Life Insurance for Frequent Travellers

Don’t you think travelling is an experience that can seldom be explained in words?

People of all ages, right from the young to the young-at-heart, love to indulge in the fun of exploring new places.

But here’s something you’ll agree with:

Travelling within your own territory is easy, whereas travelling to unknown, unexplored destination brings you along its share of challenges.

Here, what kind of challenges are we talking about?

These challenges might involve holding a valid passport, having enough money in your pocket, knowing the conversion rates, etc.

And if you’re a frequent traveller, you must be prepared to face uncertain challenges on your trip.

But, don’t you think there’s the whole issue of travel insurance?

Would you get quality health care if you need it?

And, what about life insurance for frequent travellers?

Of course, all of us plan to come home safely, but none of us wants to take the risk. If you end up finding yourself uncovered before your trip, the following steps will aid you to get an insurance plan in place before you step onto a foreign land.

Determine your trip Duration and Destination:

Life insurance providers assign some codes to the countries depending on the safety of travel to that state. Many factors including conflict or war, disease, famine, political instability, limited access to health care, and economic issues are taken into consideration.

What’s next? After this, the insurers develop their underwriting guidelines depending on the code categories every country fits in. Of course, safer countries come with few travel restrictions, while countries that are more dangerous have heavy restrictions.

Complete the Application and Buy your Policy before your trip:

The underwriting process of a life insurance policy takes time, as in 4-5 weeks on an average. So, you must prepare accordingly and submit your complete application at the earliest.

Make sure you fill in valid and truthful information in your application. I’m sure you don’t want to give your insurer any reason to deny your claim if and when needed. Be as precise as possible about your travel plans too. Mention the duration of your trip and the exact date it ends along with the exact city/town you’ll be staying.

Guess what could be the worst-case scenario?

Oh yeah, it’s postponement of your application by your insurer until you return. However, this might happen if you’ve planned to travel to a country that has its name on the warnings list.

How can you avoid this?

Make sure you don’t start your trip before the approval and activation of your policy. You must receive and sign up for a policy in your territory; so if you fly off to a foreign land before your insurance plan is approved, the policy might not be active.

Ensure to Research Life Insurance Companies:

Life insurance providers have guidelines that they use for foreign travel. These guidelines, like all the other guidelines, vary from insurer to insurer. Some of these are lenient with international travel than others. Based upon your destination, you have to find one of these insurers.

How can you do that? Simply search for such companies on the Internet. There are many websites available. The only problem is there’s not much on the way of particular information about the guidelines of insurance companies.

Why?

The answer is simple because guidelines keep on changing depending on the global conditions.

You must consult an experienced life insurance agent or broker who can help you identify an insurer policy with guidelines that fit your travel plans. You can also get in touch with insurers’ customer support executives to clear your doubts.

Running out of time?

What do you do if you’re running out of time?

The simple solution is that instead of buying a traditional life insurance scheme, you go for a ‘no medical exam life insurance policy’. You don’t have to undergo a paramedical test. This saves your time.

The entire process of application is done by phone with an electronic signature. This means you can avail an active policy within 24-48 hours.

However, with a regular life insurance policy, if you’re travelling to any unstable country, you might have to wait until you come back from your trip to get life insurance.

Why should frequent travellers have a life insurance plan?

If you’re a frequent traveller, then you must get a life insurance policy if you have dependents, such as common-law partner or kids or a spouse who’s dependent on your income to pay bills etc.

Why?

Imagine a situation wherein you spent eight months of the year abroad and died in a horrifying accident.

Even if you had an extensive travel insurance policy, it will not cover your burial and funeral expenses. However, a good life insurance plan will cover repatriation expenses associated with getting your dead body back home and funeral charges. Life insurance will also provide financial protection to your dependents in the worst-case scenario.

Over to you!

Regardless of your age, you’re not invincible – especially when you’re travelling. Buying travel insurance and life insurance protects you and your loved ones unforeseen eventualities and their aftereffects. If you travel often, buy life insurance, as it gives your dependents financial protection when you’re not around.