When to review your life insurance
Has your need for protection changed?
Most people fully understand the need to protect their valuables, but when it comes to protecting their ability to provide for their loved ones after their death, this can get overlooked. In the event of your premature death, having the correct level of life insurance will ensure that your dependants are able to cope financially and their lifestyle is protected.
When you take out life insurance, you set the amount you want the policy to provide should you die - this is called the 'sum assured'. Even if you consider that you currently have sufficient life insurance, you'll probably need more later on if your circumstances change. If you don't update your policy as key events happen throughout your life, you may risk being seriously under-insured.
Different cover for stages in your life
As you reach different stages in your life, the need for protection will inevitably change. These are some of the events when you should review your life insurance requirements:
- Buy your first home with a partner
- Have other debts and dependents
- Get married or enter into a civil partnership
- Start a family
- Become a stay-at-home parent
- Have more children
- Move to a bigger property
- Salary increases
- Change your job
- Reach retirement
- Rely on someone else to support you
- Personal guarantee for business loans
Life insurance premiums
Your life insurance premiums will vary according to a number of different factors, including the sum assured and the length of your policy (its 'term'), plus individual lifestyle factors such as your age, occupation, gender, state of health and whether you smoke.
If you have a spouse, partner or children, you should have sufficient protection to pay off your mortgage and any other liabilities. After that, you may need life insurance to replace at least some of your income. How much money a family needs will vary from household to household so, ultimately, it's up to you to decide how much money you would like to leave your family that would enable them to maintain their current standard of living.
Types of life cover
There are two basic types of life insurance, 'term' and 'whole-of-life', but within those categories there are different variations.
Term life insurance in its simplest form pays out a specified amount of life cover if you die within a selected period of years. If you survive, it pays out nothing. It is a cost-effective way of buying the cover you need.
Whole of life insurance provides cover for as long as you live. Since the policy must eventually pay out, it may build up an investment element that you can cash in by surrendering the policy. However, it could take many years for a surrender value to build up. A variation called a 'maximum protection policy' enables you to buy a higher level of cover at a premium that is initially lower. Whole-of-life insurance is also available without an investment element and with guaranteed premiums from some providers.
Length of recomended cover
It makes sense to cover yourself until your normal retirement age. However, if you have young children, you should cover yourself until they are financially independent, which usually comes after they have left school or university and are earning their own money.
Although the proceeds from a life insurance policy are tax-free, it could form part of your estate and become liable to Inheritance Tax (IHT). The simple way to avoid IHT on the proceeds is to place your policy into an appropriate trust, which enables any payout to be made directly to your dependants. Certain kinds of trusts allow you to control what happens to your payout after death and this could speed up a payment. However, they cannot be used for life insurance policies that are assigned to (earmarked for) your mortgage lender.
Independent Review
For independent review of your life cover please speak to the life insurance advice team provided by one of our partner firms.
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