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Clive Macdonald

Corporate Benefits Packages Are A Big Risk For Expats!

Updated: Jul 4

Do You Rely On Your Corporate Benefits Package?

Expat And Corporate Benefits

We’ve been talking to expats about their finances for well over 25 years now. 


And one thing we hear all the time is “I’ve got that in my corporate benefits package“. 


So, the question we’re going to ask you today is this… 


Should you be relying so much on the protection benefits that your company’s providing for you?


You might not know the answer right now, though by the end of this article you will. 


You’ll know the potential risks in doing so. Plus we’ll help you assess just how heavily you rely on them and what you can do about it if you do.


Before we move on and look at potential issues with corporate benefits. One thing that can compound the situation is your personal life insurance failing to pay a claim. This is a real issue for many of you because 80% of all policies taken out back home stop cover when you move to another country.


So, if you want to be sure that your life insurance is going to work when it's needed then we can help.


Here's our "Expat Life Insurance Confirmation Pack".


It's completely FREE and has resources to help you confirm your life cover still works. Plus it gives you a step buy step guide of how to do that and gives you questions that you should be asking.


So CLICK the image below and get your's NOW!

Life Insurance For Expat Families

Why Pay When You Can Get It For Free?

To this day I find it so surprising how willing expats are to put the wellbeing of their family in the hands of your employer. 


Don’t you find that strange too? 


Or maybe you don't… 


You could be thinking why waste your money when someones giving you it for free? 


Right? 


We get it and on the face of things that makes complete sense. You can spend your money on something else or even invest it. Plus, on top of that you don’t have the hassle of sorting it out for yourself and that's a big bonus. 


Is there any downside to this, surely there can’t be?


Something for nothing that you don’t have to lift a finger to get. It’s time to start digging and find out more. 


So here we go…


Here's Some Straightforward Questions About Your Corporate Benefits Package

If you’re prepared to put so much reliance on this benefits package from your company, then these should be pretty easy for you to answer. So, here they are...


What exactly does your employer provide? If you’re confident that you don’t need to do anything else then surely you know this? Right now you’re probably scratching your head. Don’t worry, it’s the most common reaction when we ask this question. Most expats don’t have a clue about what they get in their corporate benefits package. They know that they get one and that’s enough… 


That is until it comes to making a claim and by that time… 


Simply put, by then IT’S TOO LATE! 


So let’s break it down and ask you another question and this one might be a bit easier to answer 


Do You Rely On Your Corporate Benefits Package For Your Protection

Do you get life insurance? You’re saying yes! Great! How much cover do you get? I know, we’re getting tricky again. What is 3, 4 or 5 times salary it could even be as high as 10… 


That sounds like a lot, Right? Is it though, is it enough? How much would actually be enough? The answer to that is 3,4 or 5 times salary won’t be anywhere near enough, not if you don’t have cover elsewhere. 10 times might be is though that depends on quite a few other factors. 


How much life insurance do you need? This isn’t a question we’re going to answer right here. Though we will help you answer this question at some point in the future, so keep reading these posts.


What else do you getAccidental death, critical illness maybe disability cover? Maybe, you only get the life cover! 


You get health insurance, though? Again, you’re nodding with a bit more confidence now. Good! Yes, you guessed it we’re going to ask you some more difficult questions. So, does it cover your whole family? 


Yes! 

What Does Your Corporate Benefits Package Provide?

Are you 100% sure about that? What does it cover? Are your GP visits or outpatient procedures included? Or is it just major medical and inpatient care? Is the policy domestic or international? Does this even matter? 


Well, what if you can’t get the treatment that you need in the country where you’re living? Would the policy pay for you getting the treatment you need in another country? If you’re corporate benefits package is what your family’s relying on. Don’t you think that you should be able to answer these questions


You get the point, Right? 


Even if you did know what your company provided it doesn’t mean it still does Companies change the providers they use and sometimes this means the benefits change When times are tough and companies need to save money benefits get cut


Would you know if they did


So, you should be asking some serious questions now And the answers you get will shape your view on what you need to do next…


Blind Faith

By now you should be starting to agree that putting so much faith into something that you know so little about, is an issue. Also, we get that the money you save is a big reason why you choose to rely on corporate benefits so much. Though is it the only reason? We don’t think so! 


Becoming an expat is a big step out of your comfort zone There’s so much that you have to do and so many adjustments the you need to make. You move away from your friends and families to somewhere unfamiliar where you don’t know anyone. Right? 


As an expat you look to your company to fill some of those gaps. You become more reliant on them because they’re the thing that’s most familiar to you where you're living now Almost like a surrogate family, so of course they have your best interests at heart? 


You know things aren’t exactly like that… 


After all is said and done you’re still an employee. Yet you certainly view your employer differently as an expat. 


It's important to know what you get from your employers corporate benefits package

Also, for many people healthcare isn’t something that you've had to think that much about. It’s just been there if you've needed it. This can mean that you take healthcare for granted because it's just been there. So when it seems as though it’s been taken care of for you by your company Then that’s completely normal Why would you ask questions? 


