As a secondary occupation entrepreneur, it is not easy to close the right insurances on the one hand and to avoid over-insuring yourself on the other.
We list the sense (and nonsense) of the most common types of insurance as an entrepreneur.
Civil liability insurance
You cause accidental damage to goods or people while carrying out your self-employed activities. An accident can happen quickly, but fortunately you can also get good insurance cover.
Then you end up with this classic, civil liability (BA).
Just pop in to your insurer, let them know what self-employed activities you are engaged in and they will provide you with a tailor-made proposal.
Required? Certainly not (subject to a few exceptions below). Nevertheless, we will give you a tip that civil liability insurance – depending on your activities, of course – is not too expensive and you are still insured for damages related to your business activity.
Exceptions:
Some sectors fall under a professional institute, think architects or doctors, for example. They are required to take out civil liability insurance through their professional institute.
Fire insurance
You are probably already familiar with fire insurance for your own home. Nevertheless, it may be interesting to contact your broker here too and discuss the cover you already have.
Sometimes, as an entrepreneur, you may have purchased quite a bit of equipment with a hefty price tag. Consequently, your classic fire insurance might soon be insufficient to cover all that pricey equipment from your business. Time to sit down with your broker and receive on updated proposal.
Required? Certainly not for your self-employed activities, but sometimes a small addition to your existing fire insurance policy can help you cover your company’s slightly more expensive equipment.
Do you have publicly accessible business premises?
Contact your broker anyway, as there is required objective liability insurance for business premises open to the public.
Guaranteed income insurance
As an entrepreneur in secondary occupation, you should not pay attention here. After all, you are an employee in your main occupation and you continue to enjoy a social safety net from that status.
Suppose you become seriously ill, for example? Of course, you will no longer be able to carry out your self-employed activities, but not to worry, because as an employee in main occupation you will still be able to fall back on benefits.
Supplementary pension accrual
As a self-employed person, you have a lot of ways to give your pension a boost, such as a VAPZ (Free Supplementary Pension Scheme for the Self-Employed) or POZ (Pension Agreement for the Self-Employed).
If entrepreneurship is not your main occupation, fortunately you do not have to pay attention to this, because as an employee in main occupation you do enough pension accrual.
Do you still want to give your pension an extra push?
Even then, a VAPZ or POZ is (often) not an option in secondary occupation.
Only then can you take out a VAPZ or POZ as an entrepreneur in secondary occupation. Certainly not impossible, but then you need to have more than 14,000 euro profit on an annual basis.
Turnover insurance
Turnover insurance can be a lifesaver if one of the key people in your company fails. It pays an interest to offset turnover losses. Premiums are tax-deductible, but the benefits received on it are taxable.
Bankruptcy insurance
Bankruptcy insurance is a lifeline for any self-employed person. It provides monthly benefits for limited periods if you go bankrupt. The premiums for this insurance are tax deductible, but keep in mind that the benefits are taxable.
Ready to fly in as self-employed?
Eager to learn more about secondary occupation entrepreneurship? Find out all about it in our free crash course.
Then you can get started with Dexxter, the accounting programme for sole proprietors who want to take charge of their own bookkeeping.
Still have questions? Perfectly normal, that’s why we built the Dexxter community. This is an area in the application where Dexxter entrepreneurs can ask other entrepreneurs numerous questions and get answers.
You ask your questions to other sole proprietors, so you gain experience from entrepreneurs who have already overcome your obstacles.
