How Secure Will The Family Be If Youre Sick?

Summary
Critical Illness Insurance, Permanent Health Insurance and Life Assurance should all be thought about by people who have a wife/husband or children or anyone dependant on them for financial security.  This article will help you understand what’s available and what will be relevant to you.

It is deplorable but a certainty that one in three of us will go through some form of cancer before before the age of sixty five. Katie Summers,a consultant at Alex Peacocks and Partners,a firm of Independent Financial Advisors, says “That’s why protection is imperative” – those are not good odds,”Life Assurance is the most widespread cover taken out, though it is debatable as to whether it is the most important.  Life cover is vital if you have a husband or wife or children but not if you are unattached as it settles after your death.  Lots of people feel that they cannot afford to have the cheapest life assurance but the real truth is that they can’t afford not to have it if they have a wife and children to protect and support. 

JD Metcalf and Sons a firm of Financial Advisors reveals in a new study that 25% of people with a family don’t know if they have Life Insurance or not and twenty five per cent don’t have it.

Many business packages incorporate life assurance but they are commonly not enough to provide an income for a husband or wife with dependants and cover the mortgage too.  A standard rule is to insure yourself for 14 times your income.

M and S’s Money investigations have revealed that over the last 15 years the average cost of Life Insurance Cover has fallen by 43% basically because people seem to be living longer due to some extent to medical developments allowing sick people to recover from sicknesses that, at one time, they would most likely have died from. Folks who already have life assurance are possibly not conscious of this detail and do not stand to gain anything unless a claim is made, so do not need to feel that they have to stay with their existing insurer – there may well be much better deals around now.

Then again, Medical Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance and Permanent Health Insurance payments are increasing as people are surviving serious illness and making claims on these policies.  They are still vital and ought to bebudgeted for if there are no dependants. The question that you have to ask yourself is can I afford not to have an income?  For the majority  of us the reply is no and all should have income protection.

Income Protection Insurance settlesa tax-free income which is calculated on a percentage of your income for ‘non-critical’ as well as critical illness and for the complete length of time that you don’t work.

Critical Illness cover, if you become potentially terminally ill, will pay out a tax-free lump sum,, which   help to lessen financial pressures or pay for any adaptations that may be required if your mobility has been affected.  Statutory sick pay will not pay out enough money to assist with the financial blow that severe illness can cause.

The Insurance Company evaluates a payment on your risk profile.  If you have a family history of scritical illness or drink heavily or you smoke your premium will be much higher.  Premiums are gauged on the individual but if some of your family have been severely ill, particularly younger than the age of forty nine, this could increase your premium by 45 per cent.

December 3, 2009  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Critical Illness Insurance, Quote For Life Insurance  No Comments

Heath And Life Insurance Pick’n Mix

Summary
The flexibility provided by protection insurance menus and the companies who are principal in this form of insurance. A case study illustrates how the client can gain.

Protection Insurance options which will give customers the opportunity to mix-and-match health and life cover in a fully comprehensive policy have been around for over two decades. Unfortunately the initial versions did not appear to be very desirable to people although the concept was correct. Direct debit, a single set of paperwork and administrative savings were embraced by both insurance companies and the consumer. Nevertheless the benefits given by these options were outweighed by the shortcomings.

The array of insurance products offered by the major pioneers,  Standard Life, were not competitive.  IFAs investigated leading providers to form protective packages for the customer, which drastically reduced the prices found in protection insurance menus. The market has now progresses and a flood of new protection policies have been presented which have secured the approvalof a lot of the intermediaries. That’s why you must be sure to get lots of life insurance quotes to cover your family.

Aviva was the first to introduce a winning blueprint when it reintroduced it’s Self Assurance menu. They were soon followed by Friends Provient, Legal and General, Liverpool Victoria Life, Scottish Equitable Protect, Skandia Life and others are likely to pursue their lead some time soon.

Three key points are found in the majority of protection menus. Critical illness insurance policies names a number of stated critical conditions for which the insurer would pay out a lump sum. The the lower price option, term assurance, settles a lump sum if you pass away within a given period and nothing after that. The final option is income protection insurance, which offers a regular income if illness or long term disability impedes you from working. The menu may offer you redundancy cover, which is generally limited to 12 or 24 months and might also be restricted to the payment of a mortgage. The principle value is the flexibility of the insurance products. For example numerous levels of insurance cover can be structured for independent modules, so so if you need to make a claim on 1 part the other parts will still continue. No extra health information will be necessary prior to major living events, like becoming married, having a baby, or moving house. These further benefits are known as ‘Guaranteed Insurability Options’.

Different components of cover may be added on following the close of a short questionnaire and you will still benefit from the usual insurance policy discounts.

