“We want to spend time together while we can”
Rebecca, in her mid 40s, was a top New Zealand executive with a leading role in her industry. Four years ago, she was driving when all of a sudden she couldn’t remember where she was going. This happened several times, and as her memory loss became worse, she started to lose her ability to read and write. She also started suffering from hearing loss and a lack of balance, which resulted in her frequently falling down the stairs at her house. One day her necklace got caught on the banister as she fell and badly bruised her neck. Luckily the necklace broke.
Finally, it got to the point where Rebecca could no longer work as her performance was being badly affected. And despite going to several specialists, her condition remained an undiagnosed neurological disorder.
“I am so frustrated. My job involved doing some complex tasks, and now I can’t even do basic things. Sometimes I do the housework twice in one day because I can’t remember if I’ve done it already. I can’t go shopping on my own, and I always have to take the dog with me when I go walking in case I forget the way back home.”
With Rebecca having to stop work due to her disability, she decided to claim on her income protection policy. “It was hard for me. Claiming was like the beginning of the end, I knew that it was over. I knew I couldn’t get my life back but with income protection, it did provide some security of income.
“There are so many hidden costs. There is medication and other medical expenses that are not subsidised that sometimes amount to $500 a month. We also had to move house. It’s hard because our other house still hasn’t sold. If we didn’t have income protection, I’d still be in the old house falling down the stairs.”
When they were reviewing their insurance needs 15 years ago, Rebecca and her husband realised that their income was really their biggest asset, and it made sense to protect it. “Our only regret is that we didn’t get more. At the time I was earning less, but I wish I had kept it up to date to be more in line with what I was earning now.
“They say that you should do as much as you can, for as long as you can. When my husband comes home from work, I don’t want him to have to do work around the house; we want to spend time together while we can. Having the income protection provides us with some financial security and allows us to enjoy doing things together and spend time with family and friends. That’s what’s important.”
Source: TOWER claim. The events described in this case study are true and permission to use the information has been obtained. Names have been changed to protect privacy.