Rather than helplessly abandon yourself to fate and face the future with fear, there is a lot that people can do to bring more certainty to their lives. The trick is to manage risk through life insurance.
While life is full of surprises, proper financial planning helps manage uncertainty, creates predictability, and builds confidence and success.
These were takeaways at a recent webinar hosted by Coronation Life Assurance titled: ‘How confident are you about the future: Protecting yourself from the unexpected’, where experts agreed that, with life assurance products you can achieve greater peace of mind in the face of uncertainties.
The webinar shared expert insights from Chris Saigbe, director of Life Operations at African Reinsurance Corporation; Tunde Salako, founder of Africa Insurtech Lab; Abimbola Tiamiyu, registrar and CEO of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria; and Kenneth Ifeanyi Essu, head of Underwriting Life at Coronation Life Assurance.
Adebowale Adesona, executive director, Technical Operations of Coronation Life Assurance and George Odumuko, head of Customer Experience at Coronation Life Assurance Ltd respectively gave valuable insights on objectives of the webinar and why Coronation Life is investing on the knowledge sharing series, while Wole Famurewa, anchor at CNBC Africa moderated the session.
They identified key risks to include natural disasters, currency volatility and devaluation, inflation, chronic disease and illness, disability, job loss, premature death, family members passing away, or outliving your savings, which can all have devastating consequences on a person’s well-being.
While risk by its very nature is unpredictable, people can be relatively certain that one or some of these risks will be encountered by most people over a lifetime, they noted.
“Whether you are an individual, a private or public employee, an association, a family, or even a financial lending institution, an appropriate life assurance product exists to help manage the risks you are most likely to face.”
Family financial protection products, for example, provides income replacement to help families maintain their standard of living in the event a breadwinner loses their ability to provide.
Life assurance products can also help accumulate and invest savings to cover future expenses. Other covers are designed to pay off loans or debt in the event of loss of income, disability, premature death, or any other named risk.
Parents can construct life assurance covers to fund their children’s education, while individuals or businesses can construct cover to pay their taxes.
Group life assurance products can help businesses attract key skills or provide a financial buffer in the event profits fail or key skills leave the business. Retirement products can ensure that people continue to receive an income throughout their old age, regardless of how long they live.
Finally, through re-insurance, even large financial institutions can spread their risk, protecting themselves and their customers and investors from being unable to meet their risk or investment obligations.
Whether term assurance, family income, keyman benefit, group term, whole life, investment, unit-linked, annuity, or critical, chronic, or terminal illness insurance, the insurance sector has developed the tools to help ordinary people manage even the most extraordinary events.
Since trust is at the heart of the life assurance sector, it is important that Nigerians work with reputable providers with demonstrated track records of paying out on policies. It is also important that people considering life assurance products talk with an advisor, or, ideally, several advisors from different organizations.
Advice is free and will help people decide which covers are most appropriate for their peace of mind. In selecting an advisor, however, it is critical that Nigerians work with professionals who take the time to understand the details of their personal circumstances, income, obligations, and risks so that they purchase affordable policies for only the risks that they face.
