We’ve gone through huge transitions as a society in the last few months. With most offices closed, employees were tasked with setting up desks at home, often times juggling busy workloads with parenting demands. Now, as lockdown measures start to ease, some workplaces are beginning to reopen. And though many people will look forward to getting back into a familiar routine, there'll no doubt be challenges along the way. It’s natural to feel anxiety around returning to a world post-Covid; here’s how Professional Trainer Sheila O’Malley suggests you set yourself up for success.

Cultivate Healthy Rituals

For many of us, we’ve adjusted to a new, albeit hectic routine. Now, we’re challenged to change again, in lots of cases returning to workplaces that may not feel familiar anymore. To help with this transition, Sheila suggests establishing a set of ‘healthy rituals’. First up, prepare your body for the working week by ensuring you get enough sleep. “It’s so important for emotional regulation”, says Sheila. “As you head back to work, I recommend going to bed an hour earlier, and replacing the laptop with a book.” With enough sleep, we’re calmer, which will help us reintegrate with our colleagues (who might also be nervous about returning to the office).

Maintaining Connection 

As some of us revert to a busy 9-5 work model, we may find ourselves with less time for the hobbies and habits we picked up during lockdown. However, Sheila stresses the importance of maintaining those interactions with friends and family. “We have a need for connectiveness with other people. Chatting to them, offloading, getting a new perspective – you come away with a bounce in your step.” During those first few weeks back in the office, be sure to make time for walks in the fresh air with friends and phone calls to family members you mightn’t see regularly. 

Dealing with Anxiety

Of course, with a return to work comes worry around practical things, and it’s totally normal to feel apprehensive. If you feel a wave of anxiety coming on, Sheila suggests a simple mindfulness technique. “Anxiety is future-based", she notes. “You’re worrying about something that might happen. The best thing you can do is breathe through it - take your focus out of the anxious ‘fight or flight’, and move your attention to your feet on the ground. Breathe in for a count of three, and out for six. Remember, your ability to manage stressful situations will be so much better if you’re calm and centered.” 

Thinking of buying health insurance for the first time? There’s lots to consider, as different plans offer varying cover and benefits. Throw in some legal jargon and it can certainly be confusing! However, as you’ll learn below, the sooner you make the purchase, the better. Here are some useful areas of information…

“Traditionally, health insurance is seen as a safety net in the case of serious illness,” explains Michael Craig of Irish Life Health. “Today however, it’s about more than just covering the ‘what ifs’. People are turning to private health insurance to avoid issues with public hospitals and get faster access to experts in private hospitals and clinics.” Buying it for the first time can be a daunting process though, and chances are, you don’t know where to start. Read on for some handy tips. 

Lifetime Community Rating  

Lifetime Community Rating rule is one of the main reasons it makes sense to get your insurance sorted sooner rather than later. “In countries like Ireland that are community rated, health insurers must charge everyone the same premium for a plan, no matter what age they are,” says Michael. “In principle, it’s a good thing, as it means you can’t be discriminated against because you’re older or sick.” The Lifetime Community Rating loadings were introduced by the government to help encourage younger people to purchase health insurance. This is because they tend to claim less than older people. Unfortunately, if you’ve waited until you’re 35, the government enforces a 2% levy for every year after that. That levy is kept in place for the first 10 years of payment.

Useful Information at HIA

If you’re unsure where to start when purchasing health insurance, it’s worth visiting the HIA website. They’re the statutory regulator of the private health insurance market in Ireland, and offer impartial advice on what the different insurance providers offer. They also answer a lot of the typical questions people have at that important initial stage. 

Consider your Lifestyle

Increasingly, health insurance is being used, not just to cover the eventualities of illness, but in a proactive way. For example, many plans cover gym membership, dietician consultations and even counselling, allowing you to live a healthier lifestyle and therefore guard against illness. “It’s important to think about your lifestyle and what you need from your health insurance,” says Michael. “It helps the health insurer/us present you with the right plan and allows you to be confident in your decision.”

Pick up the Phone 

If you’re still unsure, you can chat to someone who knows their stuff. “Rumours around things like waiting periods or special conditions take on a life of their own, and typically add to confusion”, says Michael. “So, where possible, I always advise people to pick up the phone to their insurer, ask questions and know the facts for themselves.” Jot down a list of questions ahead of the call, and take notes so you don’t forget any detail. 

Go Easy on Yourself

It’s ok to not be 100% sure of what you need. “Insurance is meant to cover a whole host of eventualities,” says Michael. “Unless you have a condition or a family history of medical issues, you’re unlikely to be thinking about specific needs, and that’s ok. As an insurer, it’s our job to help you navigate the information and come away confident with your decision.”

As we emerge from lockdown and the world is getting back to some sort of normality, unfortunately for some people the pandemic has had quite a significant impact on their income. We’ve had a small number of queries from clients in this situation who are looking to reduce their expenditure. Some are pausing savings plans and other regular investment products. One or two people have queried whether they should cut back on their levels of life assurance and specified illness cover. 

While we look at each individual case on its specific circumstances, generally we try to guide clients towards making savings elsewhere. We hope they will read our other article this month on that very topic! We remind these clients that these insurances are in place for when that enormous life changing event happens to them and their families. The purpose of these products is to pay claims when needed, so it’s important to have confidence in the claim paying end of the transaction.

To help build this confidence, we’ve taken a look at claims statistics, specifically those of Irish Life as the largest insurer in the Irish market, recognising that these statistic will be similarly reflected by the other providers too.  Irish Life recently announced their claims payment statistics for 2019 and as before, the sums are quite mind-boggling.

