One of the most important parts of your ongoing financial plan is Financial Planning. Saving and building wealth is of course very important, but all your hard work could be jeoparised without adequate risk insurance in place. Appropriate risk insurance can ensure that you and your family are well looked after should an unforseen event occur.

What would happen if you are injured, fall ill or die? Would you be able to meet the medical expenses involved? How would your family cope without you?

Link Finance Group can provide advice in risk insurance and can review your situation to determine your risk insurance requirements and arrange appropriate cover, such as Income Protection, Life Insurance, Total & Permanent Disability (TPD) and Critical Illness (Trauma).

Income Protection

Income Protection insurance will pay you a regular income stream in the event that you are unable to work for a period of time due to illness or injury. Income Protection insurance is extremely important as it can ensure that you:

• Are able to continue meeting your living expenses, should you be unable to work for a period of time
• Can continue meeting interest repayments on loans, such as a mortgage or investment loan
• Are not forced to sell down some of your assets to meet expenses

Income Protection insurance can replace up to 75% of your gross salary income and may continue paying you until age 65 (depending on the terms of your insurance contract).

Income Protection premiums are usually tax deductible, so paying for the peace of mind that Income Protection provides can be surprisingly affordable.

Life Insurance

Life Insurance will pay your dependants (or Estate) a lump sum in the event of your death. Life Insurance can be used to protect your loved ones by:

• Allowing them to repay any outstanding debt
• Providing them with funds that can be invested to generate an ongoing income
• Provide funds to children to meet future costs, such as education expenses or a home deposit

Life Insurance can give you the peace of mind that your loved ones will be protected should you pass away.

Total & Permanent Disability (TPD) cover

Total & Permanent Disability (TPD) cover will pay you a lump sum in the event that you are unable to work again, due to permanent disability. TPD payments can be used to:

• Meet medical expenses incurred on permanent incapacity
• Pay down outstanding debts, such as mortgages
• Provide funds that can be invested to generate an income steam

Permanent disablement can be one of the most stressful times in a person's life and TPD cover can give the reassurance that you can remain financially secure, should this happen to you.

Critical Illness (Trauma) insurance

Critical Illness (sometimes called Trauma cover) will pay a lump sum in the event that you suffer a specific illness, such as heart attack, cancer or stroke. Critical Illness can be used to:

• Meet medical expenses incurred on illness. Many people think that their Health Insurance will be sufficient to meet medical expenses, however the medical and hospital costs on serious illness can be very high. Critical Illness insurance can ensure that these medical expenses do not become a financial burden
• Pay down outstanding debts, such as mortgages
• Provide funds that can be invested to generate an income steam

Business Risk Insurance – Buy Sell Agreement

For client’s who are in business, a Buy Sell Agreement is an important aspect in mitigating long-term risk to your business as well as having a strategy in place for business succession planning, in particular when there are two or more persons involved in a business.

This type of risk insurance is important where a co-owner of a business dies or becomes disabled, the remaining owners of the business will want exclusive ownership and control of the business, while the beneficiaries of the person’s estate will want the money representing ‘their’ interest in the business. Once appropriate insurance is in place, properly drafted buy sell agreements can provide a simple and cost effective mechanism for achieving all objectives of the business owners.

The benefits of implementing a buy sell agreements are:

• It is the simplest business succession arrangement
• Mitigate against negative effects of the disruption experienced by the business as a result of the disablement or death of an owner. This cover can also be used to reduce external business debt funding.
• Can be arranged to protect the business from the impact of losing a key person, such as their critical skills, profit generation and client base.

General Advice Warning

The advice has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation and needs, and because of that, before acting on the advice you should consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs; and if the advice relates to acquiring or possibly acquiring a particular financial product, you should obtain a PDS for that product before making any decision about whether to acquire the product.

Link Wealth Solutions Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Millennium3 Financial Services Pty Ltd Australian Financial Services Licensee – Licence number 244252