A Stress Busting Assessment of worst case scenarios – what happens if…

There is nothing exciting about life assurance or financial protection products. They are only necessary if you do not have money available to you should life not work out as you planned. There are two key problems, for which a myriad of possible products exist, but it really is not as complicated as some would have you believe.

Alive but not well

Depending on your circumstances, you may simply be off work for a long period of time or perhaps have a life threatening illness such as a heart attack or cancer. These policies are designed to “protect” your standard of living. They will not solve the problem – although money may help reduce stress, provide for the best medical care or help with convalescence costs.

Quite rightly there has been media coverage focusing on whether this type of insurance actually pays claims. Put simply, some are far better than others. Cost is not the best way to assess cover. The detailed terms and conditions are much more important. This is something that we research and we would tend to use companies that have a very good claims record and of course help you to make a claim successfully should you need to. The two key types of cover are critical illness cover (pays a lump sum) and income protection (pays a regular income). Getting the right arrangements at the right level should be considered by anyone that needs money to live on, but who does not have adequate savings.

Death

Life assurance is much more straight-forward. We’ll help assess what you would like to happen should you die and the financial impact on your family or business (or both). Then assess what you have and advise what level of cover is appropriate to bridge any gap. We would also encourage you to review your Will and consider using Trusts – but this is not necessary for everyone. Even if you have no dependants, if you have a mortgage, you ought to implement life assurance so that the Executors of your estate and Will are not forced to sell your home at the current market price.

Most financial advisers still earn a commission to sell these products. We remove any commission. This reduces the premiums, saving you money. It also removes any doubt about our advice to you to implement cover.