The thing is though, it isn’t the same situation at all. We’ll go on and talk about why later. Though when you join a new company it's only natural for you to you have an enormous amount of faith in your employers. That is until you have an experience that changes this perception. 


It’s the same reason that Enron employees put their entire pension fund in the company shares. You haven’t forgotten about Enron have you? Maybe you don’t know about them and I could be showing my age. If you don't, then look them up because at the time of their collapse they were one of the biggest companies in the world.


Needless to say the employees lost their livelihood and pensions when the company collapsed. This happened because employees weren't asking the right questions.


If you're relying on your corporate benefits package to provide for your family if they lose your income and take care of them when they get sick. Yet you don't know what's being provided then you're not acting in your own best interests 


That’s because you’ve got so much faith what your company is doing that for you! After all your employer wouldn’t put profit above employee welfare, would they?


Misplaced Loyalties

You know what, it’s possible that they wouldn’t right now and they might really have their employees interests as a main priority Though answer this, what about the next CEO will they go in the same direction? What if your company gets taken over does the new parent company have the same values? Or the next time that the companies results aren’t looking so good will corporate benefits suffer as a result? 


You’d be surprised at how often that this is the case and employees take a back seat to shareholders. How are we so sure that this can happen? Well, we can be because there’s so many examples of it happening in the past. Walmart were once known for being an amazing company to work for today they're one of the worst. 


Answer this question for us… 


Why in the UK are over 90% of all company defined benefit schemes underfunded? And they aren’t only slightly underfunded, it’s a massive amount in fact it's a deficit of over £340 billion!!! 


Despite ongoing warnings from pension regulators the hole just keeps getting bigger. Yet bonuses for board members hit record highs and dividends keep getting paid to shareholders. This isn't only applicable to small companies. We're talking about employers like BAE and British Telecom being some of the biggest offenders! 


And it isn’t unique to the UK either, it’s a global issue! Here are just a few that have faced the same issues:


  • Dupont,

  • Hydro One,

  • Bank of Kyoto,

  • Evonik

  • Solvay


If your employer can’t fund your company pension properly Then what makes you think that you’ve got adequate protection benefits from them? You get that, Right? 


Would you know if your corporate benefits package changed

We’ve already highlighted how corporate cultures can change And that also means corporate benefits that a company’s providing can alter as well. This is a point that we made earlier and we make no apologies for making it again… 


The thing is would you even know if your corporate benefits package was becoming less generous than it was say 18 months ago? 


How would you know if it was no longer adequate?


When Your Corporate Benefits Package Lets You Down!

We had a client who worked in Singapore for a multinational cosmetics company. Each year we’d raise the question of a protection benefits review and each year he’d give us the exact same answer. “I get all that through my employer”


We’d always ask if he knew what he got from his benefits package. He'd give us the same answer each time “This company’s got a great reputation, so there’s no point in spending my money” We left it there and eventually stopped asking 


Several years later we got a call from him and asking if we could go and see him. To our surprise he said that he needed to set up some health insurance. He must have changed companies or gone out on his own. It turned out that he hadn’t done either of those things and he was still with the same company.


So why the sudden change of mind? 


Well he’d needed an angiogram and angioplasty. His company scheme didn’t cover it because they classed it as an outpatient procedure. He hadn’t realised that his company health insurance would only cover inpatient and emergency medical care!!! 


What if your corporate benefits package isn't as good as you though it was

And guess what? 


He’d had to pay the US$14,000 bill out of his own pocket (That was 14 Years ago so you’d be looking at upwards of US$20K today at least). So, NOW, he’d decided to take a look at his corporate benefits package because it turned out that it wasn’t anywhere near as good as he thought it was. 


Now he wanted to set up an international health insurance policy for himself!


We’ll comeback to our friend later and find out how that turned out for him... 


First let’s highlight something that's really important for you to understand! As medical procedures have improved, the need to stay in hospital has reduced. So more and more procedures can be done on a day/outpatient basis. As a result insurance companies have started to exclude them from inpatient/major medical policies. So if your company scheme doesn’t cover outpatient procedures then the list of what it covers is getting smaller and smaller each year. 


So who’ll end up paying for these procedures? That's right you, and believe us when we say good healthcare doesn’t come cheap.


Time For A Change

Let’s assume that you know what your company's providing and it’s good! You've got no need to do anything, right? But, can you guarantee you’re going to be working with them for the rest of your professional life? 


You can’t! 


We’ve known people who’ve worked for companies that offered amazing corporate benefits packages. Even more importantly they loved their jobs and the country where they were living. This could be you right now! Though as you’re well aware working for a multinational often means change. 

What happens If You change Company and their corporate benefits package isn't as good

Expat postings come to an end, time for a change and a new country. What choices are available? Well, there’s Sudan or there’s Sudan.  That’s a choice that we’ve seen people face And as much as they loved their companies and the benefits packages that came with them They had no choice but to look for something else because they didn't want to go to their next posting location.


