Youth need insurance now more than ever

It's a misconception among the youth, that insurance is only for older people or young adults with their own homes and cars . Never before have young people needed insurance more than they do today with the proliferation of technology and the increased risk this poses both in reality and online.

Twenty years ago the insurance landscape looked vastly different for the youth: clothes, apparel, a hi-fi system, maybe a home computer and if they were fortunate, a vehicle, would have made up the average list of insurable items.

Today that list has not only more than doubled, but the value of the items young people own has increased dramatically. Designer clothes, shoes and apparel, smartphones, tablets, laptops, ear pods and headphones, smart watches, digital cameras, gaming consoles, microphones and monitors are all common to the current generation.

When young people move out of the family's primary insured home, they need their own insurance policy to cover these increasingly expensive items. Especially as the majority of young people's belongings today are mobile. Instead of being locked away in a secure home during the day, they're carried on them personally. This increases the risk of theft, loss or damage.

Young people also have progressively diverse day jobs today. Content creation, for example, has become a major source of income for the youth. But to do this job, they require sound and media equipment, which can run into tens of thousands of rands to acquire. This equipment needs to be insured, as any loss or damages could prove devastating for such a small business.

For those young people fortunate enough to have their own vehicle, insurance is an absolute no-brainer. Although, the youth tend to opt for third-party cover only. While does this does help save on premiums each month, the down side is that the damages to their own vehicle as well as theft of their vehicle is not covered.

Given that young people are still new drivers and tend to be more social, parking their vehicles outside venues, especially at night, their risk for accidents, damage and theft is greater than older, more experienced drivers whose vehicles are largely locked away after 6pm.

Here too young people would battle to afford the cost of repairing or replacing their vehicle in the case of accidents or theft. If comprehensive cover is not an option, then at least third party, fire and theft cover should be taken to reduce the financial burden of repair or replacement.

Aside from this financial safety net, insurance taken out early on enables young people to build a healthy insurance profile. This not only helps lower premiums in the near future, but further down the line when assets grow in volume and value and increased insurance cover is needed, it provides the young insured with a record of their risk and claims history. This can vastly impact future policies.

It's never too early for the youth to insure the items they value most. Working with a broker helps to reduce any overwhelm in navigating the insurance landscape while assisting young people to secure the best possible cover for their needs and their budget.