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What is life insurance?
Life insurance is a financial cushion that’ll take care of the people you love if you’re not around.
It’s designed to provide a financial safety net to your family, should the worst happen. Your family can use the money however they like, but often it helps to pay off the mortgage and cover rent, household bills and living costs. We call it protection … it’s a shield in case life suddenly throws a curveball your way.
Several products fall under the life insurance umbrella:
- Mortgage life insurance
- Family life insurance
- Over 50s life insurance
Other products include income protection, which maintains your income if you’re off work sick or injured. And critical illness cover, which pays a lump sum to support your household if you’re diagnosed with a life-changing illness.
Do I need it?
If you’re young, rent and don’t have kids, it might be better to consider income protection insurance or critical illness cover, to cover yourself should you get sick and / or can’t work.
If you’ve got a family you want to protect when you’re no longer around, then have a think about life insurance. Here’s a few key questions to ask yourself:
- What would happen if my family lost my income?
- What changes, if any, would they need to make financially?
- Do we have savings or other assets that could support the family if I wasn’t around?
Not everyone needs life insurance, so it’s worth having a chat with one of our expert advisers. Let’s talk through your personal circumstances and work out what you need.
How much does it cost?
The cost will depend on many things, including:
- Your age
- Your health
- Smoker status
- How long the policy lasts
- How much cover you want
- Whether you take out a single or a joint policy
At LifeSearch, we search the market to find the best policy suited to you and your circumstances; with prices starting from just £3 per month.*
* 9% of customers paid £3.16 per month for their Life Insurance bought online between 01 Jan 23 and 31 Dec 23. Price is based on single level life insurance excluding critical illness cover and is subject to underwriting criteria that depends on personal circumstances. Prices are subject to change.
Use our quick life cover calculator to get started
What’s the ‘right amount’ of life cover?
It’s different for everyone. To figure out the ‘right amount’ of cover for you, you’ll want to factor in your outstanding debt, your family commitments (now and in future) and what you can afford to spend each month in premiums.
Our calculator will help. And after you calculate the ‘right amount’ of cover, give us a call (or leave your details we’ll call you) so LifeSearch can search the market for policies that match what you’re after.
What is mortgage protection insurance?
If you die before your mortgage is paid, mortgage protection insurance covers what’s outstanding. This means your loved ones don’t have to absorb your mortgage debt and, if it impacts your family home, your death doesn’t force people you love to sell up and move on.
Typically taken out at the same time as your mortgage, mortgage protection lasts the length of your mortgage, decreasing in line with your remaining balance (at a rate of roughly 6-8% each year).
Find out more about mortgage protection life insurance.
What is over 50's life insurance?
As the name suggests, this product is only open to those over 50, and usually younger than 85 (although this does vary by insurer). This product is guaranteed to pay out and is more commonly used to cover funeral costs, or perhaps to leave a gift to a loved one, or even a charity.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy process to buy life insurance, then an over 50s product might be the one for you. You can often buy it online in just a few minutes, simply because the insurer doesn’t need to collect a large amount of health information from you.
It's worth noting that you will be paying higher premiums for a lower amount of cover, due to the insurer's extra risk as they don't check your health history.
Find out more about over 50's life insurance.
What is family income benefit?
Family income benefit is typically for parents and families, designed to give monthly payments to your family if you die, or fall terminally ill.
Payments are tax-free and usually made monthly, although quarterly and annually can be arranged.
Many people often take out this type of life insurance alongside their normal lump sum (or level/decreasing term) policy.
Or you choose which type of policy suits your circumstances if it’s to be one or the other.
What are the benefits of family income benefit?
It’s generally cheaper than standard life insurance, and its main benefit is how practical it is.
Instead of asking your loved ones to divvy up and stretch out a big lump sum, family income payments can meet the bills and cover those recurring expenses - month after month, after month.
Advantages of family income benefit
- Generally more affordable than standard life insurance
- Pays a steady ‘wage’ not an overwhelming lump sum
- Helps loved ones maintain regular financial commitments
Disadvantages of family income benefit
- Overall pay-out amount reduces over time
- Not able to pay off major overheads (mortgage, for example)
- Doesn’t offer a significant financial cushion or gift for surviving loved ones
If you’ve got a family you want to protect then have a think about family income benefit. Here are a few key questions to ask yourself:
- What would happen if my family lost my income, could they cope financially?
- Do we have savings or other assets that could support the family if I wasn’t around?
- Do we have a mortgage or other large debt that I’d like paid off if I died?
The last question is key, because if it’s debt that you’re worried about and you’d rather get everything paid off, then there are other insurance products that might be more suitable for you.
Standard life insurance would be an example, as the lump sum payment can be used to pay off your mortgage. However, if you’d prefer your income to be replaced, then family income benefit could be the perfect solution for you and your family.
The cost of your family income benefit will depend on a number of things, including:
- Your age
- Your health
- Whether you smoke
- Your monthly cover amount
- Your cover term
People often find family income benefit to be an affordable alternative to standard life insurance, which pays a lump sum, because the amount that the insurer would pay on death reduces over time.
This is because they only pay the regular income until the end of the cover term, unlike with standard life insurance, where the insurer would pay the full lump sum cover amount, regardless of when the death happened.
What about if I have a pre-existing health condition?
