Finance Chris Clare on 22 Feb 2008
Getting The Best Out Of Life Cover
There comes a time when the need for life cover arises. The problem is in deciding which cover to get and how much will actually be needed. Hopefully this article will alleviate these problems by directing you towards the best type of policy for your own individual circumstances and the right life cover for your financial circumstances.
In short anyone that leaves someone worse off in the event that they die needs some sort of life cover. This could be if they have a mortgage or loan or could just be if they are the major bread winner in the home and the loss of them would mean the loss of their corresponding income.
So the first thing that you need to think about first and foremost is do you have any mortgages or loans that are currently uninsured? If you do then the need is simple how much is the loan or mortgage amount? Whatever that figure is that is the figure that you need to have insured against death in the first instance and if your budget allows critical illness cover is a must as a secondary requirement.
The second part of your insurance policy is slightly more difficult to assess. You will need to take into account the affects upon your family from the loss of your income should you suffer critical illness or death. In other words, what would be the ongoing costs to your family.
Say for example you earn 20,000 per annum, very few people actually consider what impact death would have on their dependents. If you died your family would no longer have the benefit of your income and they would have to seek alternative means to support themselves. In this case you would need to ensure that this 20,000 is suitably covered.
There are myriad ways for going about this. One way is to take out the sort of policy that pays out either a monthly or an annual amount to cover the amount needed. This policy would therefore pay an annual amount of 25000 to protect your family against the loss of your earnings if you died.
An alternative, but more complicated possibility is the option of providing a lump sum payout on the event of your death. Obviously the wise move to make on the payment of a lump sum is to invest it correctly so as to provide a payout on a regular basis. If done sensibly, this can work out well. What you need to do, though, is to take out a lump sum insurance policy for considerably more than the initial income, as stated, 30,000. The standard is 10 times the amount, therefore 300,000. So you will be taking out cover to provide a lump sum of 300,000.
When the insured person then dies, the family will receive a payout of 300,000 which is theirs to invest. By investing correctly, this amount should then produce an annual income of 30,000 for the family members left behind. This effectively replaces the income of the family breadwinner.
To conclude, it is fair to say that almost all of us need some sort of life insurance cover. By working out how much you need, what the insurance cover will be needed for and deciding how you want the insurance to pay out, the rest becomes simple. Nevertheless, a good life insurance provider will be able to work all of the complicated parts out for you. It is their daily job, and so be sure to make good use of their knowledge and expertise in helping you find the right insurance solution for you.