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The reality of death and dying is often very distant and abstract to individuals, and people are unlikely to consider what will happen when they pass away until it relates directly to them or the people around them.
Photo by Brandon Montrone from Pexels
However, prevention is better than cure, and it’s always best to be prepared for the unexpected. Taking out life insurance and funeral cover is a responsible way of protecting your family after you die, meaning they won’t have to worry about how they will cope financially when you’re gone.
What Is Life Insurance:
The goal of life insurance is to protect your family from the financial burden of losing their main provider. When you die, the money that would normally be used to provide for them in addition to other expenses is instead paid out as a lump sum. In return, your loved ones will not be required to pay any additional living expenses or struggle financially to meet those costs.
What Is Funeral Cover:
A funeral plan works in exactly the same way as life insurance. Still, instead of using the money to replace your salary, it is used to pay for your funeral, burials and any necessary expenses that they may incur, such as legal fees, flowers and transporting your body if required.
Providing you specify a certain amount of money for this purpose when you sign up, then this will be paid out by your chosen provider and can help ensure that those left behind will not be burdened with these costs, which can often set them back thousands of pounds.
Payment Structure Of Life Insurance:
Even if the term of your policy is long, all policies have an annual premium that needs to be paid to maintain cover and ensure that nothing has changed about the circumstances surrounding the policy, such as a diagnosis of cancer, for example.
Having said this, some providers will offer low-cost monthly instalments. However, these optional services may still apply unfair pressure on your family members, so they should never be used without caution.
Payment Structure Of Funeral Cover:
The premiums for funeral plans are usually very small and won’t make much of a difference to your family’s monthly budget. If anything, they will most likely welcome the peace of mind that comes from knowing that their loved one’s funeral has already been taken care of.
Know Your Policy and Optional Benefits
There are so many additional extras available on life insurance and funeral plans that it is often very difficult to choose which ones you really don’t need or want when signing up.
However, depending on the provider, there may be a limited number of add-ons available, so if certain features aren’t included when you sign up, you might not have the option to add them later on down the line.
One such example would be increasing your monthly instalments in case interest rates rise in the future, as this is an optional feature that can be added at any time but will require a small extra payment for a much larger return in the long run. These higher rates will also help reduce what you actually owe when the time comes to make your final payment.
In Conclusion
Although funeral plans tend to be less expensive than life insurance, it’s still very important that you compare prices and policies before signing up; otherwise, you may not be able to afford anything at all.
In addition, all providers will require full details about your health history so they can determine whether or not to take on your policy and what the premium will be. Make sure you don’t leave anything out as they will not pay out if your medical history turns out to be more serious than you initially thought.
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