Business Cover

You may not realise how financially vulnerable you can be if something happens to derail you, a family member, partners/shareholders or a key person contributing to your business. This insurance is your backup plan!

You probably already know that fire and general insurances protect your companies physical assets (such as buildings, plants and equipment, contents). However you should also ensure you have adequate commercial and/or business insurance, as these types of insurance focus on financial protection in relation to the ‘people’ assets in your business and allows you to pay for covering any key absences, should something happen.

Got the right ACC cover?

First up, you should also be aware that whether you have business insurance of not, if you’re self-employed, you need to check that you’ve got the right ACC cover from the Accident Compensation Corporation. Failing to do this is a pretty common mistake which can also leave you exposed financially if something happens.

I can help you check out your ACC cover and get it sorted too. There are two different types of ACC – Cover Plus; and Cover Plus Extra:

• ACC Cover Plus is an ‘indemnity’ type of government accident insurance cover. You don’t need to prove what your income is until you need to make a claim.
• ACC Cover Plus Extra is an ‘agreed value’ type of government accident insurance cover. If you are working under the PAYE tax system (Pay As You Earn), you are not eligible for this type of cover. However, if you are a business owner taking drawings, you’ll need to discuss an ‘agreed value’ of cover with ACC for your annual cover. Then, should you need to claim in that financial year, you do not need to prove your income – cover related to it has already been ‘agreed’ under ACC Cover Plus.

Got the right business insurance?

I provide five business insurance products which are designed to protect your company should the unthinkable happen – whether that’s illness, injury or death. I’m happy to talk to you about these and discuss what you need – whether that’s one product or a mix of several.

Get in touch for a casual chat over coffee at a time and place that suits you – no pressure, no obligation. You might also want to check out the other types of insurance I can provide you with so you’re financially protected in other situations (particularly health-related insurance such as life, health, trauma and total and permanent disability insurance): it’s what we do.

In the meantime, check out a short summary of our business insurance products below.

Our business insurance products

• Key Person
• Shareholder/Partnership Protection
• Business Ownership Protection
• Business Debt Protection
• Succession Planning

Key person

this assesses how you manage the financial risk to the business if you lose someone who was significantly contributing to its operation and success. It also determines what funding cover you might need to pay for external services to cover the key person’s role until another person can be recruited and trained. Other aspects this type of insurance factors in are costs related to the loss of customers and valuable contacts which the key person may have had; and the loss of market share as competitors take advantage of the situation.

Shareholder/Partnership Protection

If your business loses a shareholder or a partner to serious disablement or death, you might end up in business with one of their family members, an accountant, a lawyer or a total stranger as a result. This type of insurance will fund the creation of a ‘buy/sell’ agreement which sets out an agreed timeline and price with the shareholder’s/partner’s family that will allow ownership and control of the business to come to you. This ensures that control of the business is retained by those in the business and that the family concerned is treated fairly.

Business Ownership Protection

This type of business insurance is focused on your needs if your part of your business needs to be sold, should death or serious disablement happen to you. It funds a plan to structure your requirements and identify the value you and your stake represent within the overall business’s value.

It also identifies the stakeholder value for each of your business’s other shareholders or business partners. This information can be used by you or your family to follow an agreed process and determine a fair sale price during purchase and sale negotiations with the business’s other shareholders or business partners.

Business Debt Protection

If you are unable to pay business loans and liabilities should something happen to you, your key person or another shareholder/partner in your business, your personal assets might be targeted to fund these debts instead. Our Debt Protection insurance will make sure your personal assets are protected from this type of exposure by funding the debt payments until your company is back on track again.

Succession Planning

Generally speaking, you should include this type of insurance as part of your retirement planning. However, you also need to ensure your business is covered should you die earlier than expected or suffer serious disablement before you retire, as this will fast-track your plans. Talk to me about how this type of insurance can achieve both.

Contact

Want to find out more? Get in touch with us today and we can arrange a time to meet up and discuss your best options, no obligations.