A pre-existing health condition is a health problem such as asthma or diabetes, that you have been diagnosed with before the date of your life insurance application. Gone are the days when a long-time health condition ruled you out of life insurance. Although decisions are taken case-by-case, these days it’s highly likely to get covered with a pre-existing condition.
- Cancer
- Mental health
- Asthma
- Diabetes
- Stroke
- Heart attack
Your condition will be risk-assessed alongside other risk factors (your age, work, lifestyle, smoker status and so on). And assuming you’re otherwise healthy, a mild condition shouldn’t affect your chances.
To determine whether life insurance is possible, as well as your options and quote, we’ll need to know the nature and severity of your health condition.
When applying you’ll be asked for more information about your health condition, which may include:
- What is your condition?
- How long have you had it?
- How frequently it occurs?
- How well managed is it?
- What treatment / medicine do you receive?
- How does it impact your day-to-day?
- How is your general health?
There are many factors that will affect the policy you can take out when you have a health condition. The quickest way to understand your life insurance prospects, is to call LifeSearch and get into specifics.
From there, an expert adviser can tell you exactly what’s possible, where, and how much, from the insurers we work with.
Will my price be higher than average?
This depends on your condition and its severity. If you have asthma but it’s well-managed, and you’re in good shape generally, then it’s possible you’ll be offered cover on normal terms.
With diabetes, there are specialist insurers whose business is insuring those with the condition. It may carry extra cost – it depends how well-managed it is – but cover today is easier, fairer and more comprehensive than ever before.
If you’ve a serious condition, HIV for example, it’s unlikely you’ll land life insurance cover at standard terms but there could be insurers who’ll still offer cover.
How LifeSearch can support you
LifeSearch are an independent intermediary provide you with top customer service and ongoing support should you ever need it.
We're independent
We offer expert, fee-free advice with no obligation. We do all the leg work for you, but will always keep you in the loop.
Here for you
We work for you and not the insurer - which means it's our job to listen to your needs and search the market for the policies and providers, best suited to you.
Claims
If you need to claim, we'll do it for you. We have a dedicated claims desk to support you and your family during life's darkest times - so you can get back to what matters.
A Little more about LifeSearch
Life insurance isn’t fun. There are several kinds of life insurance policies to choose from, and dozens of providers with their own versions of those products.
Without LifeSearch in your corner that’s a lot of reading … reading you don’t have to do.
Frequently asked questions about life insurance
If you’re married, in a relationship or cohabiting, you can buy two single policies, or one joint policy.
Two single policies mean each partner is covered separately - two policies, two monthly payments, two lives fully covered.
Joint cover works well if you live together, share the financial responsibilities and want to take out roughly the same level of life cover. It’s usually cheaper than two singles. Joint life insurance covers two lives with one policy and one monthly payment - but it’s not as simple as two-for-the-price-of-one.
The key difference between the two is that joint policies usually work on a ‘first death’ basis. This means the policy will only pay out once.
The first partner of the two to die, triggers a life insurance pay-out and the policy then comes to an end. The surviving partner is no longer insured under that same policy - so they’d have to re-apply if they wish to remain covered.
Yes. Insurers class you as a smoker if you have used any tobacco or nicotine replacements within the last 12 months. This includes vapes, cigars, roll-ups, tobacco, and patches.
Some insurers are more lenient than others when it comes to vaping, however it's important that you don't disclose false information on your application, as it runs the risk of your policy not paying out, should you ever need to claim.
With life insurance, you set the term of your policy. By which time you either make your claim, or your policy runs out at the end of the specified term - which you will have agreed with your adviser. Life assurance covers you for your whole life, and doesn't have a specific end date.
Life assurance is usually more expensive, due to it being a guaranteed pay-out. This type of cover is good for covering sums like funeral costs, or a small gift to leave to loved ones or a charity. Life insurance is more suitable for larger sums, such as your mortgage.
We understand that claims are made at a difficult time, so we will do everything we can to support you and help you through the process with our Claims Team.
Here's what you'll need to complete your claims process:
Step 1: Find the policy details
Step 2: Contact your protection adviser or insurer
Step 3: Get your documentation together
Step 4: Submit your claim
Step 5: Receive your insurance pay-out
Our dedicated Claims Team are here to help you, free of charge. You can visit our claims page here, to see exactly what information you will need in order to make a claim.
Nowadays, terminal illness insurance is built into most life insurance policies as standard.
Not to be confused with critical illness, terminal illness is typically defined as a condition that is fatal, and expected to lead to death within twelve months. If you receive this diagnosis, the insurer will pay your full life insurance benefit at that point, not when you die.
You can read more about terminal illness, here.
It's a good idea to look over your policy at least once a year, to check that it's still relevant for your circumstances, and is still the best price. However, we advise you to get in touch if you experience any major life events, involving changes to your family, health or finances.
Here at LifeSearch, we have a dedicated review team who will reach out to you, 3 years after your policy has started, to offer a free review of your cover, to ensure it's still the best policy for you.
Speak with a LifeSearch adviser about putting your family life insurance into trust. Although family life insurance isn’t a lump sum – so it won’t be part of your financial estate when you die – putting it in trust should lock it outside of the probate process and your loved ones should start receiving payment quicker.
It can also help with reduced, or in some circumstances, no Inheritance Tax fees - up to a certain amount. Click here for more information on trusts.
A LifeSearch expert can tell you more about putting your policy in trust and put you in touch with your insurer when you’re ready.
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