‘Banking’ Your Current Good Health Could Mean The Best Cover For Your Future Self, Says Old Mutual

Sixty-one per cent of young people in Africa — between the ages of 15 and 29 — strongly believe themselves to be in good health, according to recent research¹ by a coalition of leading health and rights organisations. By contrast, older adults are nearly five times as likely as those under 60 to develop a chronic condition, reveals a 2019 report² on ageing in South Africa.

“We know that the generations currently under the age of 40 – those known as Millennials and Gen Z – are indeed much more health informed than their parents were at the same age,” explains Priya Naicker, Head of Strategic Retail Marketing at Old Mutual. “They’re more likely to understand the benefits of eating healthily and regular exercise and that certainly bodes well for their health later in life. But most people also tend to feel invincible and over-estimate how long their good health will last.”

Age is, after all, a well-established risk factor for the development of chronic disease.

“There’s a bit of psychological distance between how we see our current selves versus the connection we have with our older future self,” Naicker explains. “We tend to avoid thinking about it both because it feels far off and because it can make us feel uncomfortable to have to relate to that potential older version of ourselves. Yet the truth is that while we’re not young forever and our bodies do change as we age, we have the opportunity to live our best lives well into older age if we plan for it! Accepting – or, even better, embracing – this natural process while we’re in strong shape makes it possible to plan for the best possible future, whatever may come to pass.”

Now, a future-focussed type of insurance from Old Mutual allows you to do just that. By making it possible to go for testing and get underwritten once while you are still young and healthy — essentially banking your good health now, you don’t have to go for any medical tests when you take up the actual cover in the future.  In other words, you can exercise the option to buy cover at a later stage knowing that you have already been underwritten.

Old Mutual Protect Future Life Cover allows you to purchase cover in future at a rate significantly lower than if you were to be underwritten with deteriorated health at that point in time.  In other words, the cover offers a way to act early by letting you use your current health status and avoid the high premiums and possible exclusions that come with deteriorating health.

With Old Mutual Protect Future Life Cover, you get the option  to buy cover of between R400 000 and R15 million across Life insurance benefits such as Old Mutual Protect Life Cover, Old Mutual Protect Life Income Cover or Old Mutual Protect Business Life Cover in the future. You can also choose the option to add on Disability or Illness insurance – again without having to go for medical tests in future.

According to Naicker, “the flexibility of our offering — including when and how you can use your Old Mutual Protect Future Life Cover — is that it can be tailored to suit each household’s life stage, whether it be the birth or adoption of a child and later the purchase of a bigger house to suit an expanding family, or even some of the more painful occurrences like a divorce or the death of a spouse”.

“Take the unstoppable feeling you have in your twenties into the rest of your life! Planning and building for your future self can go a very long way to securing your financial future,” Naicker concludes.