Can You Cut Corners and Costs With Critical Expat Insurance Cover?

With the global job market shrinking in line with many nation’s economic prospects, and expatriate employees perhaps worrying even more about their job security than their onshore peers, are there ways you can cut corners and costs with critical expat insurance cover?

In this report we take a look at whether choosing the cheapest policy is always the best option, and how you can cut corners to get to the best policies available on the market to suit your personal and direct requirements.

If you want to save time and money but you want to make sure you have all your essential expat insurances in place, this article makes for critical reading…

It’s true that job security and a job for life are concepts few of us can relate to nowadays – the world has changed significantly in the past few decades, and not necessarily for the best either.  Some might argue that globalisation has opened up the world to travel and adventure for all of us so that we can essentially live and work abroad in almost any country, but others would highlight the fact that in actual fact, it has perhaps instead led to a situation where, when the American mortgage market caught a cold, the UK’s economy froze and Iceland’s economic fortunes ironically went into meltdown.

For expatriates who not only live but who work abroad too, and whose income and security are reliant upon their making sensible choices about remaining committed to a given nation and a given company, information about how costs can be cut and money saved is essential, as is striking the right balance between saving money and yet keeping critical insurances in place to make sure that the individual is covered for all eventualities.

So Which are the Essential Insurances for Expats Anyway?

As regular Shelter Offshore readers will know, not only do we not think you can generalise about expatriates, but we will never generalise on principle.  Basically every single person’s situation and requirements are 100% unique – so what’s right for you could be totally the wrong advice for the next person.  Therefore, to determine which are the critical insurances for you and the right method of approach for cutting costs whilst maintaining the maximum level of cover possible, you need to seek personalised professional advice.

However, with that caveat in mind – we would suggest that life insurance and medical insurance are two of the most critical insurances to consider having, and that after these an individual needs to think about having home and contents cover as well as car insurance if appropriate, travel insurance if required and finally perhaps, critical illness and income protection insurance possibly.

Are the Cheapest Policies the Best Policies?

The answer to this one is that sometimes yes, you’re lucky enough to find that the cheapest policy suits you and your requirements ideally, and is therefore the best policy for you to have!  However, you need to shop around when it comes to all forms of insurance because costs and levels of cover offered vary greatly.  For example, you might think that it would be far cheaper to have decreasing term life insurance than level term and that as a result you wouldn’t even think about looking for the latter.  Our research shows us that the difference between the two can actually be as little as less than a pound each month for a significantly different level of cover.

When it comes to medical insurance it is absolutely critical that you don’t just plump for the cheapest policy without reviewing and comparing it.  Some policies are so basic they only cover you in absolute emergency and after a significant excess has been paid.  So it’s more a case of striking the balance between a policy with more bells and whistles than you could possibly want, and bare bones (excuse the pun) cover.

In terms of whether the cheapest is best, we would say therefore, that you have to strike a happy and comfortable balance between cheap and comprehensive, hopefully arriving as close to ‘good value for money’ as is possible.

How Can You Cut Corners and Get Right to the Best Policy?

Shopping around and comparing the market are essential necessities if you want to make sure you have the right type, level and cost of cover in place.  Yet shopping around and comparing the market are desperately tedious activities with so many hurdles (deliberately?) put in place by insurers to make it even harder for you to compare policies and to see what you are actually getting for your money.  Therefore, if you want to save time as well as money, ideally you need to recruit an expert to help.

Whilst you might think that a financial adviser only deals with savings and investments, you’d actually be perhaps surprised to learn that no, the most reputable ones are more than happy to jump on board and guide you, as their client, towards the right type and level of cover.  They will also make sure you’re not doubling up on cover and paying for cover you don’t need – because their approach to money is an holistic one, so even when it comes to insurance they are motivated to get you a) exactly what you as an individual need and b) to get it for you at the best cost possible.

To find an adviser in your area to assist, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and we’ll put you in touch with a Shelter Offshore preferred partner.