Irish Life pay out over €100,000…. every hour

No, that is not a typo, they paid out €104,563 every working hour in 2019, which adds up to €212 million over the full year. This amount was paid to 4,175 claimants, with the average life assurance claim being €73,688 and the average specified illness claim being €62,202. Just over half the claims were paid for living benefits (illness & accident), with the balance being death claims. 

Cancer is still the No.1 cause of death claims

Deaths due to malignant cancer accounted for 44% of all death claims, with heart related reasons being the second most common cause of death. Proving that life assurance is not only for older people, 30% of death claims were paid to people between the ages of 41 & 60. Over 60% of claims were for males and 23 death claims were paid to people outside of Ireland. One claimant had taken out the policy in 1962 – 57 years ago!

With the high cost of living in Ireland, people who are on average incomes need cover in excess of €250,000 to replace lost income as a result of a sudden death. However only 5% of claims were for more than this amount. It is very important to have life insurance in place, but it is equally important to review it regularly and ensure you have enough cover. Seven of these claims were for in excess of €1 million each.

Another very sobering set of numbers were the claims paid as a result of accidents. 4% of all death claims were as a result of an accident, however this jumps to 31% of all claims paid on the death of under 40’s. Accidents happen in greater numbers to younger people. It was also very sad to see that 9 of Irish Life’s death claims were as a result of road accidents and 1 from a workplace accident.

Specified Illness Cover (SIC) claims were significant too

Cancer accounted for 62% of SIC claims in 2019. What might surprise many people is that 60% of paid SIC claimants were aged between 41 and 60. How long people had their policies before claiming varied hugely – one claim was paid on a policy in force less than 6 months, another was paid on a policy taken out in 1989.

The Irish Cancer Society research The Real Cost of Cancer*, states that the average loss of income for a cancer sufferer is €1,527 per month plus hundreds of euros in additional monthly expenses. An average benefit of over €62,000 has made life a lot easier for Irish Life’s SIC policyholders…

We always remember though when looking at these statistics that there are real people behind all of these numbers. People and families who often have gone through incredibly difficult times. We are happy if we can ease the burden at all, by helping people reduce or remove any financial burden heaped on top of grief at these difficult times. It is for this reason that we try and encourage our clients to make savings elsewhere when needed.

Sources: Irish Life Assurance plc 2020. *Irish Cancer Society ‘The Real Cost of Cancer’ research conducted by Kantar 2019.

A recent phone conversation with a client triggered this article, as we were discussing the volatility in markets over the last few months. This was a relatively easy conversation, as this particular client has a very measured view to managing her pension fund and her investments. She doesn’t make rash decisions, she maintains a long-term perspective and doesn’t fret over every movement in the markets.

Our conversation then moved to on to the impact on all our lives of the Covid-19 restrictions – this is a topic coming up in every single conversation we’re having these days! As we chatted through the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, we came to the conclusion that there are a lot of similarities between the worries caused by money and those caused by the pandemic. Let me explain…

It’s very easy to lose perspective

When the markets take a big hit as they did from the middle of February to mid-March, it’s very easy to lose perspective. After all, the S&P500 fell by over 30% in just over a month up to 23^rd March. It was very easy to think then that your long-term financial plans were blown to bits. Of course, at that point you didn’t know that there was going to be an immediate and rapid recovery of much of those losses. As at 6th August , the S&P500 had actually recovered to within 2% of its all-time high point! Your plan is decided by your long-term strategy, not what happens over a period of 4 or 5 weeks.

Similarly, when Covid-19 cases started to spread around the world and found their way to Ireland, it was easy to think the end was nigh. While this virus probably still has a long way to run, it’s important to remember that approximately half of one percent of the population of Ireland have been diagnosed with Covid-19 up to the end of July, and that the mortality rate is a fraction again of that number. Every death is a tragedy for the families involved, but the overall impact has still been relatively small. Now just like the markets, we’re not predicting the future based on past performance, we’ll leave that to our medical experts.

Good behaviours will win the day

We’re always at pains to point this one out in relation to your money. Short-term tactical decisions such as trying to time the markets rarely pay off. You might get lucky from time to time, but more often than not market timing decisions turn into expensive mistakes. Other good behaviour such as having a plan, maintaining a budget and continued saving will help you towards long-term success.

The same applies to the virus. It’s been drilled into us all at this stage about the importance of washing our hands, good cough etiquette and not touching our faces, as well as the importance of social distancing. We’ll beat this virus through everyone playing their part and adopting these good behaviours.

Be careful who you listen to

This one is so important! If you only went to Twitter for your news, you risk being turned inside out every day, not knowing what to believe. The virus is the end of the world, or nothing to worry about. Everyone should be allowed back to work now, or the lockdown is being lifted too quickly. Who do you believe?

This is a regular bugbear of ours. The weekend papers and online media can be an enormous and unnecessary source of angst for investors. We always caution our clients against making investment decisions based on what you read. We think it is really important that over a period of time, you identify a small cohort of rational opinions that you really trust for their balanced and non-emotional views. Listen to them and shut out the sensationalist, headline grabbing noise in the background.

By the way, we hope we’re one of your trusted voices…

Stick to the plan

We always seem to end up here! That’s because this is so important in relation to your money. Have a long-term plan that will guide you towards your lifestyle objectives, and then stick to the plan.

The same applies to you and your family’s approach to staying healthy. Agreeing as a unit to stick together, maintain your good health habits and minimise your risks will help every one of you stay healthy. And then maybe you can start planning how you’re going to celebrate success when you come out of this crisis together, all fit and well. Because that’s the goal.

Stay healthy.