Insurance for startups & start-ups: 10 tips for the right protection [+ checklist]

Startups are currently booming. Germans tend to be more security-conscious. This is also reflected in the many insurance companies that entrepreneur Tobe offered. But which ones are real? useful?

Safety-conscious founders

Even though we have a real start-up boom in Germany at the moment, the Germans are more security-conscious: It's been 13 years ago that everybody declared me crazy when I started my own business.

And I wrote 8 years ago Article about anonymous bankruptcy. Even if failed founders entertainingly tell of their failure on fuck-up nights, entrepreneurial failure is still a difficult topic in Germany.

Which insurances do founders really need?

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This shows the importance of security in Germany. No wonder business insurances are booming for entrepreneurs. This puts many founders who have no investor in the background into a dilemma:

On the one hand they want and should protect themselves, on the other hand they need every cent to build up their company. The wrong or unnecessary Insurance will there fast Capital-Burner - and at the same time there is a risk of even being underinsured in an emergency.

Insurance is supposed to protect you from exactly these consequences: namely from bad financial consequences, unavoidable events or illnesses. And they give the subjective feeling against almost everyone risks to be secured.

15 billions for superfluous insurance

But every Jeck is different and every founder and everybody Companys needs depending on Industry, number of employees and order volume a different insurance. Because by no means all insurances make sense for everyone:

Experts estimate that Germans pay 15 billion euros a year for superfluous insurance coverage. Especially start-ups tend to compensate for their occupational uncertainty in the initial phase of self-employment with an excess of financial security.

For example, operating costs, business interruption or bad debt insurance are only worthwhile for larger companies. It can make sense to hedge company investments. Expensive special insurance, such as against broken glass, storm or fire usually do not pay. Rather, one should complete a total insurance of the most likely risks.

Beware of underinsurance in case of damage

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However, underinsurance is at least as bad, because in the event of a claim, you may have to make payments that you are hardly able to make yourself. dept up to and including insolvency can be the result if no insurance then steps in.

Whether and which insurance is necessary for you depends entirely on your situation and your risks - depending on Age, marital status and Job: Younger small self-employed with Family need different insurance than older entrepreneurs with several employees. And some occupational groups have higher accident, illness or liability risks than others.

Overview in the insurance jungle

It is difficult to keep track of the many insurance offers with different clauses. Although there is Internet offer numerous websites with free information and price comparisons.

Many of these sites are operated by insurance brokers or insurance companies. These are hardly objective and will usually provide such insurance and positively in price comparisons, which will give them higher commissions themselves. A truly independent insurance consultancy, on the other hand, is very expensive.

Check the policies regularly

Finding the right insurance in the insurance jungle is not easy. Because every founder has different risks that he has to insure individually. However, some insurance companies are required by law mandatory. And even those who have already taken out insurance should check their policies regularly instead of simply leaving them:

Are risks double hedged? Were risks hedged at some point that no longer exist? Cancel superfluous insurance policies should be canceled immediately, because that Money in return, more sensible investments can be made in the company.

10 Tips for Choosing the Right Insurance

1. The statutory health insurance: Health insurance is mandatory. However, the self-employed have the choice between legal and private health insurance. For the statutory health insurance fund, the contribution rate is around 500 € per month. Founders can, however, press the sentence down to about 180 € if you are wealthy and have been shown to earn less than the contribution limit. And who is only self-employed (Attention: Not more than 18 hours a week!) And main-school children educates or makes an education or further education, comes with about 120 € of it.
2. The private health insurance: You can also private health insurance - sometimes even cheaper than the statutory health insurance. As a rule, the statutory health insurance is, however, cheaper for women and families. Because even if the private health insurance companies offer just for younger and male members with low contribution rates: This can change later, if the tariff group is closed or the contributions are not stable. And only then who before the 55. If the year of life becomes an insured person, he may return to the statutory health insurance.
3. The state pension insurance: The state pension insurance is only compulsory for some founders: self-employed persons in teaching, health care and nursing professions, licensed craftsmen and entrepreneurs who receive more than five-sixths of their income from just one customer must pay 19,9% of their income into the statutory pension insurance, provided that their profits exceed 4800 € per year and they do not employ any employees subject to social security contributions. All others can take out voluntary insurance and choose their contributions freely.
4. Riester promotion and private pension: In the first five years after the foundation, there is the chance to acquire a claim to Riester funding through compulsory insurance in the state pension insurance. Private retirement provision, however, is usually more lucrative. Private annuity insurance promises security, but they only disclose meager returns and cost high fees. Experts therefore recommend investing in funds, preferably in fund-saving fund plans, but not without risk.
5. Employment and disability insurance: Occupational disability insurance makes sense. The state disability pension, which is payable when you are no longer able to work as a pensioner before you retire, hardly covers this risk. The critical point in private disability insurance can be found under the term “abstract reference”. If this is stated in the contract, the insurance company checks whether the entrepreneur could still perform a related activity in the event of a disability - regardless of whether there are any jobs. Fortunately, this clause is rarely found in contractual texts.
6. Alternatives to occupational disability insurance: Often the insurances also exclude pre-existing illnesses from the insurance. Anyone who does not get a good job disability has other possibilities: Dread Disease Insurances against individual serious illnesses, a basic health insurance or a private disability insurance.
7. The accident insurance: In contrast to occupational disability insurance, private accident insurance only pays for accidents - worldwide and with low contributions - but statistically, diseases are much more common than accidents. The professional association, in which self-employed can also secure voluntarily (Caution: in some there is compulsory insurance!) Although pays for occupational diseases, but their catalog is very limited.
8. The unemployment insurance: Even relatively new is the fact that self-employed persons can now insure themselves voluntarily relatively cheaply (currently about 21 €) against unemployment, if you were before the foundation also in the state unemployment insurance. Private unemployment insurance, on the other hand, is generally not worthwhile.
9. Liability Insurance: Important is also a liability insurance: The operational liability covers damages, which happen to others in the course of the business - for example, if someone on the company premises violates. If a customer has financial losses, the liability to property liability is affected. It is even compulsory for certain professions, eg lawyers. In addition to damage to property and personal injury caused by faulty products, product liability also covers property damage. And sometimes professional and private liability insurance can be combined favorably.
10. The legal expenses insurance: Reliable is a legal protection insurance. It does not accept claims for damages or preventative legal advice. For this, usually expensive and unnecessary services must be paid. A cheap alternative for self-employment can be legal advice and protection through a professional association.

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