Accidents happen anytime and anywhere, whether you're at work, home or on holiday. They include:
- You or your partner may suffer a serious injury or illness
- Your car is damaged
- Your house is broken into or is damaged
These are stressful things to deal with, but you'll still have to carry on paying your rent or mortgage and loan payments. If things get tough, the last thing you want is growing money worries.
Accidents will cause disruption in your life, and sometimes they will leave you hospitalised or immobile for a period.
Of course, you may be lucky. Only you can decide whether you're willing or able to take the risk. If an accident does happen, do you have enough savings to be able to manage? State benefits may cover some of your costs. However, most don't start immediately after an accident, and usually only last for a fixed period of time. This is where insurance may help.
Fortunately it's easy to protect yourself and your family from the loss of income caused by an injury. We can guide you to make the right choice for your circumstances.
If the worst happens, your insurance policy will pay out an agreed amount
which may help to cover the damage, the loss of income or meet increased
costs such as a childminder, cleaner or converting an existing property to
cater for a disability.
Employer sickness pay
If you have an accident that means you're unable to work, how would you be able to carry on paying your mortgage and other outgoings? You may have some savings to draw on, but would these be enough to live on for a long period of time or pay your mortgage?
Some employers will carry on paying employees their full salary for the first 26 weeks of any illness, or after an accident. But terms vary from none at all to some of the best schemes providing up to 52 weeks of cover so most people will find that they have some shortfall.
Income protection
Income protection is designed to pay you monthly benefit if you can't work due to illness or injury. This type of policy is normally designed to pay the income level which is selected up until retirement age when it's assumed that any pension provision will start to become payable if it's not dependant upon your ability to work.
Check if you qualify for advice
If you have £50,000 or more in savings and investments, you may be eligible for HSBC Premier Financial Advice. See the full eligibility criteria.
If you don't qualify for HSBC Premier Financial Advice or if you'd rather not pay for advice, see other ways we can help.
*Our opening hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 9pm and 9:30am to 7pm on Saturday. Calls may be monitored or recorded.
Eligibility requirements
HSBC Premier Financial Advice is available to UK residents who have £50,000 or more in Savings and Investments and who are at least 18 years old at the time of the initial consultation.
You'll also need to have an HSBC Current Account or Savings Account for us to be able to deduct your fee. We can accept payment from a first direct Current or Savings Account too.
To find out more:
- See our HSBC Premier Financial Advice pages or;
- Call us on 0800 328 1298 to book an initial no-obligation consultation with an adviser. Lines are open Monday to Friday 8am to 9pm and 9:30am to 7pm on Saturday. (Textphone: 18001 0800 028 0126).
If you don’t qualify for HSBC Premier Financial Advice, or if you’d prefer not to pay for advice, see other ways we can help.
If you are not a UK resident, see our HSBC Expat service.
