Many Pinoys choose to become OFWs to give their families a better life. As often happens, though, breadwinners often overlook the importance of planning for the future. In the event that the unthinkable happens, it's important to have a specific plan that will protect you and your family, regardless of your occupational hazards.
Thankfully, life insurance offers a safety net that will give you the peace of mind you deserve. Below are some of the crucial things OFWs need to know about taking out a life insurance policy.
You definitely need life insurance.
A lot of OFWs work at sea vessels and oil refineries. While these jobs can definitely be lucrative, they do entail a higher amount of risk that other workers do not face. Most insurance companies also don't offer plans that cover workers with a higher amount of risk. Hence, you need to have a specific plan that will protect and cover you and your family.
There are state-mandated insurance policies for OFW.
Accoding to Rule XVI of Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, recruitment agencies are required to get compulsory insurance coverage for the OFWs they deploy with benefits up to $15,000 or roughly P750,000. On top of this, the OFW himself can enroll for an OWWA life insurance policy that gives him or her an additional P100,000-P200,000 in benefits.
You're probably underinsured.
Yet even with these protections, many OFWs are still underinsured. Do you think that the benefits mentioned above (less than P1M) are enough to keep your family financially afloat in the event that anything unthinkable happens? Remember, a life insurance policy is meant to serve as a safety net—the benefits must replace your lifetime earnings to allow your family to pay off the house, pay off the car, send your kids to a good college, etc.
There's a simple formula for finding the right insurance.
Of course, the next question is just how much life insurance you should buy. Luckily, there's a simple rule of thumb that many insurers and insurance brokers follow, check it here.
Better start early.
When's the best time to get a life insurance policy? Yesterday. That's because premiums usually go up as you get older. The premise is that the older you are, the more dependents you have and the more likely you are to get terminally ill. This is why a healthy 30-year old OFW is usually cheaper to insure than a 50-year old one.
There are specialized protections.
A lot of Filipinos work in politically volatile regions where the threat of terrorism looms large. As such, insurers offer specialized products. FWD particularly has the Peace Plan—the first insurance product of its kind in the Philippines. For just P6 a day, you can get up to P1M in benefits in the event of death or serious disability resulting from acts of terrorism anywhere in the world. The best part is that you can apply for this plan online and it requires absolutely no medical exam and guaranteed approval for Filipino citizens and legal Philippine Residents.
You can never predict where life takes you, but with an insurance policy to protect you and your family, you can have the confidence to live life to the fullest. To learn more about FWD's Peace Plan, click here.
Sources:
http://twocents.lifehacker.com
