A financial needs calculator (analysis) is the foundation of your financial plan. Unless you have established your needs and goals your plan will be flawed.

The first step towards getting your finances in order and being able to meet your financial goals is a properly constructed financial plan. This does not mean sitting down and drawing up a wish list. It means properly analysing your current financial position, your financial needs and wants, and how you plan to achieve your financial goals.

The best way to do this is by having one of our experienced financial advisors carry out a financial needs analysis on your current position. This is not a simple calculation, but a very thorough investigation of your financial affairs.

Before we schedule a meeting with you, either face-to-face or a MS Teams or Zoom meeting, you should prepare some documents. These are:

1. A budget setting out how much you earn each month, how much you spend, and what you spend your money on

2. A balance sheet showing what you own (your assets) and what you owe (your liabilities); and

3. Your goals, which should distinguish between those that you need to achieve, such as ensuring your defendants can survive without you, and those you simply want, such as a trip around the world. Your goals should also be categorised as:

• short-term goals – building an emergency fund, paying off debt or saving for a deposit on a home
• medium-term goals – paying off the bond on your home or saving for the education of your children
• long-term goals – saving for a financially secure retirement

This information will provide us with the cornerstone of your financial plan. The key to the success of any financial plan is to know what you need and how much you can afford. The affordability of any plan is essential.

It is unlikely that you will have sufficient money to meet all your needs and wants. A financial plan is all about balancing your needs and wants and prioritising what is really important.

A financial needs analysis is not something you do once and find all the solutions to your problems. You need to have a financial needs analysis done on a regular basis, particularly when your circumstances change. The following are prime occasions for a needs analysis:

If you have not had one done in the past five years:

• When you get married
• When you have children
• When you have been divorced
• When you have lost a spouse
• When you are about to retire
• When you have started your own business

Your cover amount will depend on your specific needs. To get an estimate of what cover amount you need, consider some of the following:- If something happened to you today, what financial debt would you like to be paid off, so your family is not burdened with these during an already difficult time.

Outstanding debt amounts (Home Loans, Car, Credit Card Debts, etc.)
Cost of educational needs for your dependents (Consider their age, the cost of schooling/tertiary education x the number of years left)
Other family needs (Spouse, Parents, Other financial dependent, etc.)

The total of all of the above values should give you some indication of the cover amount needed.

NB – don’t over insure. Your cover amount must meet your financial responsibilities but also be affordable. Most insurers will request for financial underwriting to verify covers that exceed certain amounts.

Life Insurance shouldn’t be complicated.

But in today’s competitive markets there are so many options to choose from.

At XINIX we strive to make insurance products as easy to understand as possible. So, if you are currently considering any long-term insurance products we have available, here is some FAQs to help you understand this a little better.

So where to begin?
Above is our easy to use life insurance form, why not try it to get a sense of what your long term insurance needs might be and what we require in order to get you going?

With the pandemic ripping through our country, on and off, first wave, second, third, we have had numerous clients contacting us to assist in revaluating their financial wellbeing.

Getting life cover need not be complicated. At XINIX, we have in fact transformed the process with a hybrid version of both online questionnaires and face-to-face / Zoom or MS Teams online meetings.

What you will find here, is transparency and a user-friendly process that will make taking out life insurance straight forward and easy, BUT still with the added advantage of skilled, qualified, and competent financial advisors who will hold your hand through the process.

So, here’s how it works:
Step 1
Complete the online questions

Step 2
Download the consent letter, sign, and return to life@xinixinsurance.co.za

Step 3
A qualified financial advisor will personally call you to set up, either a face to face or online meeting.

Step 4
At the meeting or before, it all depends on you, the advisor will get to know you better, answer your questions and do a financial needs analysis using your completed questionnaire as a guideline. You will have view on some quotes prepared.

Step 5
We will give each other time to action anything that needs to be done and a follow up meeting will be scheduled.

Step 6
We look forward to becoming family, partnering to service you as we navigate life together.

*Income protection against dying or being disabled;

* Goal savings. This will include all your financial goals, whether short or long term;

* Retirement savings. This should be treated separately from your other financial goals because of its importance; and
* Health assurance. Your medical scheme as well as hospital and chronic disease cover must be measured to see if they meet your needs.

The question is – how much money can you allocate to each of the above, and what will this buy you?

The best place to start is with how much risk assurance you need against dying or being disabled.

When you decide how much risk assurance you need, you must take the following into account:

* What you will need if you become disabled;
* Whether you have dependants, how many, and what their needs will be if you die or become disabled;
* Your assets. The more assets you have, the less you need in assurance. If you are wealthy, you do not need as much risk assurance as someone with low accumulated wealth but a high income;
* Your liabilities. What happens to your debts if you die or are disabled? The more money you owe, the more risk assurance you will probably need, and the greater the necessity for a properly constructed and targeted savings and investment plan;
* Your income and spending: Your current and future income and spending will determine the design of your financial plan, allowing you to decide on risk and/or investment priorities and what you can leave until later when you are earning more.
* Your health. If you are healthy, you can take a greater chance of meeting your risks through your income than someone who is unhealthy;
* Your current risk cover. Assess your current cover for death and disability to see if you have too much or too little, bearing in mind any benefits you will receive from a retirement saving plan, whether it is employer sponsored or attached to a retirement annuity; and time period. You need to break your risk insurance into different periods. For example, you do not need life insurance to cover the education of children until you are 70.

When assessing your life insurance needs, remember that you should aim to leave your dependants an adequate amount of money. Rather than leaving them immensely wealthy, you should use as much as possible to improve your wealth, particularly for your retirement.