PROTECTING BUSINESS FROM POTENTIAL FINANCIAL LOSS

Protecting your Business

We want to ensure that your business' future success is not impacted if you, a business partner or a key employee suffered an unexpected medical event.

To highlight the importance of protecting your business, please read the case study below.

CASE STUDY

Widgets Pty Ltd

Widgets Pty Ltd has 21 staff, where 5 are administration, 15 are in the manufacturing process and 1 (Mike) is in sales. Jim is the owner and looks after 30% of the existing customers and runs the manufacturing side of the business. However Mike looks after 70% of the existing customers and is responsible for bringing in all of the new business. Due to his unique blend of product knowledge and sales ability, the blow to the business would be devastating if Mike was suddenly unable to work.

Mike suffered a serious motor vehicle accident while driving to Baffle Creek to go fishing. He was airlifted to Brisbane where he would need to spend 6 months being treated and rehabilitated. The effect on the business was dramatic. New business dried up completely, reducing revenue by 40%. This meant that 40% of the manufacturing line had to be made redundant. The Bank noticed the drop in revenue had breached their profitability covenant and called the loan in. Jim was suddenly faced with potential bankruptcy. In addition, he wanted to help Mike’s family financially, but was just unable to, due to the business downturn.

If Jim had considered the Key Person risks in his business he could have put the following plan in place:

  • Income Protection insurance for Mike which could be part of Mike’s salary package, and would have ensured that Mike’s family was financially looked after.
  • Business Expenses insurance on Mike (owned by Widgets Pty Ltd) – this would have meant that all of the staff could be retained, covered the recurring expenses of the business and would have the effect of stopping the bank covenants from being breached.
  • A Key Person (Trauma) policy on Mike (owned by Widgets Pty Ltd), which would be sufficient to reduce the Business Bank debt by 50% (payable on diagnosis of a cancer among other listed events) and to replace loss of revenue.

Sitting down and considering the risk to your business if one of your key employees couldn’t work, could mean the difference between your business surviving or going under. It could also make a huge difference to the family of your employees.

Don’t put your business at risk. Email or call Ulton Wealth Management on (07) 4154 0425 to implement a sound risk management plan for your key employees.

Assets (Liabilities)
Home $500,000 ($350,000)
Savings $5,000
Vehicles (2) $55,000
Super (Lachlan) $100,000
Super (Sandra) $18,000
Credit Cards ($5,000)
$678,000 ($355,000)

Lachlan’s first thought after hearing the diagnosis was:

Thankfully Lachlan had received advice from Ulton to implement insurance 8 months prior to the diagnosis. He phoned us to let us know and we immediately prepared all of the claim forms. Lachlan’s insurance included the following:

Income Protection Insurance which would pay 75% of his income plus his 9% super contributions after a 4 week waiting period until he is able to go back to work. $170,000 Trauma lump sum payment. Hodgkinsons Lymphoma is an autimatic claim.

The Lump sum payment allowed them to do the following:

  1. $5,000 reduction in credit card
  2. Deposit $165,000 onto their mortgage where the redraw facility will be used as follows:
    1. Around $100,000 over the next 12 months:
      • for upfront payment of medical tests (they have private health insurance but there is still a gap on a lot of the medical costs),
      • Rent on a unit in Brisbane close to the Wesley hospital so that Lachlan can spend time out of the hospital and the family can have some sort of normality when visiting Lachlan
      • Travel costs between Brisbane and Bundaberg
      • Costs of running two households for a period of time.
    2. $42,500 will be used to top up Lachlans’s Income Protection payments over the next two years, to his pre disability salary.
    3. $22,500 buffer for contingencies. Sandra could stop work for 12 months. Alternatively after Lachlan recovers, if these funds are still available then the family will go on a holiday to celebrate Lachlan’s recovery

Having the insurance gave Lachlan peace of mind that the family would not be financially disrupted at a time when they were dealing with the realities of his cancer. It also meant that he could afford to get the best medical treatment and recover properly. He could concentrate on his recovery knowing that the family were financially taken care of.

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