What are Life Insurance and Critical Illness cover?
Life insurance financially protects your spouse and dependents in the event of your death. You can choose if the policy pays them either a lump sum amount, or regular payments if you die, so that they are looked after financially. There are two types of life cover; Term Life Insurance and Whole of Life policies. Term Life Insurance covers you for a certain period of time (i.e. 10, 20, 25 years), but these policies only pay out of you die during the specified period of time. Whole of Life policies will pay out no matter when you die, as long as you always pay your monthly or yearly premiums on time.
Critical illness cover, which can go hand in hand with life cover, protects you and your family by paying out a lump sum if you get one of the specific injuries or illnesses that is listed on that particular policy. It is worth noting that not all medical conditions are covered, and insurers will state in their policy how serious a condition must be before you are eligible to receive a pay-out. For example, certain stages or types of cancer, heart attacks or strokes may not be covered by all insurers.
You also have to declare all existing conditions and health problems that you know about before taking out a policy, or else it will invalidate it in the case of a claim.
Do I need to be covered?
Life cover is extremely important, especially if you have a mortgage (and you know your partner or spouse couldn’t continue to pay it in the event of your death), if you have dependents and if you are worried about who would pay your funeral costs, as these can be factored into a policy as well. However, everyone is different, and if you are single or your partner earns more than enough for your family to live comfortably if you die, then you may decide against life cover.
A good starting point to assess whether you need critical illness cover is to imagine your financial situation if you sustained a serious injury or were diagnosed with an illness. Would you and your family be able to replace your lost income with savings, state benefits and your employee benefits package (if you have one). If the answer is no, then critical illness cover is definitely something to think about.
What do these policies cost?
The cost of both life and critical illness cover varies on an individual basis, based on certain factors.
Life cover policy cost will depend on various factors, including the amount of money you would like covered (remember to include the amount outstanding on your mortgage, if you have one), the length of your policy, your age, lifestyle, health and smoker status.
Critical illness cover will take into account factors such as your age, whether you smoke or have previously smoked, your medical history, your job (i.e. is it a high-risk job) and the cover amount you wish to take out.
So… how can I get covered?
Here at Forces Family Finance we are whole of market insurance specialists, meaning that we can have a chat with you about your needs, find out all the relevant details needed for the policies, and find the best deal for YOU based on you and your family’s financial needs. Let us do the legwork for you!
For a free, no-obligation consultation, call us on 0330 3322 614 (local rate) or email the office on customerservices@forcesfamilyfinance.co.uk and we’ll be in touch.
