- Tel: 082 923 3151
- Email: jacobus@hfmdirect.co.za
Protection for your family when you’re no longer there.
Life Insurance is designed to provide cash for your family after your death. This cash replaces your income and can help your family continue to maintain their lifestyle and meet their financial obligations – like daily expenses, bond and car repayments and the cost of education.
It is always difficult for family to lose a loved one, but what makes it more difficult to deal with the loss is when these emotional struggles are compounded by financial difficulty. Life Cover (Death) helps you to make sure that the people you care about are provided for financially, even when you’re not there to care for them anymore.
The need for Life Cover (Death) is greatest when you have people that are dependent on you and that might face financial difficulty if you’re no longer there. So, for instance, most families depend on two incomes, so life will be difficult for the family if the income is no longer there. Not only will this affect your family currently in terms of daily living expenses, but also in the future – would the surviving spouse be able to provide for the children’s education?
If you’re a single parent, then the need is so much more, because your children and dependents only have you to provide for them.
If you’re a single person, you will need to assess your life – some single people are providing financial support to ageing parents or siblings.
If you fit any one of these descriptions, you should consider Life Cover (Death) to ensure that your loved ones are provided for and their futures are taken care of in the manner you may have intended
What if you were disabled in an accident or due to an illness? Will your dependents have sufficient funds?
to meet their daily and future needs. Will you become a financial burden to your family or relatives?
What if your career was suddenly interrupted by long-term injury or illness? How will you continue to accumulate sufficient capital to provide for retirement?
We cannot promise you protection from injuries or illnesses, but we can offer you the solution to life’s ‘What ifs’ and help you deal with the loss of income as a consequence of disability or impairment.
With our lump sum disability benefits, you get a cash payout that enables you to settle your debts immediately and make lifestyle adjustments to ease the effect of your disability.
If you were to become unable to work, as a result of temporary or permanent disability, or as a result of a serious illness, you and/or your family could find yourselves facing serious financial difficulty.
Not only could you find it difficult to meet normal monthly living expenses but you could also be faced with medical bills not covered by your medical aid scheme.
The lifestyle you worked so hard to build could quickly be completely destroyed.
We have a comprehensive suite of solutions, which are extraordinarily flexible and can be tailored to meet your individual needs.
There are two distinct areas covered under the loss of Income Protection:
Occupational Disability
Occupational Disability refers to temporary or permanent disability as a result of injury, illness or accident that results in your inability to perform the duties of your occupation.
While Impairment refers to physical and functional disability as a result of injury, illness or accident, irrespective of whether or not you can perform your occupational duties. The payment of this benefit is not dependent on the life assured’s ability to earn an income, but takes into account the impact that the injury has on his physical and functional ability to continue his daily activities, as defined by the specified medical conditions.
This is a combination of the Occupational Disability and Impairment benefits above. This benefit pays you a lump sum if you are permanently impaired, or if you are unable to perform your occupational duties. The amount that is paid out upon claiming.
Critical Illness cover (also referred to as Severe Illness cover) is designed to pay out a lump sum on diagnosis of a critical illness or or trauma-related event.
Critical Illness cover will pay out a predefined amount upon the diagnosis of one of a number of conditions. The list of conditions covered can vary depending upon the insurance provider although major providers offer protection against around 40 illnesses including cancer, heart attack, stroke, paralysis, major organ transplants, Parkinsons disease and more.
You may find yourself in a situation where you need to hire home help or pay for a nurse. Alternatively, you may still be able bodied and might just want do those things in life that you always wanted to before it’s too late.
When someone is diagnosed as having a serious illness it often means they are unable to work any longer or may not be able to work for a couple of months. The problem is that after these life changing events, the requirement for money is just as demanding and, if anything can become greater.
Why do you need Critical Illness cover?
The cost implications of contracting a Critical Illness are far-reaching – beyond just medical bills which, on average, only account for about one-third of the expenses you are likely to incur. While your medical aid may cover most of your medical expenses, there are hidden costs associated with the illness that you may not have considered:
Professional counselling can prove vital in helping to deal with complex emotions but it can be expensive. In addition, you may need costly treatments, alternative medicines or rehabilitation therapy… even reconstructive surgery or prosthetics.
You may have to hire a full-time nurse to help with your care, or a nanny to help with your children if your illness leaves you bed-ridden or in a wheelchair.
Your illness may require you to make modifications to your home or car – like installing wheelchair ramps or a special elevator.
Depending on the nature if the illness, you could be forced to give up your job – leaving you without a salary. If you are the sole breadwinner or self-employed this could have a devastating effect on your family’s future.
Retirement can be a wonderful time — if you have planned and prepared properly. If not, it can be a time of financial hardship and misery.
It is never too late to start planning and providing for retirement but the earlier you start the process, the better.
Once you have retired, your income will come solely from your investments, savings, pension fund and retirement annuities.
Your investment strategy will likely change. Where previously your focus may have been on more aggressive portfolios,
Monitor your portfolio and consult with us regularly, to ensure your investments keep pace with inflation and your expected monthly income in retirement is kept as high as possible.
It is also vital to put in place an emergency savings plan so you do not have to dip into your capital when life throws up little obstacles.
