Financial Planning

03/05/2022

Do you know the difference between life and living cover?
If you don't know, then how do you know what you need?
Have you spoken to a financial adviser before taking insurance?

What do you think is more important: living cover or life cover?

“What do you think is more important: living cover or life cover?”

03/05/2022

Client paid on diagnosis of multiple sclerosis under additional expense needs cover
Client: A 49-year-old female
Claim event: Multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system breaks down the myelin sheath, the protective sheath that covers the nerves. This results in nerve damage and affects each person differently. Some people have severe symptoms, which progress quickly, whereas others are symptom-free for most of their lives. No matter how it affects an individual, people who are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis face many unforeseen costs to help manage the impact of the disease on their lives and slow its progression.
It’s because of the additional expenses that clients face early on that BrightRock pays 25% on diagnosis of multiple sclerosis by a neurologist under additional expense needs cover. Of the eight other providers in the market, only two companies would pay on diagnosis for this condition. This means that clients who bought critical illness cover at six of the other providers might not qualify for payment under their critical illness cover in the early stages of multiple sclerosis, even though they may already be facing significant additional expenses to manage their condition. These providers require more severe symptoms such as more than one hospital admission in a year or even failing the activities of daily living to qualify for the first payment.
BrightRock’s client, a 49-year-old accountant, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in August 2020. We paid her 25% of her additional expense needs cover amount when she was diagnosed with this condition. Her condition worsened and five months later we paid her the balance of her additional expense needs cover when she met the criteria for a 100% claim payment. At this stage of her disease, only three other providers would have paid the full benefit. Our client also qualified for a temporary expenses cover pay-out, and we paid under this cover for 17 months. BrightRock is the only company that could offer her the temporary expenses pay-out as a lump-sum. Only one other provider has a clinical definition for multiple sclerosis but they can only give the certainty of two monthly pay-outs for this disease under their temporary disability cover.
The client also qualified for a permanent expenses pay-out after failing the Personal Job Fitness Test
The client failed BrightRock’s unique Personal Job Fitness Test soon after qualifying for the further additional expense needs payments. BrightRock’s Personal Job Fitness Test assesses a qualifying client’s ability to do their own, specific job. BrightRock paid some of her permanent expenses cover as a lump-sum and we are currently paying the balance of her permanent expenses pay-out as a recurring, monthly amount. Even though she is receiving these recurring pay-outs, BrightRock will never ask her to prove that she is still disabled as is common in the industry. She has the certainty that she’ll have a monthly income that won’t be reduced if she earns an active income again, or if she even recovers enough that she could work in some capacity again. Her pay-out will also grow by 5% every year on her policy anniversary until the policy anniversary after her retirement age, as long as she’s alive, as this is the yearly growth rate she had chosen when taking out the policy.

You need to have cover from Brightrock. Contact me

19/11/2021

Are you sure waiting to make financial decisions is a good idea. How many people waited, and then didn't have that privilege when Covid came? Today, there are orphans, dependent family and spouses, waiting on legal matters etc, because someone waited to finalise their life cover and their Wills. And, for people that had the virus, did the medical aid cover you completely? Were you paid anything during your sick leave? Many were retrenched. Did you have cover for that bond to be paid? That's why a proper financial plan, call it living cover - is important. Don't wait for another disaster. If you are still insurable, please contact me NOW. Waiting has destroyed many lives.

19/11/2021

The best performing athletes have coaches. The CEOs and Directors of companies admit to consulting with mentors and people that know better or have experience. We grow up with teachers guiding us. Then why do you feel that you can make every decision about growing your money and protecting your income yourself. Your income earning ability is your most important asset. Speak to trained, licensed professionals. It's what we do. Let me help you. Let me put you in a seat of power, the power of knowing that you have what you need against risks.

