Are you insured? Here is why you must be insured today!

Given the nature of accidents that occur on our roads, any road user is excessively exposed. For example, if you own a car, how many of you check to ensure water is there, car brakes are in good working condition and whether the oil is enough? How many times do you check to ensure every thing is fine? Those are things you can control. How about the things you cannot control like the condition and sanity of other drivers and road users?

Many people have gotten driving permits but have not gone through rigorous training on how to be responsible on the road. At individual level, you might be a careful driver but the taxi drivers are over speeding.

If you use the Northern bypass especially the route that connects to Mulago hospital, you have probably noticed the steep slope. Some thing I experienced recently on that road. As vehicles were ascending the small hill towards Mulago, the traffic became heavy. The policeman at the top of the hill stopped all the cars going up so as to clear the way for cars moving from Kamwokya. As they normally do, one of the taxi drivers put off the engine during that holdup. When the cars were released to move uphill, the taxi driver tried to restart the car, unsuccessfully. It could not ascend. Instead, it started moving backwards. Unfortunately, the nearest driver had not left the safety distance between her and the front car. I saw the taxi hit the car behind, and another in a chain reaction. Three cars fell into the ditch. It was terrible. Thank God I was in the car in front of the taxi; otherwise, this story could probably have also been about me.  That is the kind of risk you are exposed to if you ply Kampala roads.

What insurance packages do you need?

When you reflect about such day-to-day challenges and risks we are exposed to, you must find ways of reducing the risks and or transferring the risk all together. One of the best strategies of risk transfer is buying insurance. Consider the following steps to evaluate if you need insurance or NOT and if yes, which product/s:

• Before you buy insurance, you need to ask yourself: what is the best insurance product to buy and from which insurance company? To identify the best insurance product, you must first understand your key risks and legal environment in which you operate. Are there insurance products that are mandatory by law? If yes, you must have that insurance cover as a must. For example, third party insurance for motor vehicle owners. You must have it as long as you have a car on the road in Uganda. Consider your business or life, do you need work mans compensation insurance? Do you need professional indemnity insurance cover? Think carefully and ensure your are on the right side of the law.

• Next, which kind of risks are you exposed to at business, career and personal level? Do you have a family? How are you shielding yourself from risks of sudden loss of income through disability for example? Do you have a young family? What kind of investments have you made to provide on-going support in case you lost earning due to say changes at your work place? Don’t take anything for granted.

For example, education insurance products provide cover to meet school fees expenses for your children’s education in future when you are say in retirement. Imagine not having to be worried about who to pay and when? All you need to do is understand the age of your children, their current classes and which university or secondary school they would like to study in say four or ten years. Then you buy education insurance where you pay monthly a defined amount of money while you are still working every month. This could be for five years – which is called the accumulation period. After this period, the insurance company will begin covering your children’s school fees when it is due. This is a very good retirement plan when you have stopped working.

Why buy insurance?

Many people are spending reckless going for movies, shopping. But when you have bought insurance, it makes you have forced saving. The good thing is that you cannot get this money because it is not available. It is only going to be available in the future when you need it or your child needs it.

I can hear your small voice saying you have a business or property and money in the bank. Great. But you also know that in Uganda, majority of people’s businesses die when the owner dies. And properties get sold even by relatives. Money in the bank is good, but money loses value unless it is invested to earn more. The best thing with life insurance is that in case you are unable (with proof of incapacitation or death) to pay the monthly or annual payment, the insurance company takes over from where you stopped and starts paying your child’s fees. It does not matter whether you have paid one or two installments, but as long as you have the policy, the insurance company becomes the second parent. Great! Unlike the bank where you have to struggle to get your money or your next of kin has to process estate administration documents and all those things, here the insurance company already has the details of the beneficiary and NO one not even your estate administrator can change the beneficiary of the education insurance.

When you become incapacitated and can not work anymore, the insurance meets all your children’s fees. There is nothing any body can achieve like going to meet their creator with a peace of mind knowing they have not left a struggling family. This is because those who matter to you like close relatives and children have been insured.

Myself as a financial advisor, after mentoring many professionals I got to realize that their biggest worry is their children’s well being. In Uganda, the statistics are not in our favor. Do you know that almost 80 per cent including most educated professionals die without having made a will? They die intestate.

When you die intestate, the law comes in and decides how your property will be shared. Even you had a will, sometimes wills disappear. Some are not enforceable. The family will push out the people whom you wanted away from the property. I am giving you an opportunity today, visit Summit Consulting Ltd and contact our financial and risk advisors so we can give you best advise from various insurance companies we have studied an ideal insurance solution.

We will always advise based on your financial needs – we call it insurance strategy – getting the most of your insurance. There is no peace you can get like the comfort that your children and those you care about are happy.

Life is full of risks. You must cover them. Let insurance take care of your risks. Hope you make the right financial decision today! Contact Mustapha B Mugisa on skype; mmugisa or phone +256712984585 or email mugisa[at]mustaphamugisa[dot]com. Let me be your financial advisor.

Succeed.

Copyright Mustapha B Mugisa, 2015. All rights reserved. You are free to share and republish as long as you link back to this website, and acknowledge the author.