An example of the benefits derived from a protection menu is shown by a a young man and his wife who selected Legal and General’s Protection Choices option for mortgage protection. They are paying a jointly held policy of 33 pounds a month for separate life policies and critical illnesses, which have been written on a combined life basis. To begin with they have insurance cover of £110,750 which goes down as their 20 year homeowner loan is paid off. Life assurance would be paid out if 1 of them passes away and the insurance is ended, but the survivor will still be covered for critical illness cover Life cover will be maintained for both partnerseven if one of them becomes ill and the insurance will settle on whoever dies first.

If the couple had signed up for a standard joint life assurance policy with Co-op Insurance they would only get a pay out on their 1st claim. But with their Protection Choices policy they are given 2 possible settlements costing only eight pounds more. Even though employees are sometimes given income protection with their job they might also wish to cover their home loan in a similar way. In addition they could want to take out further critical illnesscover and life cover not combined with their mortgage. Standard Life’s protection menu make it possible for them to do so in a straightforward and cost effective way. The new options based products enable you to save pounds although you can look around for single insurance policies and only save a little.

November 20, 2009  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Critical Illness Insurance, Quote For Life Insurance  No Comments

Is Life Insurance Cover Worth It For The Over Fifties?

Summary:
This article looks at the over fifties plans that do not ask questions about your medical history, can they really be financially worth it? Continue reading this article for lots more information.

Becoming increasingly popular are the over  fifties life assurance plans, these plans promise acceptance without medical history and are often promoted by mature personalities like Cilla Black and Michael Douglas. Consumers who buy these plans might be paying far more in than their heirs will get out.

Assuring a pay out on the insurance holders death, premiums start from around seven pounds increasing to around 62 pounds, that’sd cheap life insurance cover. Sold to people between fifty one and seventy nine the settlement influenced by the premium paid, gender and age when the policy begins.

Ominously, no information about their health is required.  Some insurance plans stop after a specific amount of time, but may still be valid until the insurance policyholder passes away. In other insurance plans the premium is taken until the policyholder passes away, in spite of this clients could pay more in than they get paid out depending upon when they die.

Referring to adverts for Asda’s over 50’s Life Cover, Leon Myers of independent financial advisers CBK Colchester states ‘I can’t comprehend how Nigel Havers can sanction this kind of insurance product. He is an outstanding act, but for this type of plan the same cannot be said.’

Managing Director at  Axa Sun Life plan, Mark Howes defends Clooney’s role, saying he is simply making people conscious of the life assurance plans existence , for this particular plan there is a substantial demand. He states, ‘The appeal is their affordability because of their assured acceptance procedure and the low payments.’

Nevertheless, you could get a better deal elsewhere buying regular plan on the same terms ‘consumers could get three or four times as much for their money from a normal life policy, in exchange for responding to a few questions.’ Says James Hicks of TGB financial services.

Not asking any medical history forces more expensive fees as these plans appeal to clients with pre-existing complaints who may die before the insurer has covered its cost. Insurance companies also restrict any settlement for the first 1 or 2 years to  shield themselves. A reimbursement of the premiums made is in general refunded if a policyholder passes away from natural causes during this time.

The Manager of financial services at Asda, Harrison Timms, acknowledges that the cost could be less for standard life assurance but usually by the time you reach your fifties, many have undergone some sort of illness, consequently why clients choose the over fifties plans. Insurance holders’putting in more than they ever retrieve is one sphere he doesn’t concur with. ‘We limit the payments, when we compile the plan,’ he says, meaning once the insurance holders have paid the sum assured their payments stop.

Many over 50s insurance plans do eventually have cut off postions, but many policyholders have paid more than necessary before this time. Premiums usually stop at 85 with the LV insurance policy and the post office running them for a set term.

One of the major reasons clients purchase these insurances is to pay funeral costs. Yet, the eventual pay out may not be nearly enough. A pre-payment insurance policy would perhaps be a better option with Co-operative funeral care supplying 5 packages priced between 2,548 pounds and 3,339 pounds. This type of plan can be paid for over three years.

October 26, 2009  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Quote For Life Insurance  No Comments

Take Out Insurance To Protect Against Dementia

Summary
Alzheimer’s is now listed as one of the most common critical illnesses. The quantity of dementia patients in the United Kingdom is predicted to climb to more than 1,200,000 by 2019. Medical care can be costly but it’s vital to ensure that you are aware of just what is covered and what is excluded  in the policy given by various insurers.

Lifeinsure, the independent life insurance and protection specialist is recommending people to cover themselves against the expense of long-term health care for Alzheimer’s and many other kinds of dementia.

