Hi! So what is insurance?
In simple terms, insurance allows someone who suffers a loss or accident to be compensated for the effects of their misfortune. It lets you protect yourself against everyday risks to your health, home and financial situation.
Choosing and getting the right life insurance policy is of the utmost importance – after all, this policy will help repay the mortgage and / or other debts after your death, ensuring that your partner and family will not be left with financial difficulty to add to their grief.
There are plenty of life insurance policies out there such as index-linked or joint life, and with varying premiums and understandably it can be confusing knowing which policy is right for you.
So where can you get life insurance advice?
You can get advice on life insurance from a number of places, such as your bank, a financial adviser or other financial organisation. You can also use the internet – it can be great for research and there are plenty of websites where you simply fill in a short form and someone will get in touch to see what your needs are etc. They will then make suggestions for the type of policy most suitable for you.
There are many different types of insurance:
You are unlikely to need every single one of these tho:
- Travel: Holidays can be dangerous occasions - especially abroad. If someone falls ill it is much more difficult than it would be at home to cope with the situation. Medical treatment is expensive. More here.
- Household contents and building insurance: Contents insurance covers the contents of a home such as furniture, carpets, clothes, television, refrigerators, jewellery and so on. In other words, what you would take with you if you moved. Buildings insurance protects against damage to the actual structure of the home and to its fixtures and fittings. Contents and buildings policies can be bought separately or together in one package. More here.
- Car insurance: Most people know something about motor insurance. This is because any vehicle driven on public roads must have a certain level of insurance. The Road Traffic Act ensures that drivers must meet liabilities they incur should they injure other people or cause damage in an accident. More here.
- Life insurance: A means of providing for your dependents should you die early, but also a way to save cash through endowment policies or similar.
- Private medical insurance: This covers the costs of private medical treatment for curable short-term illness or injury. It means that should you become ill you could be treated immediately privately rather than being put on an NHS waiting list.
- Critical illness insurance: This allows you to insure your income/ health were you to become too ill to work later on in life, and protects any dependents/ loved ones from the financial consequences of such unexpected events.
- Accident, sickness and unemployment cover: According to Moneyextra: "In 1999, 30,000 properties were re-possessed by mortgage lenders... Many lost their homes because they could no longer afford to pay their mortgage payments through an accident, sickness or unemployment." If you are planning on buying a house it may be sensible to think about getting some mortgage payment protection insurance.
- Pet insurance: This basically helps you foot the vet's bills if your pet gets by poorly. By paying regularly into an insurance policy it means you have paid for the bill gradually rather than having to find the money for a steep bill when you can least afford it.
- Business Insurances
On a final note, when applying for a life insurance policy, do always tell the truth on your application form no matter how negative you feel it might be. For example, if you are a smoker or a heavy drinker and you don’t disclose your full medical history, you may get cover that may not be valid should someone need to claim. What this means that should you die and it transpires that you did not disclose facts when completing your application form, the insurers legally don’t have to pay out your claim – not a good situation for your loved ones to be in!
Warm regards
Fuze
