A few days before Christmas, my friend got sick, and when her health rapidly declined further, she was admitted to hospital in septic shock. After several tests, she was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. She was 46, fit, and healthy, and in the space of just two weeks, she passed away.
During her brief illness, it was clear that if she were to survive, she would require several operations, cancer treatment, transplants, and long-term care and would not be healthy enough to work for an extended period, if at all. Her death was an unexpected and massive shock to her family, and my friend would never have expected that this could have happened to her.
Planning for the unexpected
It made me think of the stress and financial impact events like this can have on people, and their loved ones.
As financial advisers, our job is to ensure your financial well-being is secure so you can focus on your future, achieve your goals and spend time with the people you love.
Your financial plan is a roadmap and living document, reviewed regularly and updated when circumstances change. It is a long-term plan for building wealth and ensuring your investments are set up to support your goals. When things don’t go according to plan, we are able to run a financial health-check and discuss different options to ensure you can still achieve your goals.
Protection when you need it
Chances are, nothing will go wrong in your lifetime, and if it does it may not be an immediate show stopper– but, as in my friend’s case – there is still a chance. Almost all deaths in New Zealand are due to medical conditions and illnesses, cancer being the cause of almost 40% of the 38,000 deaths in New Zealand last year.
Insurance can provide protection if you are unfortunate enough to need it and claim proceeds can provide you with financial support. Your goals can still be achievable through sources of passive income that come from insurance policies.
Insurance can provide financial support in several ways:
- It can provide access to medical advice, treatment and technology, outside the congested public system; and
- Can help you take control of debt and financial obligations as soon as you are diagnosed. This means being able to continue to pay regular instalments, and as things worsen, significantly reduce the outstanding amount of any debt, and eventually, as the worst emerges, be able to eliminate the debt completely; and
- Provide access to a source of income when you can no longer earn an actual income.
The key to surviving financially
While insurance cannot change what has happened, it can provide financial support when you need it. If the unexpected were to happen, you can take comfort knowing that you can meet your financial obligations and your family can be supported.
Talk to us if you would like to review how your future is protected. We can connect you with an insurance adviser who can understand your situation and recommend a policy and level of protection that is suitable for you.
31 January 2025
By Jenaia Clarke, Operations Director and Financial Adviser
CP Wealth
