Life Insurance – Part of the Plan

Even the best laid financial plans can fall apart in the event of a death.

Tuesday 26 July 2022 Author: Owen Foulkes

It may seem that you have every aspect of your finances in order. The mortgage is in place, or even paid off. Your pension is looking healthy, and you have enough savings to cope with even the rainiest of days.

Your financial plan might appear to be on track, but without a life insurance policy, even the best laid plans can fall apart.

Protecting The Important Things

For most of us, buying a home is the biggest financial commitment we will ever take on, and having a secure home for our families to grow and thrive is near the top of most people’s financial priorities. However, have you ever given serious though to what might happen should you or your spouse die? The surviving partner is often left to take on the burden of mortgage repayment alone, and with a loss of income this can often become an overwhelming financial stress.

A life insurance policy will provide your loved ones with a lump sum should the worst happen, and the pay-out can be used to cover things like outstanding debts. With a Life Term policy, you can choose a term to match your outstanding mortgage balance to ensure that your mortgage balance is protected. Once the chosen term is up, you will no longer pay monthly premiums and your cover will end.

Covering All The Bases

Life insurance is a fantastic way to protect your family in the event of your death. However, the chances of suffering a critical illness before age 65 are over four times higher than the chance of dying, but the consequences can be just as severe. With critical illness cover, you can protect yourself in the case that you are diagnosed with a serious illness.

Critical Illness cover can provide you and your family with a lump sum in the event of you suffering from a range of serious illnesses. This means that if you need to give up work or adapt your property, you have the funds available to ensure that your family can continue to thrive.

Affordable Peace Of Mind

With the cost of living becoming ever higher, life insurance and critical illness can seem like a luxury that few can afford.

You might think that there is no room for life insurance in your budget but there is a good chance it’s more affordable than you think.

Together with your Financial Adviser, it is easy to work out how much cover you may need to put in place. Once this is established, the budget for cover should be established and a level of cover that is both affordable and provides the protection needed should be within reach as part of even the tightest budget. It’s all about finding a benefit amount and rate of monthly premiums that suit your budget.

Your Flexible Friend

Life rarely stays still for long, and as your circumstances change, so will your protection needs. With Life and Critical Illness cover you choose your benefit amount and choose monthly premiums that are affordable for you. You also choose whether you want to add optional extras like Accidental Death Cover, Critical Illness Cover or Children’s Cover depending on eligibility. You are in control and if you need more or less cover at any point, you can always apply to make a change. If your financial situation changes at any point you can apply to alter your policy to meet your needs.

Optional Extras

The range of protection available is designed to provide for every eventuality and Critical Illness Cover, Child Cover and Accidental Death Cover are all available as optional extras to a basic Life Insurance policy. These optional extras enable you to take the level of financial protection you have secured up a notch.

Children’s Cover will help cover costs incurred from things like medical expenses and school tuition fees should your child suffer a serious injury or illness resulting in permanent irreversible symptoms. It covers bacterial meningitis, paralysis, encephalitis, blindness, deafness, loss of hands or feet or traumatic head injury and accidental death. You are also able to cover financially dependent children under the age of 21.

This means that if something were to happen to your child, you would have a better chance of managing the cost of their care.

Critical Illness Cover pays a benefit amount to you should you suffer a defined serious illness. Cancer (excluding less advanced cases), coronary artery bypass grafts (with surgery to divide the breastbone), heart attack (of specified severity), or stroke (resulting in permanent symptoms). You can apply to add Critical Illness cover to a life insurance policy or have it as a standalone plan.

Critical Illness financially protects you during a time when you are seriously ill and cannot work. It can also help you cover medical costs associated with a serious illness.

Accidental Death Cover pays a benefit amount (depending on age) in addition to your Life Insurance if you die by way of accidental death.

The Cherry On Top

Ensuring that your finances are in shape whilst your alive it vital, but ensuring that those left behind after your death have everything they need is the icing on the cake. The peace of mind that Life Insurance provides is invaluable, but the cost of having even a significant level of cover in place can cost less than you may expect. Life insurance acts as an extra layer of financial protection. It’s not just you that benefits from it, it’s those closest to you.