When the business depends on you
In a small shop you might be the buyer, the bookkeeper and the person behind the counter. If you are off sick, someone else has to open up, or the takings stop. Rent, rates and supplier bills keep arriving either way.
Shop ownership mixes physical work (unpacking stock, moving shelving) with long hours and money worries. Insurers look at what share of your day is spent on manual tasks.
Proving what you earn
Sole traders show income through self-assessment returns, usually averaged over the last one to three years. Limited company directors can include salary and dividends, and some insurers also count retained profit. A strong year followed by a weak one will be averaged.
If you have only just opened, some insurers will accept projected earnings or limit cover until accounts are filed. Talk to us before you apply.
Personal cover and business cover
Personal income protection pays you. It does not pay the shop's rent. For that, some owners look at business expenses cover or key person insurance, especially if a partner or a loan depends on the shop continuing.
Life insurance can clear a mortgage and support your family. If you run the shop as a limited company, relevant life cover may let the company pay the premium.
- Sole traders: personal income protection and life cover
- Partners: think about what happens to the other partner
- Directors: relevant life cover and executive income protection
Partners, family members and succession
Many independent shops are run by couples or families. If you both work in the business, illness affecting one of you can mean hiring help while income drops. Joint life cover or two single policies can protect the household. Income protection for each of you means the shop is not relying on one healthy partner to keep everything going.
If you have a business partner who is not family, think about what would happen to their share if they died. Shareholder or partnership protection can give the surviving owner money to buy the share from the family, while the family receives a fair value. A solicitor drafts the agreement and we arrange the cover.
How Hi Tomorrow helps shop owners
We look at how your shop is set up and what would keep it, and you, afloat if you could not work. Then we compare personal and business options from the insurers on our panel and explain which deferred period fits your cash reserves.
Insurers group occupations into risk classes, and we make sure yours reflects how hands-on you really are. There is no fee for personal protection advice.