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In 2022 the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA) found that the average South African income earner had a life insurance shortfall of at least R1 million. This means that in the event of death, their life insurance would not be able to cover the total insurance needs of their households.
Insuring that those you leave behind are not stuck in financial disarray is important to everyone. However, some often think that the responsibility of securing your family's future lies solely in the hands of the breadwinner, which is not the case.
In episode 3 of Nedbank Insurance’s MythBusters podcast, Mercedes Hare, Executive Head of Sales and Distribution at Nedbank Insurance talks us through why life insurance is important, even if you are not the breadwinner, and how it can help secure your family’s future even if you are not a high earner.
“You always think that the spouse is going to actually take care of financial matters, life insurance being one of those but, for so many of us, how often do we hear that? You wake up one day and the thing that you never thought was going to happen actually happens. You're divorced, your spouse passes away, and where does that actually leave you? Where does it leave the family? So you really need to bust that myth and take responsibility for your own financial affairs, irrespective of your family or your marital situation,” says Hare.
Another common misconception is that you should only get life insurance if you are a high earner and have been working for a long time, but Hare says that isn’t the case.
“For the person that's just started out in their career, often very young and thinking in the future ‘when I get to my 30s, when I get to my 40s, I will then do those responsible adult things’. But if we look at something like life insurance, actually the best time to do it is when you're young. It's actually cheapest when you're young because you tend to be healthiest and you've also got youth on your side. But equally from an income perspective, I think we often see that,” she says.
When it comes to affordability, life insurance can be tailored to your budget needs.
“We see people who really need these kinds of solutions for themselves and for their families, but they're worried about affordability. What I would say to all of those people that are out there is you can choose what you pay because you can choose the cover amount that you actually take and you can shape life insurance… or maybe it's your investments [compared] to what your pocket can afford right now. Rather do that than not do anything at all,” she explains.
Taking the first step of even inquiring about life insurance might seem daunting but with Nedbank Insurance you can start the journey from the comfort of your own home through their digital service.
“At Nedbank, we have a wonderful insurance business that is trying to really support individuals and families in society. We try and offer our solutions through digital channels because we recognise that so many people today are working, they want to actually make these financial choices at a time that is most convenient to them. So it could be that Sunday afternoon sitting on your couch with a cup of coffee and you're thinking, let me have a look. We then enable customers to effectively buy our life insurance solutions digitally. Super easy; 6 questions, no underwriting, and you're done,” she explains adding that customers can also go into a physical bank to get assistance.
To get started on securing your family's future visit Nedbank Insurance HERE.
This post was sponsored by Nedbank Insurance and produced by Adspace Studio.
