5 Types of Life Coach Insurance You Should Consider + 5 Top Providers

life coach insurance

OK, life coach insurance might not be your favorite topic. But just like any other small business owner, you need to protect your business from any unforeseen risks and financial damages. Whether you’re looking to change your insurance package to something more suitable or it’s the first time you ever hear about the need for insurance as a life coach, we’ve gathered everything you need to know in this article to help you make the right decision.

We’ll cover…

  • The importance of insurance for life coaches
  • The various types of insurance packages you can consider
  • How much they cost
  • And some insurance providers who get life coaches and the typical risks their businesses face

And just a friendly reminder that this article shouldn’t be considered legal advice. We’re coaches who have been in this field for quite some time but we’re not legal professionals. So if you have a specific case to find solutions for, it’s best you contact a lawyer or speak to one of the insurance providers listed below.

Now that we’ve cleared that out, read on to find out how you can create peace of mind once and for all in your coaching business.

Why is Insurance for Life Coaches Important?

As a life coach, you provide professional advice and guidance to your clients. While you’re not responsible for how that advice is taken and implemented, it doesn’t mean you won’t face lawsuits from potential clients who raise claims against you. It can happen to anyone.

Life coaching is a highly unregulated industry, where you don’t have legal requirements to start your practice. There are a lot of different coaching programs and services on the market, and they are often confused with other similar services, such as consulting or therapy. Such misunderstandings can create mismatched expectations — even when you did everything right.

While a sound contract can set the right expectations beforehand and provide a good reference point for any potential legal conflicts, you will still need to cover the expenses of hiring a lawyer. Even if the case has no basis.

[ Read: How To Create A Legally Binding Coaching Contract From Scratch ]

Other potential reasons you could need insurance as a life coach are to protect your property (such as your office, laptop, or car used for business), cover the costs of any accidents that take place at the location of your sessions, and keep confidential data about your clients safe.

Let’s look at what all of these mean in insurance lingo.

Types of Life Coach Insurance You Need

Now, since we’re looking at insurance here, we’re going to mention some worst-case scenarios that might happen to coaching professionals and their businesses. We don’t mean to scare you but it’s better to be prepared than sorry (which is the whole point of getting insured). Here are some of the risks that might occur when running a life coaching business — and how to stay protected against them.

Professional Liability Insurance

Professional liability insurance (sometimes also called malpractice insurance) protects your business if you are sued for negligently performing your services, even if you haven’t made a mistake. Any life coach can be sued for causing harm with their advice, breaking the confidentiality clause in their agreement, or even sexual harassment (especially in close contact situations).

Even if you face false accusations, you will need to respond to them and work with a legal professional to protect your business against claims. Your professional liability insurance will cover the expenses of legal defense by your lawyer as well as any settlement or damage that might come up in your case. Other names this insurance type is often called are errors and omissions insurance or indemnity insurance.

General Liability Insurance

General Liability Insurance

General liability insurance for life coaches provides insurance coverage for your business when your client makes claims against you for bodily injury, damage to property, or personal injury. If it all sounds too far-fetched to happen to you, here are a few everyday incidents that could easily take place at your sessions.

Let’s say a client claims that you spilled water on their laptop during the session or accidentally dropped their phone while bumping into you at the door. That could be considered damage to property.

If your client slips on the stairs while walking into your office and hurts themselves, they can sue you for personal injury. In these cases, your general liability insurance will cover the costs of the lawsuit, the damage caused, and any medical expenses that your client needs to pay.

Commercial Property & Auto Insurance

Commercial property insurance and commercial auto insurance protect the assets that belong to your business, such as your office building along with its equipment and furniture, your laptop and other electronics you use for work, and the car you drive for business meetings.

If you meet with an accident or a small fire causes damage to your property, this insurance type will cover the costs of the damage. If someone breaks into your office or steals any of your business-owned belongings, that will be covered too. Insurance policies typically define a blanket limit for all costs that occur at a single business location. Make sure you opt for one that’s sufficient for both your property and vehicle.

Cyber Liability Insurance

Cyberliability Insurance

Cyber liability insurance covers the costs that come from cyberattacks and data breaches. In your case, this could mean someone hacks into your computer to access private, confidential information about your clients.

Cyber liability insurance or cyber security insurance protects you from malware and phishing, and also covers the cost of lawsuits from clients in the event of their confidential data being leaked. Life coaching sessions cover all kinds of personal topics that can impact the reputation of someone, especially if you’re working with more publicly known clients or representatives of large brands.

Workers Compensation Insurance

If you have a team that works for your life coaching business, workers compensation insurance will protect your employees and your business from any work-related accidents, illnesses, and even death.

By law, you are required to provide medical insurance and sick leaves for your team members in most states of the US and in many other countries too. You will need insurance to cover medical costs and lost wages, even if you only have one employee. This, of course, doesn’t apply to you if you fly solo or work with a virtual assistant.

