This article is aimed to provide help on life insurance in general. After reading this you should have a good understanding of which life insurance product would best suit your circumstances. However it is recommended you seek independent advice to ensure your insurance product does as you intend it to.
Life cover is an insurance product which provides a cash sum if the life assured were to suffer loss of life. The insurance can be taken on a single life assured or joint life assured basis. The policy owner must pay regular premiums to the insurer. Unlike home or car insurance the policy owner is not taking out cover to protect a known valuable of tangible value. Rather the policy owner is protecting the family, mortgage or dependents from the consequences of the life assured suffering death. There are many variations of life insurance/life assurance, each having an alternative purposes for use.
A type of life insurance were the policy owner receives cover from the insurance provider on the life assured for a specified number of years. The minimum term is usually 5 years, the policy owner can choose a term to suit his/her requirements but typically 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 year terms are chosen.
Level term insuranceLevel term insurance is taken out for a fixed amount of cover say £100,000. This amount remains constant at £100,000 throughout the term of the policy. Therefore if the life assured were to suffer loss of life the payout would be the full amount of £100,000.
Reducing term insuranceReducing term insurance is taken out with an initial amount of cover say £200,000. The cover amount reduces to £0 over the full term of the policy. This type of cover is an ideal protection for a capital and interest repayment mortgage. If the life assured were to suffer loss of life at some point within the term of his/her mortgage and life insurance term the payout would be enough to clear the balance of the remaining mortgage. Therefore removing this debt for the remaining family.
Whole of lifeUnlike term insurance this type of life insurance is not restricted to a period of time for the sum assured to suffer loss of life. This insurance is guaranteed (subject to a valid claim) to payout on death of the life assured, the policy owner must continue to pay monthly premiums, therefore the longer the life assured lives the more premiums are paid. However if the life assured were to die after the first 2 years of starting the policy then the insurer will payout the claim. This type of insurance is ideally used to cover funeral arrangements, or to cover an inheritance tax liability.
There are a number of additional features offered by life insurance companies in connection with a life insurance policy some of these are listed below: -
This should NOT be confused with the more comprehensive critical illness cover discussed later. Terminal illness cover means the insurer will payout the sum assured if the life assured is diagnosed with a terminal illness having less than 12 months to live. Therefore the insurer will effectively payout the death benefit early allowing the remaining time to be a little easier. There are often restrictions on this benefit, whereby the policy must not be in the last 18 months, the diagnosis must be a written diagnosis.
Critical illness coverThe insurer will payout the sum assured if the life assured is diagnosed with one or more critical illnesses as defined by the policy. These must include some serious forms of cancer, stroke, heart attack but often include many more. Currently the association of British Insurers have defined 23 separate critical illnesses that most UK insurance companies conform to, many often provide enhanced versions of.
Waiver of premiumThis feature allows the premiums to be waived if the policy owner(s) fall sick and are unable to work, its equivalent to a payment protection policy being bolted on to the life insurance, but this is only for the insurance premiums.
TrustsWhen taking out a life insurance policy it is advisable to write the policy under trust. This ensures that the policy will payout to the correct people, at the correct time in the correct amounts. Trusts can be complicated so it is advisable to seek independent life insurance advice.
What Life Insurance Do I Need For My Mortgage?
So you need some life insurance to protect your mortgage should the worst happen to you. I am sure you are aware a mortgage is the largest debt that the majority of us face in our lifetime. If that mortgage was obtained on the basis of a couples combined income then the loss of life from a spouse could bring upon some immense financial strain to the remaining partner. Not to mention that if the widow's income does not stack up they will be unable to remortgage or possibly maintain the existing mortgage payment.
Importance of writing your life policy in trust
Most life insurance companies in the UK offer a free services for placing your life cover into trust. This article explains why you should seriously concider doing so, and why seeking independent advice can ensure you have secured the wellfare of your family.
Term Life Insurance - The Cheapest Protection
A basic introduction to term life insurance, this article describes the two cheapest forms of term life insurance available in the market place and some suggestions on where these are best used.
