Life and Health
Most of us have some form of insurance cover in place on the material things that we value most, - the house, the car, the contents, etc… However, many of us have missed the most important area to cover, that is ourselves, our income and our health!
Without these, the others really don’t matter so much, do they?
Effectively financially protecting your life, your heath and your income can take most of the risk out of your other financial planning areas. For instance, most people would not dream of getting a mortgage without having adequate life or illness cover in place, because of what could happen to them and their family if death or serious illness were to strike.
Similarly, if you became unable to work because of ill health or an accident, how would the bills get paid?
There are numerous ways of building in protection for yourself, some more expensive than others, some more effective than others, not necessarily linked in that order. There are so many Companies offering so many different , sometimes confusing, products, very often sounding the same, that advice is generally needed in this area to form a structure to and an understanding of the problem, for example;
What is the difference between ‘Terminal Illness’ and ‘Critical Illness’ in a policy? (A huge difference!)
What is the difference between a Mortgage Protection policy and Mortgage Payment Protection? (These are very often confused).
Life Insurance as Protection for your family
Loss of income and problems paying debts or meeting tax liabilities can result from loss of life. To help with these costs there are three basic types of life policy – term insurance, whole life insurance and endowment insurance. All these provide you with protection by paying a lump sum on death. People on a limited income may find that term insurance is the best buy. The term (period of cover) can be chosen to cover the length of your mortgage, or the time when children are growing up and expenses are high.
Some families find a regular income more useful than a lump sum. For them a family income benefit policy could be best.
Whole life insurance gives more extensive protection. You know your family is financially protected whenever you should die. Term insurance (or “temporary insurance”) gives you financial protection if you die within a specified period known as “the term”. This period might be 10, 15 or 20 years although you can arrange policies to cover you for periods as short as one month. If you are alive at the end of the term no payment is made and there is no surrender value – meaning that if you stop paying the premiums the cover ceases and there is no refund of premiums paid.
The following pages in this section are designed to give you a basic understanding of the different types of cover available in the UK. We want to help you make the right decision and we want to save you money, so please contact us for specific advice and best ‘whole of market’ quotations.
Remember, with Surrey Financial Advice, any initial consultation is free of charge (apart from a cup of coffee, perhaps) and you are under no obligation to proceed. [Contact us]