08/10/2021

It has been my experience, in the last 2 years, especially, so many people have lost loved ones, and realised that they need to relook at their cover and reprioritise, as they have faced the circumstances of bad choices.
We need to focus on your insurance and investments. Are these still in line with your priorities, your lifestyle, your plans for the future? Have you gained or lost family members? Do you know the answers to these questions:
 Has your Will, beneficiaries and nominees been updated?
 Do you know what you have in terms of investments? When they are available to you? When will they pay-out? Are the funds still performing / or are they still active funds?
 Does your insurance cover you for these sicknesses we are experiencing over the last 4 years (Covid, Listeriosis, Bird flu etc)?
 Are there specified survival periods for pay-outs?
 Do you know that living cover is very different from life cover?
 Will you be covered differently if you lost your left hand, as opposed to your right hand etc?
 Does your insurer still pay you if you have not updated all your details with them?
 Have you seen or heard from your adviser, on your existing policies, in the last 2 years?
My name is Megasvari Chantal Pillay and I’m an accredited BrightRock and Sanlam Financial Adviser and Wealth Manager.
BrightRock can help protect your financial future with the first-ever needs-matched life insurance. BrightRock’s comprehensive risk offering changes with you as your needs change, so you’re at the right place. Sanlam has 53% shares in BrightRock. As you know Sanlam is renowned for management of South African investment funds.
I offer you sound advice, on protecting your income; and management of growing your capital. If you need my help, just to understand the above questions, or to review whether your policies are inline with your priorities, please let me know. I will be happy to assist you.
NB: Should you know or think of anyone that might need my advice, as above mentioned, please feel free to give them my contact details, or rather send me their details. I will help them
Thank you again. Stay safe and healthy

08/10/2021

It has been my experience, in the last 2 years, especially, so many people have lost loved ones, and realised that they need to relook at their cover and reprioritise, as they have faced the circumstances of bad choices.
We have spoken about your insurance and investments. Are these still in line with your priorities, your lifestyle, your plans for the future? Have you gained or lost family members? Do you know the answers to these questions:
 Has your Will, beneficiaries and nominees been updated?
 Do you know what you have in terms of investments? When they are available to you? When will they pay-out? Are the funds still performing / or are they still active funds?
 Does your insurance cover you for these sicknesses we are experiencing over the last 4 years (Covid, Listeriosis, Bird flu etc)?
 Are there specified survival periods for pay-outs?
 Do you know that living cover is very different from life cover?
 Will you be covered differently if you lost your left hand, as opposed to your right hand etc?
 Does your insurer still pay you if you have not updated all your details with them?
 Have you seen or heard from your adviser, on your existing policies, in the last 2 years?
My name is Megasvari Chantal Pillay and I’m an accredited BrightRock and Sanlam Financial Adviser and Wealth Manager.
BrightRock can help protect your financial future with the first-ever needs-matched life insurance. BrightRock’s comprehensive risk offering changes with you as your needs change, so you’re at the right place. Sanlam has 53% shares in BrightRock. As you know Sanlam is renowned for management of South African investment funds.
I offer you sound advice, on protecting your income; and management of growing your capital. If you need my help, just to understand the above questions, or to review whether your policies are inline with your priorities, please let me know. I will be happy to assist you.

NB: Should you know or think of anyone that might need my advice, as above mentioned, please feel free to give them my contact details, or rather send me their details. I will help them

Stay safe and healthy

21/09/2021

BrightRock’s needs-matched philosophy
As you know, BrightRock is the creator of the first-ever needs-matched life insurance that can change with clients as their needs change. Our needs-matched product design offers clients more cover, enhanced flexibility and more certainty. Today, we take you through how and why we set out to change our industry for good when we launched our change-loving company 10 years ago.
We identified three problems with existing life insurance products
When we developed our needs-matched product, we identified three major problems in the market and developed solutions to address these problems.
1. Clients are charged for cover they don’t need and won’t keep. Clients have the greatest financial exposure at younger ages where they have more pay cheques to protect, yet they are underinsured, particularly at younger ages, when they need the cover the most. The latest True South Gap Study in 2019 shows that the average 40-year-old, has a 52% shortfall in cover required to protect their exposure, driven by affordability. This is mainly due to the inefficient way in which traditional life insurance products are priced. These products typically bundle all clients’ short-, medium- and long-term needs into a single lump-sum, thereby overcharging clients for cover that they won’t keep once their needs reduce or stop.
The BrightRock solution: BrightRock’s needs-matched cover for income protection needs changes the lump-sum cover amount to constantly align with the amount of time left to the client’s chosen retirement date. This means that our premiums are priced more efficiently and clients can get up to double the cover with BrightRock compared to what they’d be able to get with other providers for the same premium rand.
2. Cover can’t change with clients as their needs change. Clients’ needs change over time – that is why you and your clients regularly review their cover to ensure it’s still aligned to their needs. While some traditional insurance products give clients the ability to buy cover when their needs change, this is often done with limited underwriting and clients have to pay an extra fee to access features that allow them to buy cover in the future. These options are also often very limited in terms of when clients can use them and how much they can use.
The BrightRock solution: BrightRock has facilities, automatically included in standard policies, that enable clients to change their policies when their needs change – free of medical underwriting:
• The extra cover buy-up facility enables qualifying clients to increase their cover, without medical underwriting, provided they do so at least once during the first three years of their cover and then once every three years thereafter.

