Last December, a landslide hit several house in Ampang. This really brought forth the importance of insurance cover. We know of the those injured personally and seeing thing up close is different from reading tragedy in the news. There were several types of  insurance claims made at the same time, including medical claims for our friend and the children who were injured, a death claim as well as insurance on property.

As a result of this experience this is what we observed and learned.

Money can’t replace a person but it sure helps to put lives back in order. When a spouse pass away, there is a lot of grieve and sadness. While these take time to heal for those left behind, life have to go on. Housing loans, car loans, tuition fees and other bill have to be paid. When a working spouse passes away, you will need money to replace their income as well as on income contribution.

Even if your spouse is a home maker and she usually takes care of the home and children, when she is no longer around, you need extra help to send them to school, tuition, music and other errands. This requires money.

If a breadwinner passes away, the income loss is even bigger. That’s why income replacement is so important.

Loss of property. Most people don’t review their property insurance annually to cover for increases. We tend to accumulate things of value over time and these thing are kept in the house. It ranges from small low souvenirs from holidays to bigger more expensive gadgets and jewellery. If you did not insure them or under insure them, it will cost a lot to replace the items.

We usually don’t think a disaster can happen to us. Perhaps a breakin or theft but you never think you’ll lose everything in an instant but it can and it does happen. In our friends case, he lost his wife, his house, the contents and cars as well. Just to furnish a house with the basics today takes easily RM 30,000 to 50,000. Although a landslide is not likely to happen, a fire can cause the same losses my friend suffered. Imagine having to replace all your furniture, clothes, children books, electrical items etc. Basically it is starting from zero.

Medical bills that are normally small can appear big when you need money to replace so many things at the same time. Therefore have adequate medical cover for your whole family.

Experiencing all this fairly close up made us felt the importance of insurance all the more. Final word. Prepare for the unexpected.