We give you care, compassion and cash

1. “What a wonderful job we do. At the worst times in people’s lives (death or disability), when everyone else has their hand out for money, we don’t. We come to them with care, compassion and cash.” 
2. “Ben, what we give people is options. On the Monday after someone has died, because of what we do, their family has the option to go back to work or not. If they are disabled, we give the spouse or someone close to them the option to either care for them or hire a professional to do it. If they are told there is a treatment, even though it may cost tens of thousands of dollars, we give them the option to pay for it without selling their home or assets. If they are ill, we give them the option to stop work and recover in their own time. What other job does that for people?” 

Two quick stories of this recently:

• I met with a 42-year-old mother of three, married with mortgage. She’d had a stroke. She had trauma cover and because of that, her husband could keep his family business going. They could keep the family home and pay for her treatment. Without the trauma cover, as she said to me, they “would be in financial ruin”.
• A 56-year-old client of our firm was told he had months to live due to cancer. He had a young family and a large mortgage, and had planned to work right through his palliative care. He was informed by us that his life insurance policy has a terminal illness benefit and $2,000,000 had been deposited into his bank account. He went into work that day and quit his job.

This article is only half the story. By setting your policies up with an adviser, not only are you more likely to get a claim paid, your cover is likely to be larger and more appropriate for what you require. I can tell you from personal experience that when you need to claim, every cent you get paid is precious. Risk advisers like us will recommend based on your needs.

“I’m recommending this level of cover so your mortgage will be covered, your children’s education costs will be covered, and your family will have an ongoing income until your children grow up.”

I’ll give you one more reason why you should ring me or any risk adviser for your life, TPD, trauma and income protection insurance needs.

Ring your super fund and say:

“If I have a stroke, what claims service will you provide? What will it cost?”

Or ring your direct insurer and say:

“If I have a terminal illness, what claims services will you provide for me and my family? What will it cost?”

Then consider this. I sat in the hospital room with our client and filled in the claim form for her because she was physically incapable of doing so due to the stroke she’d just suffered. I prepared all the documentation, met with her on multiple occasions, sent the forms to the insurer, spoke regularly to the claims manager on her behalf, followed up the insurer and eventually rang her to inform her that more than $200,000 had been paid into her account a week before Christmas.

Or this. On hearing that one of our clients had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, the principle of Fitzpatrick Financial Services went straight to the client to remind him what cover he had and that his policy included a terminal illness benefit. He then helped our client to fill in the claim form, submitted the claim on his behalf, spoke regularly to the claims manager and managed all outstanding requirements. He eventually rang the dying man to inform him that he could now stop work and be certain that his family will be financially secure because he had just confirmed the insurer had paid $2,000,000 into his account that day.

Is your super fund going to do that? Is your direct insurer going to do that? Is your industry super fund going to do that? Guess what our clients get charged for this incredible service? I bet you can’t? Zero dollars. It is simply part of our service. Claims are the most important part of what we do, with no additional cost to our clients.

What a wonderful job we do. At the worst time in people’s lives, when everyone else has their hand out for money, we come to our clients with care, compassion and cash. Talk to us, don’t wait. There are no fees and no obligation.

Ben Day is a specialist life insurance adviser for Fitzpatrick Financial Services