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Most of us have financial responsibilities like mortgage payments or loans – and all of us have a responsibility to the family members that would be left footing the bill if we passed away before these big commitments had been paid off. The last thing you’d want is to leave them with your financial burdens, which is exactly what life insurance was invented for.
There are many different kinds of life insurance, so it’s important to understand just exactly what you need before you buy. The most popular forms of life insurance are level term assurance, decreasing term assurance, mortgage term assurance, renewable term assurance, and family income benefit assurance.
How exactly does life insurance work?
FInd the right coverage for you
Figure out your household’s ongoing financial needs (whether that’s paying off a mortgage, covering day-to-day living costs, or even funding an inheritance) and choose between term life (covering you for a set period) and whole life cover (covering you permanently).
Name your beneficiaries
Choose the people you want to benefit from a life insurance payout if you pass away. Maybe that’s your spouse or your children, or maybe it’s a family trust. Make sure to keep these designations updated for major life events (e.g. births, marriages, divorces, etc.)
Claim when the time comes
Keep maintaining your payments throughout the policy’s lifespan and make sure your beneficiaries know how to claim if you pass away. They can notify the insurer, submit a death certificate, and receive their tax-free life insurance benefit to cover whatever they need covered.
Do I need life insurance?
If your family or household relies heavily on your income to the point that if you passed away, they’d struggle, then yes – you probably need life insurance. A life insurance policy acts as a safety net to replace lost income, cover debts, and protect your family’s future. Consider taking out life insurance cover if you have dependents, debts, own a business, want to cover end-of-life expenses, or are a stay-at-home parent.
What does life insurance cover?
What is covered by my life insurance policy?
Your average life insurance policy will pay out your selected lump-sum benefit for most common causes of death, as long as you pass away within the policy’s lifespan (which will depend on what specific kind of cover you have). Generally, that will include:
- Death due to natural causes (e.g. illness, old age)
- Accidental death (e.g. accidents)
- Death caused by violent crime (provided that the beneficiary wasn’t involved)
When it comes to claim, your beneficiaries will generally have to submit proof of death to receive their benefit; for example, a death certificate.
What is not covered by my life insurance policy?
Like all insurance, life insurance has its own exclusions. You generally won’t be able to successfully make a claim if:
- The death is caused by suicide within the waiting period
- It’s revealed that fraud or material misrepresentation has played a part in your claim – for example, if you concealed a smoking habit, terminal diagnosis, or dangerous medical history during your application
- Illegal activities played a role in the policyholder’s passing (for example if you died while committing a crime)
- Or if extreme, high-risk activities (like sky-diving) caused the passing.
For a full list of exclusions, you should always check the policy wording you received at purchase.
How much is life insurance?
Life insurance premiums are based on how likely you are to pass away during the policy’s term, which means they are affected by a range of factors, including:
How much is income protection insurance?
Income protection insurance premiums are affected by a whole range of factors, which include:
Your age
The older you are when you purchase your cover, the more you’re likely to pay in premiums because there’s a higher risk that you’ll fall ill and need to claim.
Your job
If your job is considered to be ‘risky’, you’ll pay more in premiums. For example, if you’re a builder or a mechanic, you’re likely to pay more than an office worker would.
Cover length
Generally speaking, the longer your policy is, the more expensive it’ll be. If you’re looking to cut costs, taking out a short-term policy is a good idea — but check how much cover you need first.
The waiting period
The longer you can wait before receiving your payout, the cheaper your premium will be. Generally, waiting periods start from about 4 weeks and go all the way up to a full year.
Your lifestyle
If you smoke, drink, or have pre-existing health conditions, you might be more vulnerable to severe illnesses, so you’d be more likely to claim; making your cover more expensive.
What are the benefits of life insurance?
There are a number of benefits to life insurance cover, including:
Life insurance offers comprehensive protection at affordable premium rates.
Gives you confidence that your financial responsibilities are taken care of, even unexpectedly.
Provides a lump sum payout to cover outstanding debts like mortgages or loans.
Ensures your family remains
financially secure even in your absence.
