As a newly self-employed Barrister it can be difficult to secure a suitable amount of Income Protection cover without a history of income at the Bar.
Through our relationships with a number of key Insurers we have access to tailored Income Protection Plans for new Barristers.
The Newly Qualified* Barrister Offer enables you to secure a guaranteed annual income protection benefit of $100,000 per annum without the need to provide financial evidence.
*Contact MCP Lawyer’s Life for more information on the New Barrister Offer, the insurers that offer this product, and what ‘newly qualified’ means.
At the end of your Reading Period, You will need to move into your own chambers, or alternatively share chambers with another barrister incurring a rental expense.
In addition to this significant expense, you will be responsible for a number of other fixed expenses to run your practice such as association memberships, CPD activity, clerk fees and a number of other things that all add up and rely on you generating revenue.
It’s important that if you’re out of work for a while, you can continue to comfortably meet these expenses while your temporarily not earning an income.
Business Expenses Insurances is designed to pay for these fixed expenses for a period of time until you can return to work so that you don’t have to make drastic changes that will affect and slow down your return to practising.
It’s quite likely that you are or will become the major income earner in your family. In the event of your unexpected passing, do you have sufficient life insurance in place that will leave your family in the same position they are currently in or you expect them to be in when your income increases – i.e. this might mean a level of insurance that will allow them to replace your forecasted income for as long as you are planning on working.
Other important things regarding your life insurance:
It is possible that you have some Death & TPD Insurance through the Victorian Bar Life and TPD Group Insurance scheme.
You should be aware of the level of cover provided, the premiums you pay and the terms and conditions of the policy.
At the time of writing (July 2018) the level of cover is $300,000 Death & TPD (own occupation). The premiums are offered on a stepped basis meaning they increase with your age every year. This is a group scheme and could be ended at the insurer’s discretion at any stage.
The ACT and QLD Bar Associations also have similar schemes for members.
Are your policies structured in such a way that allows for maximum deductibility of the premiums?
If it is likely that you will hold some of your insurances for the next 8 years or longer, have you explored level premiums to manage the cost of your insurances over the long term.