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Essential insurance policies: How to protect your assets in UAE
Insurance isn’t about making money. It’s about protecting your life from financial disaster, says finance guru Suze Orman
- PUBLISHED: Thu 16 Apr 2026, 7:04 PM
What insurance policies are essential to have in the UAE — health, car, life, home — and how do I determine the right coverage and provider?
— Tom Harken
Insurance isn’t about making money. It’s about protecting your life from financial disaster.
Too many people either buy too little insurance or buy the wrong kinds entirely. The key is understanding which risks could truly derail your financial life and protecting against those first.
Health Insurance
Health insurance is one of the most important protections you can have. Medical costs can rise quickly, and serious illness can destroy savings if you’re not properly covered.
In the UAE, health insurance is mandatory in some Emirates (such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi) and is being expanded so that employer-paid coverage becomes standard nationwide, but mandatory coverage doesn’t always mean adequate coverage.
Look carefully at: hospital and clinic networks, annual limits, cover for major and chronic illnesses, prescription drugs, and emergency and specialist care. The best plan isn’t always the cheapest; the goal is strong coverage with manageable out-of-pocket costs if something serious happens.
Life Insurance
Life insurance is essential if anyone depends on your income. For most families, term life insurance is the most affordable and straightforward option. It provides large coverage amounts for a fixed number of years at relatively low cost.
A common guideline is cover of roughly 10–15 times your annual income, adjusted for your family’s needs, debts, and future expenses such as education. Be cautious with complex, investment-style policies, which can be expensive and hard to understand. Insurance should protect your life not become a confusing investment.
Car Insurance
Car insurance is mandatory in the UAE. The key choice is between third-party liability and comprehensive cover. If your vehicle has meaningful value, comprehensive cover is usually worth the extra cost because it protects you against damage, theft, and many types of accidents.
Always check deductibles, coverage limits, and the insurer’s claims reputation. Cheap insurance that doesn’t pay quickly when you need it isn’t cheap at all.
Home or Contents Insurance
If you own property, home insurance protects the structure itself. If you rent, contents insurance protects your belongings against theft, fire, or damage. Many people underestimate how expensive it would be to replace everything they own, especially in high-rise buildings. Even modest cover can provide enormous peace of mind.
Choosing the Right Provider
Don’t choose insurance based only on price. Look at financial strength, customer service, claims speed, and exclusions. Insurance is about protection: when the unexpected happens, the right cover can be the difference between a setback and a financial catastrophe.