Income protection: insuring your salary, not your stuff

Quick maths: if you're 25 earning R25,000 a month, your remaining career will pay you well over R10 million in today's money — before any raises. That future income is your biggest asset, bigger than any car or laptop you'll ever insure. Yet most young professionals insure the car and not the salary.

What income protection is

Income protection pays you a monthly amount — typically up to around 75% of your salary — if illness or injury stops you from working. Not just dramatic accidents: back problems, mental health conditions, long recoveries from surgery. It keeps rent paid and debit orders running while you can't earn.

It's the living benefit most relevant to people in their 20s and 30s, because at that age you're far more likely to be temporarily unable to work than to die.

The three cousins, untangled

These get bundled and confused constantly:

• Income protection — a monthly income while you can't work, temporarily or permanently. Mirrors your salary.
• Disability cover (lump sum) — a once-off payment if you're permanently disabled. Good for settling debt or adapting your life (home modifications, a career change), but you have to make one payout last.
• Severe illness cover — a lump sum on diagnosis of listed conditions like cancer, heart attack or stroke — whether or not you can still work. It covers the costs of being sick (treatment shortfalls, recovery time, help at home), not lost income specifically.

They answer different questions: "Who pays my salary while I recover?" vs "What settles my debt if I never work again?" vs "What funds the costs of a major diagnosis?"

Waiting periods: the deductible in disguise

Income protection has a waiting period — how long you must be unable to work before payments start. Common options are 7 days, 30 days, or 3 months.

The trade-off is simple: shorter waiting period, higher premium. If your employer pays full sick leave for 30 days, paying extra for a 7-day waiting period duplicates cover you already have. Match the waiting period to your sick leave and emergency fund — this is one of the easiest ways to cut the premium without cutting real protection.

Cover term: to when?

Policies pay a claim until the cover term ends — commonly until age 60, 65 or 70, or a shorter term for temporary cover. A policy that pays until 65 costs more than one that stops paying after 24 months per claim, because the insurer's worst case (paying your salary for 40 years) is much bigger. Check whether a "cheap" policy is cheap because it only ever pays out for a limited period.

Occupation classes: why your job title matters

Insurers price by occupation class — roughly, how physical and hazardous your work is. An accountant is a lower class (cheaper) than a rigger or a working-at-heights technician. Also check how the policy defines disability:

• Own occupation — pays if you can't do your job. Stronger cover.
• Any occupation — pays only if you can't do any job you're reasonably suited to. Weaker, cheaper.

A surgeon who loses fine motor control can't operate but could lecture — under "any occupation" that claim might not pay. Read this definition before comparing prices; it's the clause that decides whether the policy actually works when you need it.

Where to start

If you're employed, first check your employer's group benefits — many packages include some disability or income cover, and your payslip deductions may already be buying it. Insure the gap, not the total.

Then compare on: percentage of income covered, waiting period, cover term, occupation class and disability definition, and premium pattern (level vs age-rated).

As always: this explains how the products work, it isn't personal advice. Product choices are worth a conversation with a licensed adviser.