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Life Insurance

Who’ll take care of your loved ones if something happens to you?
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Who’ll take care of your loved ones if something happens to you?

Life insurance. It’s a financial cushion that’ll take care of the people you love if you’re not around.

Life insurance pays out so that others don’t have to panic about your mortgage or other financial commitments. We call it protection … it’s a shield in case life suddenly throws a curveball your way.

What is life insurance?

Several products fall under the life insurance umbrella, but the best known is life insurance itself. Most people know that you take out a life insurance policy, you pay for it every month and, if you die during the policy term, a cash lump sum goes to the person or people you want it to.

Yep, in broad brushstrokes that’s it, but obviously there’s more to it:

  • Mortgage life insurance
  • Family life insurance
  • Over 50s life insurance

Other products include income protection, which maintains your income if you’re off work sick or injured. And critical illness cover, which pays a lump sum to support your household if you’re diagnosed with something life-changing.

We’ve been protecting families, individuals and businesses since 1998. We’re now at millions of customers and have won dozens of awards for what we do.

We’re not an insurance provider, we’re an independent intermediary. That means our loyalty is to you.

Speak with our expert advisers and you’ll be given the right, independent advice. You’ll be protected in the right way, by the right provider, with the right policy that’s just right for your budget.

Just right means life insurance that fits. It means no more or less than you need.

Level term versus decreasing - the two key options in life insurance

Level term cover

For level term your cover remains the same and stops after an amount of years

Say you’ve a mortgage of £250,000. If you take level term life cover for £250,000 over 25 years, the payout to your loved ones will be £250,000 whether you die on day 9, or day 9,000, even though the value of your mortgage is decreasing the whole time.

Advantages of level term cover

  • Your premiums won’t change
  • You know what your loved ones will get

Disadvantages of level term cover

  • Can be more expensive
  • No pay out if you survive the policy term (applies to any policy)

Decreasing term cover

For decreasing term your cover reduces over time in line with e.g. a mortgage

If you’ve a mortgage of £250,000 and take decreasing term life cover for £250,000 over 25 years, the payout gets gradually smaller to reflect the diminishing value of your mortgage. Die on day 9 and it might mean a £250,000 payout. Die on day 9,000 and the payout will be substantially less because your mortgage is substantially less.

Advantages of decreasing term cover

  • Often cheaper than level term
  • Peace of mind your mortgage is covered

Disadvantages of decreasing term cover

  • Pay out value decreases over time
  • Just covers mortgage, no extra to leave behind

Things to think about

Do I need life insurance?

That’s the first question. And if you’re young, rent and don’t have kids, it might be better to consider  income protection insurance or critical illness cover to cover yourself should you get sick and / or can’t work.

Quickly calculate the amount of life insurance you might need

FIRE UP THE QUICK CALCULATOR

Plug in your commitments to understand how much cover you might need.

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Any mortgage left to pay?

How much have you left on any current mortgages in your name?

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Loans, credit cards & other debts

Total up all the non-mortgage debt you have: loans, credit cards, overdrafts and any other borrowing

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Potential funeral costs

The average UK funeral costs between £4,000 and £5,000. If you have expensive tastes or a massive family, it may be more. Worth thinking about.

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Childcare, school or higher education costs

You’ll know your childcare, private school or tuition fee obligations. But did you know it costs roughly £1,500 - £2,500 per year to fund one child through state school? There’s sports, activities, after school clubs, uniforms, travel expenses, technology (such as a laptop or iPad) to consider.

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Additional lump sum

Life insurance covers your obligations and debt. A lump sum on top offers extra comfort and options for your family after you’ve gone

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Existing life insurance, savings & investments

Total up any savings, investments and life insurance policies that you intend to keep. When you die your savings go towards your debt anyway - so it’s important you’re not ‘over-insured’. That’s just a waste of money.

Your total cover estimate:

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Let us find the best cover for you!

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Not sure about your calculation? We can help you choose the cover level to suit you with free advice here.

Remember, this only estimates how much you might need to help you make your decision.

If you’re ready to buy life insurance, our expert advisers or our online guide can help you determine how much you need. Your magic number is usually down to your lifestyle costs, your mortgage value, your family life, your debts and how much extra on top you might want to leave behind. We can help you think it through.

How long should my life insurance run?

People commonly have life insurance terms that coincide with their mortgage, but there’s also your children or financial dependents to think about. How long will they be financially dependent on you?

How do I keep costs down?

LFS logo
LifeSearch From our Adviser Team

Buy young

Buy younger, when you’re fitter and healthier, to keep costs down.

