Exactly a year ago this week, I dropped my son at Heathrow airport to start his year of travelling, amongst all my own emotion the overriding thing I felt, despite queues and delays, was an air of great excitement.
There were so many families thrilled to be going on their summer holiday. Some with small children and babies departing on their first ever summer trip. I noticed, for the children particularly, the happiness on their faces was undeniable, full of excitement for what the next two weeks would hold.
It started me thinking how disappointed these families would be if they didn’t have this to look forward to, and I know many parents feel it is such a priority for them, they often book more than 12 months in advance. So what might put this quality family time in the sunshine at risk? Well one of the things could be a parent becoming sick and having to take some time off work, or sadly even worse dying prematurely. Something we don’t want to think about, but when we’re talking about our lifestyle, we should talk about holidays, particularly when we talk about protecting our income which in turn will protect our lifestyle, including holidays.
Protecting your income
If a parent passes away suddenly then of course holidays might not be at the top of the list for a grieving family, but in time this could be exactly what the children and their widowed parent need. And a family who are coping with the illness of a parent would, when health allows, definitely benefit from this rest and relaxation.
But as we all know, holidays aren’t free, in fact most hobbies and pastimes families enjoy come at a cost. Its great to have protection in place to pay off that mortgage debt, but we know for many families that simply isn’t enough to keep them in their home and indeed maintain their lifestyle. A policy, such as Family income benefit can make a real difference to the income coming into a household and as a result go some way to protecting that lifestyle, which of course includes holidays. And Income protection can go a long way in replacing a lost income when employee benefits come to an end.
Family Income Benefit
A Family Income Benefit Policy is the most cost-efficient way for most families to include some extra life cover and importantly some critical illness cover into their protection portfolio. If you have a policy like this, it’s a good idea to make sure that it will go up with inflation so that it won’t lose its value over time. For example, if you need to make a claim on it in 5,10 or 15 years time the policy you have might not be fit for purpose or achieve the solution you need it for.
Income Protection
And whilst we are talking about income based plans, an Income Protection policy added alongside FIB and mortgage protection can help maintain income if you have to take some time off work through sickness.
So maybe there is something you can do to ensure your family gets that much needed rest and relaxation.
