Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - December 8, 2002

First of all, if you are living with HIV, life insurance policies are available to you in South Africa. Cover is provided according to widely accepted indicators that determine the stage of your HIV infection.

Your insurance cover will depend on how far the disease has progressed. Factors include the count of CD4 cells per unit of blood, which is an indication of how healthy your immune system is. The concentration of the virus in your blood and other clinical measures are also used.

However, cover may be declined if your stage is deemed too advanced.

If you have no existing cover, what you should know is that life insurance policies can be divided into those that do not require an HIV test, those policies requiring an HIV test at inception only and the policies that require an HIV test at renewal intervals.

Policies not requiring an HIV test

This is normally the case for very low levels of cover. The policy is designed to take into account the risk of HIV/Aids. The premium for this type of policy would be substantially higher than the premium for other policies providing the same cover.

Policies requiring an HIV test at inception: These policies pay out even if your death was Aids-related, as you would have been infected with HIV after taking out the policy, or at least will not have tested positive for HIV at the time of taking out the policy. Cover in terms of this policy is guaranteed for the whole term, provided you pay the premium regularly.

Policies requiring an HIV test at renewal intervals: Under this type of policy, cover will be renewed only if you test HIV-negative at regular, fixed intervals. This type of policy is considerably less popular than policies requiring testing at inception only.

Exclusion clauses: In the case of some policies, except those specifically designed for people living with HIV, Aids exclusion clauses have, in the past, applied. If you have a policy with an Aids exclusion clause, it means that if it can be proved you died of an Aids-related illness, the benefits of the policy will not be paid out.

The Life Offices' Association discourages the use of exclusion clauses. It feels such clauses should be used only when clients choose not to undergo an HIV test.

The LOA therefore advises that if you decide not to undergo an HIV test when you take out a policy, make sure that you fully understand any exclusion clause that might be present in the policy.

You can get further information from your financial adviser, insurance company or by writing to the LOA at PO Box 5023, Cape Town, 8000.

Eight questions you should ask

Many pension and provident fund trustees and investors employ active managers. And some use multimanagers to manage the equity components and the additional asset class exposure of their portfolios on their behalf.

Graydon Morris, a director of Precept Wealth Solutions, poses eight questions trustees and individuals should ask their money managers.

1. What is your definition of "beating the market"?

2. Most investors try to beat the market. Do they succeed?

3. Why is it that most investors who try to beat the market usually fail?

4. Given that most fail, how are you different, specifically?

5. Beating the market is about making superior predictions. What is your predictive model?

6. What is the probability that your strategy will succeed?

7. What are the total fees for the strategy?

8. What is the expected after-tax, after-cost, real return of your strategy?

"Ensure that whoever is responsible for the management of your individual investments, or your retirement fund assets, is capable of answering all of the above in an acceptable manner," says Morris.

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Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2002. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

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