In Great Britain, over and above seven hundred thousand people have dementia, a statistic that is expected to shoot up to higher than one million, five hundred thousand by 2020. The Association of British Insurers’ now rates Alzheimer’s as a very virulent critical illness is one that should be covered. Insurers must use this catalogue.  James Mason, head of protection strategy at Life Compare states that you might be considered at higher risk if one or both of your parents is diagnosed with the disease but that does not consequentially say you would be refused insurance cover completely.

‘One of the major issues is not just what your Mother and Father suffered from, but the age they were when they were diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s. If your Mum or Dad developed an illness in their 30’s, and when you take your cheap life insurance cover out you are also in your 30’s, then your insurance company will picture you as much more of a gambol. But in general, the particularised circumstances of your personal health will determine whether or not a family history of any specific sickness will have a consequence on the cost of your insurance cover.

Finally, if you have a common-law partner and children and a somewhat large amount of debt in the shape of a homeowner loan, then you need to devote some attention to what may happen and what the expected expense of losing an income might be. All critical illness policies have to cover 23 basic diseases which are suggested by the The Association of British Insurers’  This incorporates seven of the most common illnesses or medical treatments (heart attacks, open heart surgery, kidney failure, certain types of cancer, multiple sclerosis, strokes and major organ transplants). Any other conditions will be predetermined by the insurer and the life insurance quotation.

Direct Lines head of protection, Julie Mentor proposes cheap life insurance companies such as Axa and Legal and General as their cover is wider than the The Association of British Insurer (ABI) imposes (they each cover round about thirty severe conditions).

PPP covers round about forty sickness, yet plainly affirms which  Association of British Insurer defined issues it will add in (for example, it will just cover insulin-dependent diabetes if diagnosed above the age of forty five). Mentor says it is a superb policy if you’re on the lookout for extra benefits like guidance and assistance on keeping yourself healthy. The Company Bright Grey gives a ‘Helping Hand’ service, which gives specialist nurses, family support and therapists to all its insurance holders

Friends Provident offers ’serious illness’ protection, which gives tiny payouts for minor issues that are not generally covered on other critical illness insurance policies.It is about to inaugurate a new product in the next few weeks which it promises will ‘transform the critical illness Insurance Industry’.

September 28, 2009  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Quote For Life Insurance  No Comments

Some Illnesses are more Critical than Others

Summary
The issues you should mull over when choosing critical illness cover and the rangeof companies tendering thistype of policy. 

Your mortgage provider may propose quite a few financial products together with critical illness cover. However, as they are not experts in this market, you will most likely find a superior offer elsewhere.

The level of cover on offer is just as important as the premium when seeking critical illness cover. The policies from Nationwide and Alliance and Leicester are particularly limited says an adviser at Direct Line, a telephone and online life assurance broker. Standard Life covers only seven critical illnesses, with Friend Provident covering just 10, whereas the market leader, Aviva, covers 38.

Loss of speech, deafness, blindness, diabetes, Aids and Parkinsons are some of the conditions not covered by some of the High Street names.  The senior advisersays that it is not worth consideringa policy, which insures less than 25 ailments.

An umbrella term included in  all policies is ‘total and permanent disabilities’, this term means you are covered for any condition, which stops you working ever again.

You neeed to be aware of the wording as some policies cover ‘any occupation’ whereas other policies only insure your ‘own’ occupation. You will not receive a settlement under a ‘any occupation’ policy unless you are completelyunable to carryout a job, however menial. For that reason The adviserrecommends you sign up for a ‘own’ occupation policy.

There are many companies as well as Swiss Life who offer comprehensive insurance including  Scottish Provident, Scandia, Zurich life, Friends Provident, Scottish Equitable, Liverpool Victoria, Norwich Union, Legal and General and Zurich Life.

For years life insurance has been sold by mortgage lenders. This has resulted in critical illness cover never being considered by many people. There are 4 times as many claims on critical illness policies compared to life insurance, when the client has taken out both types of insurance.

Life insurance cover is tremendously important, especially if you have dependents, as they will welcome the lump sum payment on your death. However critical illness cover ought to be the priority if you have debts to settle, above all a home owner loan. The senior adviserbelieves critical illness to be vital as it covers the cost of your house and food, even if you are ill and unable to work.

The premiums will be higher if you are a smoker and will also rise if you are older. A decreasing term policy, which is aimed at people only wanting to cover the cost of their mortgage, is the cheapest.

One of  Spencer Knight’s customers, a 26 year old non-smoker, who wanted100,000 pounds cover from a critical illness, long term policy, was quoted £15-50 per month, which rose to 24 pounds 30 pence for smokers. However  a Directorfrom Tesco Finance suggested a policy, which gave both life insurance and critical illness cover for seventeen pounds eighty pence a month, so it could be worth paying a bit higher premium.

September 18, 2009  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: Quote For Life Insurance  No Comments

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September 18, 2009   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment