Rural Income Protection
Rural Income Protection is expensive but what if you could get ACC to pay for some of it?
We all know ACC will pay up to 80% of your income for accidents. But what if your income has been reduced due to a bad year or maybe your accountant has worked some magic in your accounts. When it comes time to claim 80% under ACC, then this becomes very little even though you have paid the ACC premium! It’s no wonder ACC get bad press in these kinds of situations because you never get what you’re expecting.
ACC Cover Plus Extra has gone a long way towards remedying this, but you still have to apply to have this cover. One of the great things with this is that you can stipulate a reduced amount of cover that is guaranteed to be paid at the time of your claim. You can also reduce the cover down to as low as $25,376 p.a.
For example if you are a sheep and beef farmer with Liable Earnings of $70,000 (which is nominated cover of $56,000 at 80%) under the old ACC Cover Plus the premium would be $2,914.10. However, if you elected to have a lower cover of $25,376, the premium for Cover Plus Extra would be $1,405.36. That’s a saving of $1500 that could be used towards your private income cover which will cover you for anything that stops you from working, be it accidental physical injury, or illnesses such as cancer, heart disease or mental illness.
There are a multitude of private covers available and each have their own pros and cons depending on your situation. This means you need to be aware of what will work for you, and what wont. One example is that, if you die as a result of an ACC covered injury, your spouse will continue to get 80% of your earnings until either five years from the date the payment starts, or the youngest child in their care turns 18. If you have reduced your ACC cover to $25,376 (as mentioned above), then this will significantly reduce the death benefit. This could adversely affect your family so you will need to have other provisions in place to counteract it i.e. life insurance.
My advice is don’t walk into this mine field alone. Take your accountant and insurance adviser with you and get them to walk in front!
Paul from Village Insurance has been in the industry since 1998 and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Paul’s passion in the business is spending time getting to know his clients, understanding their personal and business needs to ensure they are adequately covered for the present and the future. Click here to contact Paul.
