Unearned income (e.g. rental or investment income) usually continues in the case of death / disability and therefore should be considered with caution. It can be assumed that high net worth individuals always generate a certain level of unearned income, therefore particularly large covers for family protection should be carefully considered.

If rental / investment income forms a large part of a client's total income, it should be determined if it is “earned” or “unearned” – e.g. many people who are active in the real estate sector mainly have rental income or income from selling properties. This income would decrease if they could no longer manage their projects and properties. Therefore, it would be inadequate to completely neglect this income. In these cases, further investigation and special consideration would be a reasonable approach. We recommend only using it for life cover (if at all).