How much you should be paying? Do you know what you are getting when you pay for life assurance?
Life insurance has seen a price war between providers over the last few years with premiums falling; in some cases quite dramatically. In my own experience, the cost of life cover has fallen by around a third in the last five years and consumers could be wasting thousands of pounds by not reviewing their policies.
Insurance companies, mortgage lenders and banks typically provide life insurance but it is a good idea to shop around rather than just go with the first product you’re offered. Financial advisers can arrange life insurance and can do the shopping around for you if they are independent.
Many people take out insurance with their bank or mortgage provider and this is often a mistake as they are usually very expensive products that do not offer the same level of cover that can be found on the wider market.
Additional benefits might include critical illness cover or waiver of premiums. Critical illness pays out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with any of a number of serious health conditions. Waiver of premiums means your premiums are paid for you if you are unable to work for health reasons.
How much life insurance costs will depend on a number of factors including how much cover you want, how long you want it for, your gender, occupation, and health.
“Do you smoke?" is one of the first questions that an insurer will ask a new client, as a smoker will pay considerably higher premiums than a non-smoker. For insurance purposes, you must have sopped smoking for at least 12 months to be classified as a non-smoker. At that point, you should speak to an adviser to see if they can ‘re-broke’ your policy for you at a cheaper premium.
Life insurance premiums can be either guaranteed or reviewable. Guaranteed premiums stay the same all the time you are paying them but with reviewable premiums you agree that the company can review your policy (and increase your premiums) at set intervals. Initially reviewable premiums work out cheaper but they are likely to be increased over time meaning the overall cost will end up being more than it would be with guaranteed premiums.
GET THOSE PREMIUMS CHECKED TODAY!