So, they changed companies, what would you do in this situation? What if you’ve put all your eggs in one basket and relied on your corporate benefits package so heavily. Then, what you get from your new employer isn’t anywhere near as generous as your old one? 


What are the consequences? Lets take a look shall we!


So, What Then?

You’ve changed company… 


And as a result your corporate benefits package has taken a serious hit. First of all would you even know? Or maybe your new employer doesn’t even provide any at all. You get paid more and they expect you to sort this kind of thing out for yourself. What do you do? 


Easy, you go and sort out your own health and life cover. Right? 


What if it's not quite that simple for you? We’re now going to talk about the concept of “Insurability”. “What?” you may say. Well, insurability is being acceptable to an insurance company when applying for a policy. We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again. There’s a saying in the financial services world which is… 


You buy insurance with your health and not your wallet” 


Is your health insurance inpatient only

This basically means that if you’ve had an illness or suffer from a condition. Then no amount of money will get the insurance company to take you on. 


So now's the perfect time to finish the story we were telling you earlier about our client, the one who worked for the cosmetics multinational 


After he’d had his angiogram he asked us to get him some private health insurance for him. We knew it wouldn’t be easy and that he wouldn’t like what we had to tell him Though we still tried. We shopped around all of the international health insurance providers. Every single one came back with the same response… 


They’d accept him only with an exclusion on the entire cardiovascular system and any condition that could be attributed to it. They’d cover anything that didn’t relate to this and because many conditions do then this was a massive exclusion He’d pay the exact same premium as someone without an exclusion Yet he’d get far less cover. 


We were right, he didn’t like it and he decided it wasn’t worth taking out a policy. If only he'd have checked when we asked him to do a protection review originally. He'd have had health insurance without any exclusions.


Also, if you find that you need to get life insurance and you’ve had health issues then one of two things will happen The premium that you’ll have to pay will at least double or the insurance company will refuse to cover you.   


So what happens now if you’ve been relying on your company for all of your life and health insurance Well the quick answer is you’re stuck, you and your family are left financially exposed!


It Couldn't Happen To Me!

We all think that things happen to other people, unfortunately, that isn’t true! You may also think that by the time anything might happen to you then you’ll be financially secure. By then it won’t matter to you or your family. 


Well we’ve got news for you, SHIT HAPPENS!!! 


We’ve come across people who’ve had heart attacks, cancer, MS, strokes and even passed away. Not when they’re elderly either, we’ve seen it happen to people in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. People who’ve had a healthy lifestyle can suffer because they’ve got a genetic condition. Guess what, they were completely unaware that they’d got anything wrong with them. 

If your corporate benefits package won't pay then you'll have to

On top of this there’s also bad diet, bad habits, lack of exercise and stress related conditions It all impacts your ability to get insurance Lets be frank If you knew what was going to happen to you in the future then there wouldn’t be insurance. The fact is we don’t and the vast majority of people aren’t financially prepared to get through these situations. 


As we mentioned earlier...


One thing that can compound the situation is your personal life insurance failing to pay a claim. This is a real issue for many of you because 80% of all policies taken out back home stop cover when you move to another country.


So, if you want to be sure that your life insurance is going to work when it's needed then we can help.


Here's our "Expat Life Insurance Confirmation Pack".


It's completely FREE and has resources to help you confirm your life cover still works. Plus it gives you a step buy step guide of how to do that and gives you questions that you should be asking.


So CLICK the image below and get your's NOW!


Life Insurance For Expat families

Here's A Health Attitude To Corporate Benefits If You're An Expat

We think that we've shown you that it’s a mistake to rely on your corporate benefits package for personal financial protection. Not making your own personal provision can lead to some serious consequences for you and your loved ones.  


Anything that you’re company provides is a bonus, a supplementary benefit and it shouldn’t be the cornerstone of your protection benefits This is definitely true for your life insurance and you should always have your own provision which is calculated to meet your personal needs.  


When you’re doing your calculations for your life insurance don’t factor in any death in service benefit at all. 


As for health cover then look at what your company provides and if it isn’t good enough then top it up with what you need using a personal policy. If you’re putting the health and wellbeing of your family and yourself in the hands of your company. Yet you’ve absolutely no idea what it is that they provide for you. Then sorry to be blunt, but that's completely idiotic.


That's because by the time you realise it isn’t good enough, then you or your family are going to have paid the price. By then it’s too late and there’s NOTHING that you can do about it! Getting some health insurance to cover you in the future is going to be almost impossible. So, you'll have to keep living with the short comings and paying those BIG medical bills.


We hope that reading this has made you at least start to want to ask some questions. Though we really want it to make you want to take action to make sure that you've got what you need.


So, here's one more chance...


To get our "Expat Life Insurance Confirmation Pack".


It's completely FREE and has resources to help you confirm your life cover still works. Plus it gives you a step buy step guide of how to do that and gives you questions that you should be asking.


So CLICK the image below and get your's NOW!

Life Insurance For expat Families

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