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Critical Illness Cover

Critical illness cover offers financial protection against illnesses such as heart attack, cancer, stroke, and a wide variety of other listed critical illnesses. PPS also offers a number of ancillary critical illness benefits to supplement the standard critical illness cover.  

  • Critical Illness 100% cover elevates most payments to 100%
  • The child critical illness benefit is automatically included for a child of the PPS member
  • The Expander Rider benefit will expand the definition of lower severity conditions so that PPS will pay out a lump sum percentage (up to 25% of the sum assured with a maximum of R250,000.
  • And, of course, PPS members receive a direct profit allocation to their PPS Profit-Share accounts.

Over the years, advances in medical science mean that many people can survive a critical illness that once was thought of as fatal. Although many people may survive the critical illness,  many will require financial assistance. PPS critical Illness is ideal for providing cover for medical costs and shortfalls, lifestyle changes, special treatments, rehabilitation, and other unexpected expenses. With the PPS critical illness members can focus on their recovery rather than the expensive medical bills!

Isn’t it time you reviewed your PPS policy to make sure that you have all the up-to-date benefits.  We believe that good financial advice and a professional approach remain invaluable in assisting in your financial journey.  Call us today at 041-3730601 to review your PPS benefits.

Changing in Smoking Status

Premiums for PPS products may be paid on a smoking or non-smoking basis depending on the smoking status of the life insured.

If a smoker quits smoking, the life insured can apply for a non-smoking rate provided that:

  • The life assured undergoes a cotinine test at the time of applying for the non-smoking rate,
  • After a waiting period of twelve months a further cotinine test is undertaken,
  • The life assured may be obliged to undertake a further cotinine test at the time of making a claim.

A policyholder must inform PPS insurance in writing if the life assured starts smoking. PPS is entitled to review the terms of the life policy if the life insured starts smoking!

June 2018: Market update and need for Critical illness cover

Half year market update

Despite all the doom and gloom in 2017, the JSE ALSI returned 20.95% last year. Heading into 2018 there was a sense of excitement with every South African feeling a sense of “Ramaphoria”. Sadly the rally around this new found sense of optimism has seemed to run out of steam. As at the 31st of May the JSE ALSI had declined by 4.4% giving back a large part of the gains from last year. Along with the drop in the market we have also seen the rather rapid decline in the value of the rand going from almost R12 to the dollar to now almost R14.

The South African market is heavily influenced by world events and all the uncertainty regarding Trade Wars has negatively affected the domestic market. Over the past three years we have been positioning our clients’ funds into more conservative portfolios. These more conservative funds have been far less volatile than that of the market and have given investors a return of between 7 – 10% over the last year. It is very hard to predict what the future; or Donald Trump has in store for us and so we remain of the view that investors should remain cautious in the current investment climate.

Please contact us should you wish to arrange a meeting to discuss your portfolio and its positioning. We will be happy to discuss this over a cup of coffee.

When should you consider Critical illness cover?

Critical illness cover offers you financial protection should you be diagnosed with or require treatment for an illness which is deemed ‘critical’. On average 80% of all claims are from the four major critical illnesses; heart attacks, strokes, coronary artery by-pass graft and cancer.

The benefits of having Critical illness cover in place are that it allows the insured to be able to fund one or more of the following:

  • Pay for the costs of medical care and treatment
  • Replace any lost income due to a decreasing ability to earn
  • Provide the insured with enough funds to cater for a change in lifestyle

Clients often forego Critical illness cover owing to the price of this cover compared with life insurance or disability insurance. However statistics show that a male under the age of 25 who is a non-smoker has a 24% chance of getting cancer, having a stroke or a heart attack before he reaches the age of 65. 34% of all critical illness claims made by males occur before the age of 55.

With the advancement of medical technology, more and more people are fully recovering from these critical illnesses, however the medical bills associated with these illnesses are not always covered by your medical aid. With this in mind it is important to consider how your life would be impacted should you or a loved one be diagnosed with a critical illness?

Fund of the month: Investec Diversified Income Fund

The Fund of this month is the Investec Diversified Income Fund. This is an income generating fund that is suitable for investors whose primary focus is on receiving an income but also looking to maximise capital. This Fund returned 9.5% over the last year and a return of 8.8% over the previous three years.

The link below provides a quick description and investment philosophy of the Fund.

Investec Diversified Income Fund Philosophy

“The question isn’t at what age I want to retire, it’s at what income. “ George Foreman