• The cover conversion facility allows qualifying clients to use the premiums they’ve been paying, and have already been underwritten for, for a need that’s fallen away to cover another need where they previously had no cover or had too little cover. Because this facility redeploys existing premiums, it is an extremely cost-efficient way of increasing cover.

• The yearly secured cover facility enables qualifying clients to buy cover for death needs at the end of every year equal to the lump-sum cover amount under the client’s death cover income protection needs that fell away in that policy year.
3. Policy documents that are difficult to understand and barriers to claim. It’s essential that clients understand exactly what they’re buying and how that insurance product will behave in the future. This is an important part of the Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) framework. However, this hasn’t always been the case with some insurance products. Clients also face many barriers to claim like general survival and waiting periods, delayed assessments for progressive illnesses, and the overreliance of basing a claim on a claimant failing the activities of daily living.
The BrightRock Solution: BrightRock uses plain English in all of our communication. This makes it simpler for clients and advisers to understand how our cover should behave. Where industry jargon is absolutely necessary, we ensure that we explain what this means in layman’s terms. At BrightRock, clients understand how their premiums and cover increase, and are also protected by clear and transparent premium guarantees, and fully guaranteed premium increases.
BrightRock has also removed many barriers to claim – this includes removing blanket survival periods, delayed assessments for conditions like Parkinson’s disease, subjective or unclear definitions, and post-claim penalties (for example, aggregation against active income).
Got any questions? I am that Financial Adviser, that advises you on protecting yourself, providing you living cover, life cover and growing your capital. Talk to me

18/08/2020

Your income is your greatest asset!
Let me introduce you to Joe Soap. His income is R30,000. If he is injured or has an illness, that he can recover from, or that is going to leave him permanently disabled, his salary / pay cheques needs to sustain him to age 65. Do you know what to cover your real salary at?

This is my cover proposal to him, if he wants to afford to live to his retirement at his current lifestyle. Does your insurance take into account your needs? Your children experience illnesses and injuries too - have you taken into consideration that implication on your income?

Look at the cover amounts. Does your 3D cover look at YOUR needs like this? Did R2m death, disability and dread disease meet your income at all? Are your creditors going to be paid off, at your disability and/or death?

I am a financial adviser, I offer sound advice on life and living cover, all investments, and can get you better medical aid and short-term options.

I can assure you are in a better position to make the right choices. I’m offering these services to you. Contact me, to start your journey of certainty, efficiency and flexibility.

18/08/2020

Your income is your greatest asset!
Let me introduce you to Joe Soap. His income is R30,000. If he is injured or has an illness, that he can recover from, or that is going to leave him permanently disabled, his salary / pay cheques needs to sustain him to age 65. Do you know what to cover your real salary at?

This is my cover proposal to him, if he wants to afford to live to his retirement at his current lifestyle. Does your insurance take into account your needs? Your children experience illnesses and injuries too - have you taken into consideration that implication on your income?

Look at the cover amounts. Does your 3D cover look at YOUR needs like this? Did R2m death, disability and dread disease meet your income at all? Are your creditors going to be paid off, at your disability and/or death?

I am a financial adviser, I offer sound advice on life and living cover, all investments, and can get you better medical aid and short-term options.

I can assure you are in a better position to make the right choices. I’m offering these services to you. Contact me, to start your journey of certainty, efficiency and flexibility.

02/07/2019

You may still have a choice to get cover that matches your needs. You may still have a choice to protect yourself should anything affect your income earning ability. You may still have a choice to make … to protect yourself against financial risk.
I see the results of people saying that they have insurance already, they have an adviser, they aren’t interested, and the wise people that think all insurance companies are crooks!
I have a conscience. I am an adviser. I’m also highly regulated and legislated to give the right advice. It’s what I do. I only want to help you making the right choices.
You shouldn’t go to a GP when you need a specialist, just like you don’t take cover from a savings institute, when there a great Insurance companies available. And buying insurance online is cool, the fun begins when you need to get help on that product. Do you still speak to the computer?

02/07/2019

Technology has been improving everyday. Your lifestyle has changed. You've improved your studies. You changed your job twice. You got married. You (hopefully) earn more than you did 5 years ago. Perhaps, you now have children etc.

Everything changes everyday.

Is your cover still relevant to You? Has it taken into account what you need now? Does it meet your needs?

You're paying the premium. You have a right to review your cover. Make it relevant to your needs.