Protection for you and your mortgage
Having a mortgage is a huge responsibility. It brings with it a need to take a longer-term view of your finances, and think about what might happen if unforeseen events were to occur. This is where life assurance can play a major role in securing your financial future.
If your children, partner or relatives depend on your income to cover the cost of paying the mortgage and other living expenses, then it makes good sense to think about the protection and peace of mind that insurance can give.
There are a variety of plans available in the marketplace which can be tailored to your specific needs, and you can take out cover for critical illness and income protection too. Your advisor will be able to recommend the right policy to meet your specific needs.
Term life insurance policies run for a fixed period of time – such as 10 or 25 years. This type of insurance only pays out if you die during the term of the policy. There are various forms of cover to choose from, including level term insurance, where the cover remains at a constant level throughout the policy, or decreasing term insurance where the level of cover gradually reduces over the term of the policy. The latter is often taken out with a mortgage, with the sum assured reducing in line with the outstanding amount of the mortgage.
Whole-of-life polices, as their name suggests, provide cover that lasts a lifetime. This type of policy doesn’t normally have an end date, so premiums are paid until you die, at which point the policy pays out (sometimes premiums end at a certain age, say 80, but cover continues until your death).
Protecting your home and contents
As well as life cover, you should think about insurance for your home and contents too. Homeowners need to have building insurance. Your mortgage lender will usually stipulate this as a condition of granting your loan, so not having a policy could put your mortgage and your home at risk.
When thinking about home contents insurance, you need to ask yourself how you would cope if you were to lose everything? Replacing all your possessions would be an expensive exercise, so contents insurance is vital to cover unexpected events like burglary or fire.
As your advisor will tell you, the key to getting the right buildings and contents cover in place is to focus on the features, not just price, when comparing policies. Your advisor will be able to help you find the appropriate product based on their knowledge of the marketplace and your particular requirements.
