Income Protection insurance offers a replacement income stream if you become unable to work due to sickness or injury. The benefits are not paid as a lump sum, they are paid monthly, and the amount of cover is usually restricted to 75% of your gross salary.
Income Protection is beneficial for any type of work, be it – tradies, office employees, or self-employed. Income is an essential asset for everyone, and it is also necessary to build wealth for the future. Regardless of the profession, all those who earn have the risk of losing income.
Income Protection will help you maintain the quality of life even after you lose your income. You will not have to get buried under the expenses. With the monthly benefit, you can easily pay bills and mortgages. So Income Protection not just protects your income but also protects your lifestyle.
Income Protection for Tradies
Tradies have to do to all the works with their hands, from handling power tools to working with electricity, heavy lifting, and working with heavy equipment the life of the tradies is full of hazards. They have to get their hand dirty working in a manufacturing division or doing manual labour. According to the ABS, 23% of people who were injured or ill were tradies and technicians.
Another reason is that if you are a tradie, you may not be covered by worker’s compensation. No being covered under worker’s compensation means you won’t be able to claim for things like compensation for wages when you are not feeling well or medical expenses.
Most of the construction sites may stipulate that the tradies must be covered by income protection insurance before they are can work there.
Income Protection for White Collars
As we all know, blue-collar workers are doing far more risky jobs than white-collar professionals, then why a white-collar need income protection insurance? The research says blue collars are seen as more physical injuries than white-collar, but white collars make over three times more claims for mental illness.
Office workers are often prone to stress and anxiety because of the pressure of their work, while income protection won’t cover mental illness, but stress can contribute to physical illness like stroke and heart attack.
White collars may be covered by worker’s compensation, but it does not mean you don’t need income protection insurance. Worker’s compensation only covers you if you get injured on-site, if you have the non-work related illness, you can claim worker’s compensation. Whereas, with income protection insurance, you may get covered even if you have the non-work related illness or off-site injury.