You’re focused on packing suitcases, checking the car and making sure your pets are cared for, so insurance is probably the last thing on your mind. Apart from checking up on your short-term cover, you need to make sure that your long-term insurance is up to date.
Financial adviser at Liberty, Phillip Kassel, says: “It’s always best to touch base with your financial adviser before travelling to review long-term and short-term insurance cover and clarify any exclusions or technical jargon that you are unclear about. Long-term insurance is particularly important if you are travelling with your family by road.”
Here are five risks to check before you leave.
1. Disability and income protection
A once-off skiing holiday may not affect cover, but if you constantly take part in high-risk activities such as skydiving or rock-climbing, disclose these activities to your insurer. If you don’t, your insurer could reject your claim on the basis of non-disclosure.
2. Travel insurance
While life and disability insurance provides cover for major events related to long-term financial consequences, travel insurance is essential when travelling abroad. Your regular short-term and medical cover will probably not cover losses related to baggage theft, emergency hospitalisation or other travel-related incidents.
3. Life cover
Facing the future head on and acknowledging that the unfortunate could happen by taking out life cover that will provide your loved ones with financial security is the best decision you can make. To check how much life cover you need, a simple and conservative rule of thumb is to multiply the annual net income need by 21. “If your family would need a monthly net income of R10 000, you need cover of R10 000 x 12 months multiplied by 21. This would require cover of about R2 500 000,” Kassel says. If you have cover, check if the amount is still sufficient and update it if need be.
4. Your will
Too many South Africans don’t have wills or neglect to update them. This means that if something untoward does happen to you over the Easter holiday, your beneficiaries may not be properly cared for. Kassel also recommends that if you have assets in different countries, you should make sure that there is a copy of the will in each country.
5. Your policy documents
It is advisable to let a trusted person know where your important policy documents are in case anything unexpected happens. This will help to streamline the claims process and eliminate delays in payouts.
