While most of us do not like to think of the subject of our own death, the fact of the matter is that death is a part of life and in order to protect our families we need to give some thought to the subject of life insurance. The more you understand about life insurance the better you can prepare not only for your final expenses and protect your family.
First, understand there are different types of life insurance. The type that is best for you will depend on a variety of factors including your current age and health condition. The two major types of life insurance policies that you need to concern yourself with are term life insurance and permanent life insurance.
Term life insurance provides coverage for a specified period of time. This type of coverage will usually be less expensive than permanent life insurance. Policy periods are usually divided up into easy periods such as one, ten or twenty years. In the event you die within that time period, the death benefit will be paid to your beneficiaries. On the other hand, if you should reach the end of the time period and you are still alive your protection will end unless you elect to renew the policy. The option of building up cash value is not available with this type of insurance policy.
Individuals who only need temporary life insurance and those who need a large amount of coverage but who can't afford to spend a lot benefit from this type of policy the most.
Permanent life insurance is designed to provide coverage for the duration of your life, although in some cases, the policy may be limited up until a specific age. When you reach that age, the cash value of the policy will be paid to you. Because you are building a cash value with permanent life insurance you can also withdraw from the policy in order to pay for important expenses such as education or home improvement costs. Another major advantage to permanent life insurance is that it allows you to build up cash value that is tax-deferred. This generally only applies while the policy is in force; however.
There are two divisions of permanent life insurance; whole life and universal life. A whole life policy will pay dividends under certain circumstances and also has the advantage of premiums that do not fluctuate.
With a universal life insurance the premium payments can be changed by the owner of the policy. This type of flexibility can be advantageous when you have a life changing event.
Permanent life insurance works well for individuals who are interested in long term insurance and who like the idea of building up cash value with their policy they can use to meet future needs. It is important to recognize this type of insurance is more expensive than term insurance. It should also be noted that if you take out a loan against your policy, your death benefit will be reduced.
Aetna Life Insurance Co
Life Insurance cover provides either a lump sum or an income on the untimely death of an individual. Therefore, anyone who's death would create a financial loss to another has a need for life insurance cover. This could/should include the following: -
Parties to a Mortgage or indeed a loan (mortgage life insurance cover)
Anyone with dependents (whilst a parent may not work, surely there would be a financial loss if anything were to happen whilst there are young children to be cared for)
Key Individuals. Where a business would suffer financial loss on the death of an essential employee.
In essence any situation where monetary loss would be incurred could possibly have a need for life insurance cover.
630,000 people in the UK will die this year* *source:National Statistics, Winter 2002
Types of Cover
Term Life Insurance
Term life insurance is as it suggests taken out for a specified number of years at outset. With this type of policy you are merely paying for the cover provided based on your age, health and the term. Therefore, it is important to obtain the most competitive term life insurance quote for the cover provided. It is possible to take out term life insurance that will pay level lump sums, decreasing lump sums (mortgage life insurance cover) or regular payments (income).
Whole of Life
As the name suggests, potentially, this type of policy will provide cover through an individuals life time. However, when obtaining a whole of life insurance quote, as well as level of premium there are other aspects to be considered, such as investment performance, effect of charges, financial strength of the company.
Which one?
There are good arguments for both type of policy. We would suggest that the following could make up the main considerations: -
Cost - Whole of Life insurance, as a rule of thumb is usually the more expensive type of product.
Period that cover is required - If cover is required for a specific period i.e. a Mortgage then Term cover could be more appropriate
Future Plans - If, for instance a family is planned, then whole of life can offer the flexibility to increase cover for this or other like events.
Note
Critical Illness(CI) now provides an equally important benefit and we would strongly recommend that you view the CI Factsheet.
Conclusion
This artice is meant merely as a rough guide to the needs and options surrounding Life Assurance. It is by no means a comprehensive outline to anyones particular requirements. It would be, therefore, wise to use this as a guide and seek more comprehensive advice, via a professional Independent Financial Adviser. All advisers are Regulated and Authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and are now required to explain their status to you (either independent and fee charging, independent but paid by commission only, or tied)
Both Joe Kenny & Neil Mercer are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Joe Kenny has sinced written about articles on various topics from Mortgage, Credit Cards and Life Insurance. Joe Kenny writes for the Loans Store offering cheap loans and offer more information on. Joe Kenny's top article generates over 49500 views. Bookmark Joe Kenny to your Favourites.
Neil Mercer has sinced written about articles on various topics from Life Insurance, Debts Loans and Finances. Neil Mercer is a Consultant with STE Associates Ltd which is Regulated & Authorised by the Financial Services Authority. Check out his articles at www.neilmercer.co.uk. Neil Mercer's top article generates over 1000 views. Bookmark Neil Mercer to your Favourites.
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