Helps your family manage living expenses, education costs, and future plans. Protects your dependents from being burdened by unpaid financial commitments.
How much life insurance do I need?
Working out how much life insurance you might need is easy when you break it down into three quick steps:
Work out your beneficiaries’ immediate financial needs by adding up one-time expenses associated with death, for example funeral and burial costs, estate administration fees, and outstanding short-term debts (e.g. credit cards, personal loans, car payments)
Next you need to calculate the long-term financial support your loved ones will need. Total your major future obligations, for example paying off your mortgage, funding higher education for your kids, and replacing your income for a set number of years
Subtract your existing assets and resources (e.g. liquid savings and investments) from your total financial obligations. The remaining balance is how much you’ll need to provide for your loved ones if you passed away unexpectedly
How much will my life insurance pay out?
The exact amount your life insurance policy will pay out depends on the death benefit you chose when taking out your policy. Payouts typically range from as little as £10,000 to as much as £1,000,000 – or even more. The average term life payout is around £80,000 (since term life insurance policies are designed to cover big commitments like mortgages), while the average payout for a whole of life policy is typically smaller. At the end of the day, though, how much your loved ones receive is entirely up to you!
What do I need to get a life insurance quote?
Once you’ve figured out what kind of life insurance you’re looking for, we’ll need some information about you, your health and lifestyle, and exactly what coverage you need.
Basic personal
details
We’ll start with information like your age, date of birth, biological sex, and where you live. Age and sex are the primary factors we use to estimate your life expectancy
Health & lifestyle information
We’ll also need to know whether you use tobacco or nicotine products; your current height and weight; and a brief overview of your personal and family medical history
Desired payout and coverage length
Finally, we’ll need you to lay out for us exactly how much your beneficiaries will need if you pass away (your benefit amount) and how long you want your cover to last
Frequently Asked Questions
Life insurance is a kind of insurance cover that’s been designed to provide financial security to your loved ones after you’ve passed away. The payout given to these loved ones – your ‘beneficiaries’ – can be used for whatever it is they need; whether that’s opening trust funds, putting money towards education expenses, covering your funeral, medical costs, or something else entirely. With a life insurance policy, you can leave some stability for the people you care about most, even when you’re gone. Though no amount of money can ever erase the pain of losing you, with a life insurance policy, you can at least know that your loved ones will be looked after even when you can’t look after them yourself anymore.
This really depends on the insurer, type of cover, and the amount you wish to cover. As a general rule, you will have to answer some questions about your health and lifestyle. These questions will be based around any medical conditions you might have, any symptoms you might be experiencing (whether those symptoms are attached to a diagnosis or not), whether you smoke, how much you drink, and much more. Once those questions have been answered, though, you’ll be able to sit back and relax knowing that your loved ones will be looked after even after you’re gone.
Yes, your mortgage can be covered by life insurance! This type of life insurance coverage is usually referred to as ‘decreasing term life insurance’ if you have a re-payment mortgage, because the payout is linked to your outstanding mortgage loan amount, which decreases with every year that you pay it. If your mortgage is paid off before you pass away, however, your loved ones will receive no payout (because in theory, the financial obligation you wanted to help them cover will have already been taken care of), so if that’s not a concern for you, you might want to look into other kinds of life insurance.
Most of Best Insurance’s life insurance products come with terminal illness coverage baked into the policy. What that means is that if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness such as cancer, you can get your payout early to help handle end-of-life expenses such as medical equipment costs. If you are diagnosed with a terminal illness and decide to make a claim while you’re still alive, however, your life insurance policy will be deemed ‘complete’, and your loved ones will receive no payout once you pass away.
Figuring out how much you want your loved ones to receive once you pass away can be a difficult question to answer, not least because no one really likes to think about themselves one day dying. A good way of thinking about your ideal payout is by considering how much your monthly outgoings are, including your rent/mortgage payments, household bills, and other expenses. You want to pick a payout amount that will cover all these for a considerable time, as well as the costs of your funeral and any debts you might have left over. If you want your mortgage covered in its entirety, you should look into getting a decreasing term life insurance policy, which can be linked to your remaining mortgage amount.
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