To get the full picture of what this type of life coach insurance covers, as always, have a thorough read of your insurance policy.

How Much Does Insurance Cost for Life Coaches?

Insurance costs for your life coaching business depend on a bunch of different factors. For example, where your business is located, your claim history, whether you own or rent an office space, your equipment value, and the size of your team (if you have employees).

According to statistics, the average life coach in America spends between $350-$650 per year for $1 million in general liability coverage but insurance packages for life coaches can cost up to $3,100 annually depending on the size of the business.

If you’re working by yourself or only hire freelancers, the cost of your business insurance package will be much lower. If you work from home, use your personal equipment, and don’t drive a car for business purposes, the annual rate of your package will likely be even lower.

The general best practice for life coaches and other small business owners is to go for a customizable business owner’s policy (or BOP). These packages commonly include general liability and other types of insurance from the examples mentioned above that fit your individual business needs.

It’s best to explore your options early on and include insurance costs in your business plan since your insurance package won’t cover losses that have already occurred.

[ Read: 8 Expert Tips for Writing Your Life Coaching Business Plan ]

These are some general rates insurance companies normally charge when it comes to life coaches but we encourage you to do your own research and ask for quotations from the insurance companies you’re considering.

PolicyAnnual CostCoverage Amount Per OccurrenceAggregate Coverage AmountDeductible
Professional Liability$400 to $1,800$1 million$2 million$1,000
General Liability$300 to $1,300$1 million$2 million$500
Commercial Property$300 to $600$20,000$20,000$1,500
Cyber Liability$500 to $1,500$1 million$1 million$1,000 to $5,000

When you sit down with an insurance company representative, they will be taking a number of factors into account to calculate the final cost of your insurance. These are mainly risk factors, location, and revenue but they might also touch upon the following criteria:

  • Claims history: How have you been insured in the last 3-5 years?
  • Number of employees: How many people do you employ in your business and where are they located?
  • Services provided: Do you offer coaching services related to health and wellness, substance abuse, mental health, or financial advice?
  • Property value: Do you own offices or business equipment that need to be insured?

Top Insurance Providers for Life Coaches

Hiscox (Our Top Pick)

Hiscox is a top-rated insurance provider that covers 180+ professions in 49 states. They specialize in microbusinesses and small businesses, including sole proprietors. Hiscox works with niche industries such as therapy, consulting, and life coaching. You can buy insurance packages with them online through an easy application process, and they have several options to customize your package and choose what fits you best. We’ve heard from coaches within our circles that Hiscox is online-focused and makes the process super easy.

Thimble

Thimble prides itself as an insurance provider that can get you covered in 60 seconds. They work with businesses that work on a more ad hoc basis, so if you’re not always actively working with clients, you can even get insured for as little as a few hours with them.

Though Thimble currently doesn’t offer insurance for life coaches specifically, they do cover many consulting professionals in general according to their representative. Make sure to reach out to them directly for coverage details.

SimplyBusiness

SimplyBusiness is an online platform that lists top insurance carriers for small business owners to compare and get a quotation from. They have several options for life coaches who are looking for general liability and professional liability coverage at a reasonable rate. This way, you can receive multiple quotations in one place and choose the one that matches your expectations in terms of coverage, duration, and price.

AXA 

With 54 countries covered, AXA is one of the largest insurance companies in the world. Despite their size, they provide customized insurance packages to sole proprietors, such as life coaches, with the essentials of professional indemnity, public liability, and business equipment insurance. They have a 24/7 expert helpline to navigate you through their policies and help you choose the coverage that works best for you.

Insurance Canopy

Insurance Canopy specializes in providing insurance coverage tailored to the unique needs of life coaches. While policies can be conveniently purchased online, their experienced customer support team is well-versed in the industry’s nuances and requirements. Notably, they offer competitive pricing, with rates starting at just $21.08 per month for comprehensive professional and general liability coverage.

Over To You

Now it’s time to get your own safety net. Have a look at the life coach insurance types and providers we’ve listed in this article and see which ones fit your needs and budget the best. Remember, insurance won’t cover your losses in retrospect so the sooner you get it arranged the sooner you can sleep well at night knowing you’re covered.

And if you fancy taking some load off your shoulders and automating your business processes, have a look at what coaches in our community say about Paperbell. It’s an all-in-one client management tool that takes care of your scheduling, contracting, payments, and so on without the manual work. Try Paperbell for free with your first client.

life coach insurance

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in September 2021 and has since been updated for accuracy.

By Annamaria Nagy
Annamaria Nagy is a Brand Identity Coach and Copywriter. She's been writing for over 10 years about topics like personal development, coaching, and business. She was previously the Head of SEO at the leading transformational education company, Mindvalley.
November 2, 2023

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