Life Insurance
WHAT IS LIFE INSURANCE
Life insurance can pay your dependants a lump sum or regular payments if you die. There are a number of different covers available, which include;
Term Assurance
There are two main types of term assurance available:
- Level term assurance which will pay an agreed amount on death of the person insured for a set term - such as 5, 10 or 25 years.
- Decreasing term assurance which will pay a reducing benefit on the death of the person insured for a set term. This type of cover is often used to protect a capital repayment mortgage.
Whole of Life
A whole-of-life policy will, as the name suggests, pay out no matter when you die, as long as you keep up with your premium payments. It has no fixed term and the benefit will be paid on the insured persons death.
Family Income Benefit
A family income benefit policy is normally taken out to protect ones family and dependents in the event of their death. The policy is set up for a specific number of years and on death will pay the agreed monthly benefit for whatever is left of the policy term.
Why arrange life insurance?
There are many reasons why you may arrange life insurance. For example if you have dependants – such as school age children, a partner who relies on your income or a family living in a house with a mortgage that you pay – having a life insurance policy can provide for them if you die. The money your family will receive from the state upon your death will be much lower than you would probably expect, and therefore if you want to provide for your family financially if you die, then life insurance is a must for you.
There may instances where you feel your circumstances don't warrant life insurance. You may be single, or your partner earns enough for the family to live on. However, you may want to consider in the latter case, could your partner continue in their current role in the event of your death? For example, if they had to reduce their hours to look after children, a life insurance policy could help cover the drop in income. Or, it could cover the childcare costs so they do not have to reduce their hours.
You may also have 'death in service' through your employer, which will pay a lump sum whilst you work for that company. You need to check that these benefits are enough to cover your families needs - if it is not then you may wish to top up with life insurance. Do bear in mind, if you stop working for that employer, perhaps through ill health, you may lose the death in service benefits and may not be able to take out life insurance at that time.
Being young is not a reason to not consider life insurance. If you’re young – or even not so young but still healthy – life insurance is very good value. Often just a few pence a day is all you need to provide your loved ones with plenty of financial protection. You could also consider a policy that has guaranteed premiums meaning the cost for the amount assured at the time does not change as you get older.
Remember life insurance only covers death – if you can’t provide for your family because of illness or disability, you won’t be covered. Therefore we recommend you also consider Critical Illness cover as well and it is possible to get policies that cover life, critical illness and other types of cover such as total and permanent disability.
It is always important to read the details of your policy carefully as most policies have some exclusions (things they don’t cover). For example, they may not pay out if you die due to drug or alcohol abuse, and you normally have to pay extra to be covered when you partake in dangerous sports.Also If you have suffered serious health problems in the past, your insurance policy may exclude any cause of death related to that illness.
Our experienced advisers will be able to guide you through the above and help you tailor the right policies for you.
Think carefully before securing other debts against your home. your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or any other debt secutred on it. If you are thinking of consolidating existing borrowing you should be aware that you may be extending the terms of the debt and increasing the total amount you repay.
Mortgage Maze is a trading style of Charles Frank Finance Ltd. Charles Frank Finance Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. See https://register.fca.org.uk - FCA number 624668. Our Data Protection Registration is Z2962200.
There may be occasions when the firm charges a fee. This is dependant upon your circumstances, but it will normally be no more than 1% payable on completion.