5 reasons why it pays to take life insurance advice

Life insurance advice appears to be everywhere, but do you need it?

Grab yourself a cup of coffee as we take a look at 5 reasons why it pays to take life insurance advice.

It has been said that it is better to buy life insurance 10 years too early than to try 2 minutes too late.

The loss of a loved one will undoubtedly be heart-breaking for those left behind.  But, whilst life insurance will never bring someone back, it can protect those left behind from severe financial distress.

Let’s face it, nobody likes to think about dying prematurely.  But buying life insurance in the UK can save those left behind from severe financial hardship.

Here, we look at 5 reasons why it pays to take life insurance advice:

1) Financial Advisers add value

A Financial Adviser is qualified to help you assess the potential impact on your lifestyle, family, or business, should you or a loved one, or an employee, suffer from a serious illness or death.

If you are looking for life insurance quotes in the UK, a financial adviser will make specific recommendations to cover your needs.  They will consider any current provisions you have, including benefits available via an employer and State Benefits, for example.

Not only could these save you from wasting money on the wrong types of cover, you will have peace of mind that, should the worst happen, your financial concerns should be minimised.

If you are employed and would like help in evaluating your employer’s workplace benefits, including any possible death benefits, then arrange to speak to one of our financial advisers today.

2) In many instances, the initial advice is free

Many people look for free financial advice and many advisers offer an initial consultation free of charge. Therefore, in many cases, the only cost of advice is perhaps an hour of your time.

The adviser will be paid by the insurance company should they place your business with them. They will need to be able to demonstrate to the regulator of financial services (the ‘Financial Conduct Authority‘) that they placed your business impartially, that is, based on client benefits, as opposed to which insurer pays the most commission.

3) Buying life insurance can be like buying a well-fitting suit

Life insurance comes in different shapes and sizes.

For example, some life insurance policies pay out a lump sum – that’s one payment.  Others may pay out regularly, for example monthly or yearly.

Some policies will pay out a one-off fixed amount of money should a qualifying event happen during the policy’s term. These could be used to cover an interest-only mortgage, for example.

There are policies for repayment mortgages, for example, that pay out a reducing amount over the policy term, in line the mortgage.

Whole-of-life policies pay out on death and have no fixed term.

The shape and size of such policies can vary greatly, as can their costs.  Identifying which is most appropriate to cover specific liabilities can be complicated. A Financial Adviser will be able to help you assess your options and will recommend appropriate solutions.

4) Underwriting can be a minefield.

An insurer will want to assess the risks associated with providing cover via an appropriate life insurance policy – be it covering one or more people.

The risk of somebody suffering from a critical illness or dying can be assessed on many levels. An insurer will want to know details including:

• the age of the prospective life assured
• details about their lifestyle and occupation
• whether they’ve suffered from any previous medical conditions
• any hazardous pursuits they may do
• any potential hereditary conditions an applicant may be susceptible

Having an adviser help guide you through this process can be of great value. Particularly if the underwriters ask to see an applicant’s medical report from their GP, which is often par for the course.

Given the scope of an underwriter’s potential queries, a Financial Adviser will be able to help you answer these questions appropriately.  In doing so,  there should be very few reasons why a claim would fail later due to ‘non-disclosure’. That is, if a policyholder is later found to have not disclosed, or to have withheld, relevant information at the time of applying for a policy, an insurance company would be well within their right to not pay out on a claim.

Not only would this render any previous premium payments a waste of money, perhaps more significantly this could leave any supposedly rightful claimants without any right to claim.

Therefore, it could be said that it pays to take advice.

5) Know exactly what is covered and what isn’t.

The difference between what one insurance company covers by way of a serious illness compared to that of another can differ greatly.

For example, some insurance companies won’t pay out in the event of an illness until it has progressed to a particular severity, whereas others may pay out partially but earlier on, before the illness has progressed further.

Some may pay out for something as specific as an Eye Stroke whereas others may not cover this at all. It, therefore, pays to know exactly what is and what isn’t covered – particularly if there’s a history of a particular illness within the applicant’s family.

These differing factors regarding what is and what isn’t covered by a life insurance policy can significantly affect the price paid. Again – it often pays to take advice.

If you are considering taking out life insurance and are actively seeking life insurance advice in the UK, get in touch with Assured Life Advisers today to talk things through. Alternatively, unbiased.co.uk manages a national database of independent financial advisers that they can connect you to today.