Live healthier

A healthy lifestyle generally reflects in lower pricing as you present a lower risk.

Quit smoking

Smoking’s a major influence on health and life expectancy and that’ll reflect in higher life insurance premium costs.

How much does life insurance cost?

The average monthly premium of a level term assurance policy, over the term of 25 years:

Starting Age Cost to cover £200k
25
£6.77 per month
30
£7.98 per month
35
£10.48 per month
40
£14.92 per month
45 £22.57 per month
50
£35.98 per month
55
£53.31 per month

 

*Pricing information obtained 05/06/2023. This data is based on a non-smoker, with no medical history.

Life insurance costs vary, person to person. That’s not an excuse to dodge the question, it’s just reality. Your life insurance costs will first be based on the kind of policy you want, and then on a risk score that factors in your health, your home life, your job, your mortgage, your hobbies, your age, if you smoke etc…

If you’re like many others, you’ll probably base your life insurance policy on the value of your mortgage. That means your life insurance will cover the house if you pass away before it’s paid-off.

Life insurance cost and cover calculator

Our simple calculator can help you to work out what insurance you need and give you estimated costs for different types of life cover. You can then speak to an adviser or buy online.

Get costs & cover ideas

Frequently asked questions about life insurance

You can link your life insurance policy to the cost of living, so it holds the same buying power over time.

For example, £100,000 represents significant buying power today … but due to inflation and rising living costs, it won’t have the same buying power in 10, 15 or 20 years. Indexation ensures your pay-out keeps the same value, or buying power, over time, but your monthly premiums will increase too.

A single policy is simple. It’s where you are the only policyholder and, when you die, the money goes to your beneficiaries.

Joint life insurance is different. It’s kind of like a two-in-one life insurance policy, so it’s usually more affordable than two singles.

A joint policy will only pay out once, however, so if Partner A dies the lump sum is paid and that’s the end of the policy. Partner B will have to take out another policy if they’re to protect themselves again.

In days past, having a medical condition could be a blocker to getting life cover. That’s much less the case now.

Whether your medical condition will increase your premium depends on what type of condition it is, how serious it is, and your general health otherwise.

At one end of the scale, if you’ve asthma but you control it well and haven’t had an attack in a specified period of time, it probably won’t raise your premiums much, if at all. At the other end, a serious heart condition could push your premiums up or could make landing cover more challenging.

But the important thing is to try. There are dozens of mechanisms in place to get cover for people who do have health issues. The life insurance industry is much friendlier now to conditions such as HIV, diabetes, heart and lung issues. Some specialist insurers’ base their whole business on covering people with health challenges.

So there are options. Speak with an expert adviser about it today.

In 2020, life insurance claims paid out in over 98% of cases, according to the association of British insurers. When claims aren’t paid, it’s usually because the policyholder gave inaccurate, or even dishonest information when describing their health or lifestyle.

To state the obvious, you won’t be around to see your life insurance claim. But when you die, LifeSearch can support your family in making a claim.

LifeSearch were one of the the first UK intermediaries to set up a dedicated claims team, and today it’s a well-oiled machine. We help you with the paperwork and speaking with the insurer so your loved ones don’t have to. After all, they’ve just suffered a massive loss so it’s a hassle with which they can do with some help.

We’ll keep the relevant people updated of any progress as we aim to resolve claims, and unlock pay outs as quickly as possible.

Speak with a LifeSearch adviser about putting your family life insurance into trust. Although family life insurance isn’t a lump sum – so it won’t be part of your financial estate when you die – putting it in trust should lock it outside of the probate process and your loved ones should start receiving payment quicker.

It can also help with reduced, or in some circumstances, no Inheritance Tax fees - up to a certain amount. See below for further information.

A LifeSearch expert can tell you more about putting your policy in trust and put you in touch with your insurer when you’re ready.

It’s basically a tax on a dead person’s estate (it’s the total of property + assets + cars minus debts and expenses). The magic number in the UK right now is £325,000. If assets combined are worth less than that, no tax. But every £1 above that £325,000 threshold is subject to 40% inheritance tax. The threshold is higher for couples.

Our business was started back in 1998 as our founder believed insurers put their own needs above the needs of the customer. We’ve grown our business on a mission of doing right by the customer since day one.

So we’re here to advise. You might take our advice, you might not. Our job is to know the market so we can advise you on the policies we think fit the bill.

But there’s no obligation, no sell. You’re in control.

With LifeSearch you can search online, or speak with an expert adviser today.

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LifeSearch Limited is an Appointed Representative of LifeSearch Partners Limited, who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Calls may be monitored/recorded.