Protecting against the Unexpected…

This is a collaborative post

Since becoming a parent, I have to admit I have started to take ‘life’ a little more seriously. You start to prepare for the unexpected with the intention of helping your little one experience only the best and the positive in life. You’ll ensure they have a healthy, rounded diet so they can maintain a healthy weight. We monitor them when they play outside so they don’t find themselves in trouble. We may even go the extra mile, doing things like investing in EMF Protection for them. But one area that people tend to neglect is life insurance. 

I moved out of home and into my own home at the age of 24, and when taking out my first ever mortgage the concept of discussing life and critical illness insurance all seemed like a bit of an unnecessary right of passage. I was 24 for goodness sake, I was fit and healthy, I was young, and the thought of anything going wrong at such a young age felt like an unlikely occurrence. Things like that happened to other people, not me. I took out life insurance because I needed to secure my loan, but did I feel like I needed it? No.

Ironically, my views on insurance were somewhat warped. I would insure my car, insure my possessions, even take out additional insurance on my brand new iPhone in case I dropped it, all of which seemed perfectly normal. But my life? My body? In my head that was something that celebrities and footballers did.  I didn’t have health insurance, life insurance, critical illness or even take out travel insurance for my annual holiday abroad. I was very naïve. Sadly it seems that I am not the only one. 

My views changed when I had my first child. Suddenly being responsible for another tiny human being made me reassess my thoughts on the world. All of a sudden, life insurance and health insurance seemed like a totally sensible thing to do, and when I contracted sepsis during childbirth with Neve, and was told I had been just hours away from death, it bought home just how bloody important insurance can be. Unfortunately life does throw up the unexpected. Things do happen to people at a young age and the thought of leaving two children behind absolutely filled me with dread. Whilst I didn’t want to (and still don’t) want to think about bad things happening, at least I can be confident that my family will not struggle financially, or be left with debts they cannot cover without my income.

There are so many things to worry about as a parent; not to mention the thought of what would happen if myself, my partner, or even one of the children god forbid was to become poorly.

A recent survey conducted by Pure Cover found that many of us are not adequately protecting ourselves, our homes or our families (including our pets!) against the unexpected. Their survey found that a huge 44% of Brits wouldn’t be able to cover their household bills if they become unwell, and 66% of respondents had no financial support in place to offset the cost of looking after a sick child if they weren’t able to work.

More shockingly, figures on travel insurance were quite concerning too – despite being one of the cheapest insurance policies on the market, and a massive £1m being paid out every day in 2017 on travel insurance claims (helping 480,000 travellers and their families) – 9.9 MILLION Brits travelled abroad last year without any travel insurance. With 54% of travel insurance claims relating to medical treatment, I find it amazing that people take that risk.

You can see more shocking statistics from the Pure Cover survey in the infographic below.

With so many of us lacking in disposable income, and with savings being pretty thin on the line, it’s time us Brits started educating ourselves on insurance and protecting ourselves on our journey through life!