What You should Know So Far...
So over our last several posts we've looked at the issues that you face with life insurance as an expat.
We've highlighted the biggest issue that you face with life insurance.
The fact that you could be paying premiums on a policy that's not going to pay out.
We've also talked about how sending a change of address notification isn't a solution.
And we’ve also explained why this doesn't flag the issue and gives you a false sense of security.
Then we went on to look at the reasons why your insurer doesn't extend cover to another country.
We also mentioned why you should always ask the same question whenever you move countries
Even if your insurer has covered you abroad before, they may not when you move somewhere else.
Then we looked at the reasons why you might have life insurance in the first place. Which lead us onto the implications of your policy failing to pay out.
What would it mean for your family if they found themselves in this predicament.
Throughout this series we've offered you our FREE "Expat Life Insurance Confirmation Pack".
It gives you everything that you need to make sure that you've got life cover that works.
So here it is one more time for you if you haven't got it already.
CLICK BELOW TO GET YOUR COPY NOW!
Hopefully, you've got your copy already and you've put it to good use.
If you have then you know whether your existing policy is going to work or not.
The chances are that it isn't going to continue covering you.
So, you've got to replace it.
(If you haven't contacted your insurance company yet then get your skates on and find out, it's important)
Today we're going to look at replacing your life insurance.
As an expat your parameters have changed and we're going to help you work through what that means.
Making Sure You Don't Find Yourself In The Same Position Again
You've got obvious reasons for wanting to replace this life insurance.
You may also want to use it as an opportunity to review how much life cover you need.
Though, one thing that should be right at the top of your agenda is making sure you don't find yourself in this position again.
We're going to show you exactly how you can do that irrespective of where you move.
We'll give you the solution to having ongoing cover throughout your expat life.
Though first we want to run through some things that will help you understand how you can achieve this.
Getting A Policy From Back Home
So, the reason you're looking for a new life insurance policy is because one from back home has let you down. It doesn't cover you anymore now that you live in a different country.
So that should be your first clue right there…
So, for starters most providers won’t take a new policy when you live outside of the country.
In fact there are fewer companies that will do this than there are ones that will extend cover abroad on an existing policy.
That shouldn't surprise you.
After all, most domestic providers won't even allow you to continue your policy. As you already know cover ends after you’ve lived overseas for six months.
So, setting up a new policy with a company back home as an expat will be very difficult.
If you did manage to do it will depend on the country where you currently live. Your current country of residence is acceptable to them..
That's the only reason they'll accept your application.
You could be on the same continent as them, in a country with similar risk factors. If for example you’re from the UK and living in Switzerland, then they could accept your business.
There's likely going to be conditions, for example you’ll have to pay premiums from a UK bank account.
Moving to another country that's less desirable to them will put you in the very same position you're in now.
Getting A Policy From The Country Where You Currently Live
So you might start to look for a replacement policy from a local insurance company. It might even be a division of a big international insurance company.
And because you’re dealing with them it may give you some comfort and the feeling of having broader coverage. Though in most cases these policies are the same as the one you're looking to replace.
Even though they're a multinational company, they design these policies for domestic markets. Take one of these policies and then you move to another country...
Guess what?
Yes, you have it, you'll be looking for another policy again.
On top of that, there can be restrictions on a foreigner buying life insurance. Malaysia is a good example because they put limits on cover for expats.
This could leave you underinsured and your family financially exposed. This would mean that they'd have to make compromises and may be unable to clear debt.
Then we have the issue of taking life insurance in another currency.
How is currency going to impact your life cover?
Well let’s explain...
The policy that you take out in your current country of residence will be in local currency.
The question is what currency are your liabilities in?
If you’ve got a mortgage back home it won’t be in the same currency as your life cover.
What currency will your family’s expenses be in?
The likelihood is if something happened to you, your family would go back home. Their support network is there and it's familiar.
If the local currency devalues then there's going to be consequences for your family. There may not be enough to clear the mortgage, or they may have much less to live on after moving back home.
Think it can’t happen?
I saw it first hand during the Asian Financial Crisis when currencies fell by almost 40%
Imagine THAT!
It could also go the other way as well.
Though is that the risk you want to take with your family’s financial future?
What's The Big Deal About Changing Life Insurance Policies Anyway?
For starters, there’s the hassle of making the application in the first place. Lots of paperwork, health and financial questionnaires even if everything is straight forward.
If you participate in any hazardous sports such as flying or diving, then that’s more paperwork. If you do a lot of international travel or have had health issues.
