Seven reasons to review your life insurance cover

Just as it’s important to shop around for car insurance and energy suppliers (although let’s not dwell on that right now) it’s equally vital to revisit and discuss your life insurance policy to ensure you’re getting the best value … and the best price.

So if you haven’t reviewed yours in a while, give LifeSearch a call. And if you need a good reason for picking up the phone; here’s seven …

1. Life changes

Life changes. People change. Situations change. Think back to when you applied for cover: what’s different? 

Maybe you’ve switched job, moved house, paid your mortgage, had a child. Or maybe your dependents have since flown the coup. 

In other words, your life insurance was built around your circumstances then. These may not be your circumstances now and through a review you can rebuild your policy around your new situation.

It’s always a good idea to ensure your cover is accurate and relevant to what’s going on at home, but the extension of that is that you can cut anything you no longer need. That could mean shaving off cost … and we could all use a bit of that right now. 

2. Your health

The field of medicine is constantly moving forward. Academics and researchers make new discoveries about conditions and their treatments on a regular basis. 

What does this have to do with life insurance reviews? Well if you had a medical condition at the time of applying, your premium may have been set at a higher rate to reflect your higher risk. 

But that was then. Life insurance stays up-to-date on the specifics of medical conditions in order to accurately set a customer’s premiums … and accurate back then may be different to accurate now. 

So if your medical outlook has changed – perhaps because the world now knows more about your condition, or because treatment has evolved – then your risk level may be lower now than it once was. 

Diabetes is a good example. Once upon a time it was difficult (and/ or more expensive) to land cover with diabetes, but things have changed for the good. Some insurers even offer specialist products specifically for diabetic customers.

3. Ditched the fags?

Believe it or not, smoking is still probably the most influential factor in a person’s life insurance prospects. A smoker may pay as much as 50% more than a non-smoker of the same age as a result of smoking’s risk to health.

But analysis from ASH and UCL found that one million smokers quit during Covid [1]. Apparently, someone in the UK quits smoking every 80 seconds. That’s potentially a lot of life insurance policies that need to be reviewed. 

Because ditching the cigs can bring down your premiums significantly. Even switching to vaping can sometimes reflect in slightly more favourable premiums. 

Quit smoking recently? Definitely time to review your policy. 

4. Simply want to cut costs?

No one can pretend things are easy right now. Thumbing through your household budget, perhaps those life insurance premiums are a bit steep. It’s understandable. 

So even if your circumstances are largely as they were when you took out your policy, you can still review even if the goal is simply to shave off some cost. 

Cheaper cover might not be perfect for your needs, but some cover is better than no cover … and it’s vital you discuss your options before cancelling a policy entirely.

This is where expert advice can help. You can keep cover going at a more favourable cost by restricting your current deal. In basic terms, tell a LifeSearch expert what you want to spend, and they’ll do the hard yards to find options that fit your budget.

5. Combine/ Consolidate

Did you ever get life insurance through work? Maybe you’ve a couple of different policies dotted here, there and yon. If that’s the case then you can combine or consolidate your existing policies into one place; through one provider. 

Potentially that could result in lower costs compared to your current policies added together, but it also means one provider, one monthly payment and one policy to reference if the need arises. 

6. Extra benefits

Most insurers offer some extra benefits if you buy cover through them. One insurer might provide cinema tickets, another free digital GP services. Yet another may provide counselling free of charge. 

Such free services can be massively valuable, especially right now when times are tight and there’s pressure on the NHS. So a review is a good time to explore what extra benefits different insurers offer and see what lines up with your needs. 

Traditionally, it can be tough to access counselling through the NHS without a fairly lengthy waiting time. Costs vary wildly, but the NHS says £70 per hour [2] is the high watermark. A block of six counselling sessions, then, has the potential to save you time and even as much as £420. 

So it’s worth that review call to check out the benefits that are out there as well as the ones you already have access to … but didn’t know about.

7. It’s just good housekeeping

We’ve emphasised the cost factor throughout as a primary reason to review your existing cover. Naturally, it’s not just about saving cash, that’s a big objective for many of us right now; as we navigate the cost-of-living crisis.

But beyond that, your life insurance is – or at least it should be – tailored to your circumstances so that the people close to you have a financial cushion if something were to happen to you. 

So a review is, at its simplest, a piece of good housekeeping. It’s a chance to make sure there are no gaps in the cover you want and, conversely, that you’re not paying over the odds for cover types you might not need.

Time for a life insurance review?

If you feel you could use a review of your existing life insurance policy – even if it’s not currently through LifeSearch – then do give us a call on 0800 316 7253. 

Whether your objective is peace-of-mind that you’re covered properly, or to shave off some cost, our expert advisers can help. 

References

[1] https://ash.org.uk/media-and-news/press-releases-media-and-news/pandemicmillion/

[2] https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/counselling/