As you grow older you will invariably need more medical treatment and you should, in good time, ensure your medical plan is the most comprehensive scheme you can afford.
Make sure your will is up-to-date and that the proper beneficiaries and trusts are in place. Get professional advice about estate planning, to ensure your beneficiaries receive maximum benefit.
How to plan your income after your Retirement
Just because you’ve retired does not mean you should stop your financial planning. In fact, having a proper financial plan is more important than ever as you must ensure that your money lasts as long as you do and, most likely beyond. Your retirement capital must last for the rest of your life so careful and continuous planning is vital to ensure you don’t outlive it. But what options do you have? We offer two types of annuities to provide an income during your retirement.
In finance, investment is putting money into an asset with the expectation of capital appreciation, dividends, and/or interest earnings. This may or may not be backed by research and analysis. Most or all forms of investment involve some form of risk, such as investment in equities, property, and even fixed interest securities which are subject, among other things, to inflation risk. It is indispensable for project investors to identify and manage the risks related to the investment.
We know the experts who manages these risks professionally to help you minimise the risk, maximise returns and assist you in achieving your investment goals.
There are many “vehicles” for short/medium and long term investments. The most important concept is Unit Trusts.
Unit Trusts should be part of any balanced investment portfolio.
What is a Unit Trust and how do they work?
If you do not have the expertise, time or money to invest in the stock market but still want exposure to shares, you should consider putting part of your portfolio into unit trusts. A unit trust is basically a large group of people who all invest — sometimes small amounts — in a cash pool that is used to buy specified stocks that otherwise would be too expensive for each individual. Each member of the pool purchases a share in the fund and is allocated units according to the amount they invest and the price at which the units are trading. Because your investments in the fund are spread over a number of different shares, the overall risk involved in trading on the JSE is reduced. Each fund is managed by a fund manager and you may be required to make monthly payments that are used to purchase additional shares. Your units can be traded like other stock market-related instruments and the price is determined by supply and demand. Prices are published live on the Internet or daily in the press. You can sell your units at any time and can realise the cash within a day or two. Do not be in a hurry. Unit Trusts are unlikely to show a profit overnight. Be prepared to invest for three to five years. Consult an expert.
Medium to longer term investments.
You have a goal for which you will need cash in a few years. Perhaps you are saving for an overseas holiday in five years time, or maybe you want to be sure you can pay for your son or daughter’s university education when he or she finishes school, ten years from now. You can afford to put something aside each month or have a lump sum that you would like to grow, but want to be sure your money will work hard for you.
There are various options that are available to you for this purpose, for example – Endowment Policies, Medium Term Unit Trusts and Bank Products.
At HFM, we offer unrivalled flexibility, so you can find a Medical Aid that best meets your individual needs and pocket. Through innovative benefit design and strategic partnerships, we provide you with exceptional value of choice.
Health Insurance is about peace of mind – and at HFM it’s about ease of use as well.
Experience the value of choice in medical aid. shape your benefits – and contributions – according to your needs.
Your will: could it cause a family fight?
Your loved ones are going to have enough on their plates when you die without also having to worry about finances, or fighting with each other over your worldly goods.
Here’s what you need to do right now to avoid that.
Make a will, now.
Why? If you die without a will, you die “intestate”, which means you have no say at all in: –Who is appointed as executor of your estate. Rather choose a competent professional to protect your heirs’ interests independently and quickly; and
Who will inherit what. Without a valid will, the law prescribes who benefits and who doesn’t, and that is a recipe for hardship – for example your spouse could be left trying to survive on only a “child’s share” rather than inheriting your whole estate; and
How much tax your estate will pay. You might for example be able to reduce estate duty, capital gains tax etc with a correctly structured estate plan.
The Court’s warning – Use a Professional!
“It is a never-ending source of amazement that so many people rely on untrained advisors when preparing their wills, one of the most important documents they are ever likely to sign.” Those opening remarks by a Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal highlight yet again the downside of not seeking professional help.
The facts were that a defective will (its terms were unclear, technical terms were incorrectly used, and it didn’t comply with statutory formalities) caused 3 years of bitter family dispute. The deceased’s widow contended that everything had been left to her, but his children from a prior marriage challenged the will’s validity, and eventually succeeded in having the High Court set it aside as being “void for vagueness”. Then on appeal (and by this stage we are talking substantial legal costs, quite apart from all the stress and strain on the parties) the SCA reversed the High Court’s decision and upheld the will.
You won’t be around to witness the distress that ‘shoddy drafting’ and ‘incompetent advice’ will cause your loved ones, but you can avoid it by getting expert assistance upfront!
Short Term Insurance is insurance for the possessions that an individual owns, and Short Term Insurance is usually taken out from your home, the contents in your home, and your car.
When you purchase Short Term Insurance, you are protecting yourself against the possibility of losing your belongings and having to replace them yourself. Now the insurance company carries that risk, and in exchange for taking on this risk they charge you a monthly fee (the premium). The size of the premium depends mainly on the overall amount for which you wish to be insured.
We will provide personal assistance with regards to structuring your budget. Our advisors will help you optimise your spending and saving patterns within your income and life style considerations.
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