Then that means even more paperwork.
You'll have medical tests each time that you apply and as you get older these get more demanding.
Having to do all of this every two or three years is an absolute nightmare.
Though, the biggest issue with replacing your life insurance is the question of insurability. This is like your insurance credit rating and it changes over time.
Your health and physical wellbeing determine how insurable you are…
Losing weight or stopping smoking can improve your insurability.
Though time itself always has a negative effect, each year we get a little bit riskier to insure.
Some factors damage our insurability forever and mean that we can be uninsurable.
So, if you needed to set up life insurance because your policy no longer covered you. Only to find at that there's no way that you can get a new replacement policy.
What would you do then?
This is a massive problem especially when you’re forced to chop and change your life insurance.
We've got no need to tell you what the implications are of not having life insurance.
John's Story
Let’s give you a real life example of such a situation that we experienced with one of our clients.
Our client's name was John.
John left the UK to take up a position in Southeast Asia.
After moving he found out that his UK life insurance policy would no longer cover him.
He had a property back home with an outstanding mortgage on it.
His wife didn't work and hadn't for a long time. She'd been a stay at home mum raising their son and daughter.
Even if she did enter the workforce, she wasn't going to make enough to pay off the mortgage and live. She would really struggle without John's income if anything happened to him.
That's why they had the life insurance in the first place. So that their mortgage would get settled and she'd be debt free.
Plus there'd be enough left over to make sure (along with other assets) that she'd have enough money to live on.
So, he wanted to replace the existing policy which was now void leaving them financially exposed.
He asked us to help him set up a new life insurance policy...
We got quotes, found the best policy for them and we presented our recommendation.
He was happy and said that he wanted to get the life policy up and running as soon as possible.
So, we started the application process, then made arrangements for his medical examination.
A few days after the submission of results from the medical to the underwriters, we received an e-mail. The insurance company were contacting us about one of his blood tests.
Unfortunately, it showed an elevated cancer marker.
The insurer advised us that John should go and see his doctor as soon as possible for further tests. Also until the severity of the situation was established, the application was frozen.
We relayed the news to John who made arrangements to see his doctor immediately.
John underwent more tests and they revealed that there was an enormous tumour. From its size it had been growing in his abdomen for quite some time.
It was malignant, though fortunately it wasn't an aggressive form of cancer.
He underwent an 18-hour surgery to have the tumour removed. He also had to undergo further post-operative treatment though he was ultimately fine.
Sadly, this meant that he couldn’t get any life insurance cover.
The Insurers now saw him as being uninsurable. He’d had cancer and they weren’t prepared to take the risk.
At best he may have got a policy that excluded any form of cancer, though this was very unlikely.
We spoke with other life insurers about his situation and the possibility of cover. All gave us the same answer which was they'd decline any application submitted.
John had no idea that he had this health issue in fact he’d had a medical only six months before. In fact, he'd had regular medicals every couple of years throughout his life.
This tumour had been growing for years and it had been completely missed.
John however was completely healthy.
Now he had a mortgage and no life insurance to clear the debt, this was a big worry for them both!
When You're An Expat What You Should Look For In A Life Insurance Policy!
We've just looked at some of the traits that you don't want in your life insurance Policy.
We've also looked at the issues you'll face if you get the wrong policy.
Also, we've highlighted the real consequences of having to constantly change life insurance.
The uncertainty and risk that it exposes your family to...
Now we want to talk about the qualities that you should be looking for from your life insurance as an expat.
Portability
For an expat this is completely essential with regards to your life insurance.
What does it mean in this context?
Well, if you move to another country then your life cover moves with you. This means that if there’s a claim on the policy then it’s going to pay out for you!
It doesn't matter whether the location of your bank changes. As long as you keep paying your premiums then you've got cover.
You don't have all the hassle of having to reapply for a replacement policy each time you move.
No extra paperwork, medicals or underwriting a change of address and that's it.
You understand why this is important...
Right?
Continued Insurability
This follows on nicely from portability…
That’s because you can't have one of them without the other. More specifically for you as an expat there's no continued insurability without portability.
How is this so?
If your life policy isn't portable, then cover is going to end when you move to another country. You'll need to replace your life insurance.
In this situation you don't have continued insurability. In fact quite the opposite...
If you've had a serious illness, then you may find that you're unable to get life insurance. This means you’re uninsurable as John found himself in our earlier example.
Underwriting comes with the risk of the insurer not accepting your application.
Even if you haven't had a serious illness, you could have developed a chronic condition.
