of ways you can secure cheap income protection cover:
- Shop around for cheap income protection cover
- Increase your deferred period
- Reduce the percentage of your income that is covered or the monthly benefit
One of the best ways to secure cheap unemployment insurance is to shop around for cover. With dozens of insurers offering cheap income protection cover, obtaining quotes from a number of sources is a good way to find the most competitive premium.
A second way to reduce the cost of your cover is to increase your ‘deferred period’.
Generally speaking, the longer you are prepared to wait for your policy to pay out, the cheaper your premium will be. However, always make sure that you have sufficient savings or financial resources to fall back on if you do choose to wait 26 or 52 weeks for your affordable salary protection insurance to kick in.
Finally, you could consider reducing the amount of cover. Either reducing the percentage of your income that you cover or reducing your monthly benefit should have the effect of bringing your premiums down.
Ultimately, if you are paying for income protection insurance it's important that the policy will pay out if and when you need it to. For this reason when you compare quotes you need to look for a policy that offers a compromise between affordability and the amount of cover you would need should you lose your income.
Checking the terms and conditions to ensure that you are eligible to claim in the first place is also essential before you commit to a policy.
