STEP 3
Protect
Your Income
Protect the income that pays for your home, family, bills, savings and future plans.
What is Step 3?
Protect your ability to earn
Step 3 means looking at how your household would manage if your income stopped or reduced due to illness, injury or another serious change in circumstances.
Why it matters
Your income supports most of your financial commitments. Without a plan, even a short period away from work can put pressure on your mortgage, rent, bills, savings and family life.
What should you review?
Start by looking at your income, sick pay, employer benefits, savings, household costs and any protection policies already in place.
The payoff
Protecting your income gives your household more stability. It can help you keep bills paid, protect your savings and reduce the pressure on your family if your ability to work is affected.
How to protect your income
Start With What You Owe
Look at what your income pays for each month, including your mortgage or rent, household bills, food, childcare, loans, insurance, pension contributions, savings and any business costs.
Check Your Sick Pay and Employer Benefits
Review any sick pay, income protection, death-in-service benefit or workplace support you may already have.
It is important to understand how much they pay, when they begin, how long they last and whether they would be enough for your household.
Review Your Emergency Fund
An emergency fund can help with short-term pressure, but it may not be enough if your income stops for a longer period.
Income protection looks beyond the short-term buffer and considers how your income could be protected over time.
Consider Income Protection
Income protection may provide a regular replacement income if illness or injury means you cannot work, subject to policy terms, conditions and underwriting.
The right approach can depend on your occupation, income, health, budget, employment status and existing benefits.
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Strengthen your income protection
Know your monthly essentials
Understand the minimum amount your household needs each month to keep going.
Review your employer benefits
Do not assume you are fully covered through work. Check the details.
Build your emergency fund
A savings buffer can support the early stages of a financial shock.
Review income protection options
Understand what cover may be available, what it may pay and when benefits could begin.
Consider serious illness cover separately
Serious illness cover and income protection are not the same. One may provide a lump sum for specified illnesses, while the other may provide regular income if you cannot work, depending on the policy.
Protect both incomes where needed
In a two-income household, both incomes may be important to the family’s financial stability.
Review cover after income changes
If your income increases, your protection may need to be reviewed.
Avoid cancelling cover without advice
Reducing monthly costs can help in the short term, but cancelling protection without understanding the impact may create a bigger risk.
Not sure what financial step to take next?
Hidden
Do Covermore charge a fee for financial advice?
Covermore provides no-fee financial advice consultations. We will explain how the process works clearly before you make any decision.
Do I need to know what service I need before contacting you?
No. Many clients come to us because they are not sure what they need. We can help you understand whether your next step relates to your mortgage, protection, pension, savings, investments or wider financial planning.
Can Covermore help if I already have policies or pensions in place?
Yes. We can review what you already have and help you understand whether it still suits your life, goals and current circumstances.
Do you only work with clients in Dublin?
Covermore is based in Dublin, but we work with clients nationwide.
Can you help business owners and company directors?
Yes. We work with business owners, sole traders, partnerships and company directors on pensions, protection, savings, investment planning and broader financial advice.