Although originally a schoolteacher, Keith became a pilot at the age of 35. After seven years, he is now an Australian-based fulltime international pilot for a well-known Australian airline.

At the age of 42 and earning $140,000 pa, Keith sought the advice of a professional financial adviser and made the decision to purchase an Asteron Income Protector policy. He believed this would help take care of his wife and three daughters (aged between 12 and 18 years) in the event that he ever lost his ability to work as a commercial pilot.

Three years later at age 45, Keith was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in the hip. His doctor told him that he would not be able to work as a commercial pilot for two to three years.

As Keith is less than 55, his Income Protector policy allowed him to be assessed against the ‘own occupation’ definition. This meant that as he was working as a commercial pilot immediately prior to diagnosis, his assessment was related to his ability to work as a commercial pilot.

The importance to Keith and his family of having the ‘own occupation’ clause going through to age 55, is that his income from this policy does not stop after two years. If his policy had an ‘any occupation’ definition applying after two years, payment would have stopped after two years because he is capable of returning to teaching.

As a result, his Income Protector policy will pay Keith a monthly benefit of $8,750 during his three years off work.

This money will allow Keith and his family to maintain their lifestyle and help Keith make a full recovery.
While this is not a real life case, some details are drawn from an actual claim.