This can also impact your chances of getting a new life insurance policy.
Much of that depends on what you're suffering from.
Though at best you'll be paying more than double what you were paying before for the same amount of cover.
That's your best case scenario another possibility is that you can't get cover at all.
What then?
Again, another thing to remember is, each time you have to reapply for your life insurance, you're that bit older.
This means that each time you're paying more for the same amount of cover. As we get older life insurance gets more expensive.
As we get older each time, we apply our chances of getting more life insurance, diminish.
So, if your life insurance policy is portable, what then?
Simply put you eliminate all of these risks...
You move and your cover moves with you!
If you've suffered from a serious illness or developed a chronic condition, so what...
It doesn't matter to you because you've got cover from when you were younger and healthier.
Your family aren't going to face financial insecurity and uncertainty.
They aren't going to struggle to pay mortgages or bills. And they aren't going to have to make difficult decisions and massive compromises.
They'll have the choices, that the pay out from a life insurance policy was intended to give them.
And you’ll have the peace of mind this should give you peace of mind knowing that what you put in place is going to work for them.
You see how essential this is?
The question is how do you get this?
How do you make sure that you're protecting your family from financial hardship?
And that's exactly what we're going to talk about next.
Your Only Choice For Life Insurance If You're An Expat!
So how do you do this?
What’s the option that you have available to you as an expat that's going to give you all that security?
How do you get this kind of portability with your life insurance?
We're not going to dig deep into the different types of life policies that are available, (that's another post for later).
No, today we're focusing on a single factor that will make all the difference to your life insurance.
Here it is...
You're an expat, the only option that's going to work for you is an "International Life Insurance" policy!
What is it?
This is a life insurance that is specifically designed with you in mind...
They've recognised your unique situation and developed life policies to address those issues. They have all the characteristics that we highlighted earlier.
These policies give you the portability that's so important to meet your expat life.
That portability ensures that you've got continuity of cover. You move and your life insurance goes with you.
No catches, no conditions and no risk of getting stuck without any life insurance!
There's no chance that you end up paying your premiums for nothing. If there's a claim then it's going to get paid
In a moment we're going to show you why this is the only choice for every expat. Even if you think you're not going to move to another country...
But first if you already recognise that you need an international life policy, though you don't know where to start and want help...
We can do exactly that!
If you want us to find the best international life insurance for you and get you quotes.
Then CLICK BELOW!
A Local Policy Is Good Enough For Me
You might be saying this to yourself right now, that you’ve heard the same thing many times.
You've put down roots in the country where you’re currently living. You might have set up your own company or you've been with your employers for a good while.
You're settled where you are and you don't see yourself moving anywhere else. So why would you need an international life insurance policy?
OK, I get that but what if things were taken out of your hands?
You’ve got no choice but to move back home or to another country?
Your work permit or visa hasn’t got renewed?
Government policy has changed and now they want locals to take over expat Roles!
Or what if there's a financial crisis and the local currency falls dramatically. You can't afford to stay there because being paid in local currency means you've taken a big pay cut.
Your employer can no longer afford to keep you because you're paid in another currency.
Then there's the possibility of political and civil unrest which threaten your safety?
All of these things have happened, and expats have had no choice but to move on.
We're not even talking about your employer moving you on or you getting offered a position elsewhere.
Again both of which we've seen happen to people who felt they weren't moving either.
How would your domestic life insurance work in any of the above situations?
The answer is, it wouldn't.
If we knew what was around the corner, then there'd be no need for life insurance in the first place.
But we don't, so we prepare for the worst.
This is exactly why even for you, an international life policy is your best option.
There are other reasons why an international policy is your best option. We can share other expat experiences that underline this.
Though for now I'm pretty sure that we've made our point
You get that, right?
Summing It All Up
So, that pretty much wraps things up for this post.
Before we go here's a summary of what you need to know about life insurance if you're an expat!
· Portability is the key to everything
· Having continued insurability ensures your family's protected and you have peace of mind.
· The only way to get both of these is from an International Life Insurance Policy
One last thing...
We're here to help you through this process.
So, CLICK BELOW to get your quote for international life cover, NOW!
Join us again next week when we'll be looking at another big mistake that EVERYONE makes with their life insurance.
It's one that that can lead to your family getting much less than their supposed to.
And it will mean that it takes them a long time to get the proceeds of that policy.
We'll show you how to make sure they get 100% of the benefit and they receive it in days after the claim is made...
Thanks for reading!
We'll be back next week...
Comments