This is a collaborative post.
Have you thought about life insurance? I know I have been but maybe it’s down to all the annoying calls I get from various companies. However, having a background in insurance it is something I’ve thought about a lot. I’ve also been thinking about it recently seeing family and friends have to sell all their assets to be able to afford care in their elderly years leaving nothing for their children and family to cover financial security or help with funeral costs. It really got me thinking.
If, when you’re older, you have to sell your house and use pretty much all of your savings for a care home or independent carers, what is the point of buying a home. I know, as a granddaughter, for example, or a daughter, I would rather see my parents life as long as they can as comfortable as they can. But as a parent, the thought of leaving my own children, grandchildren and maybe even great grandchildren with nothing makes me feel a little bereft. Is life insurance the way to ensure some form of inheritence rather than physical assets and savings? Well, not really, but it can really help with some of the bigger financial costs that happen when you die such as mortgage repyaments and funeral costs. This helps take the burden away from children who have to make those hard decisions.
I know we all hope to live long healthy lives, passing peacefully in our sleep with the knowledge we have loved ones but the reality is so different with an increasingly older population that require some healthcare and looking after in their later years. I’ve seen this strip people of their life savings and the sadness it brings them knowing that what they hoped to leave behind they now can’t. It’s hard to find a balance and now exactly where you stand and what you should or shouldn’t do to help ease some of the stresses from those you leave behind.
However, its worth considering if you need life insurance. Can you afford it firstly? I’m not sure I could right now and Adam’s job currently offers a death in service benefit which, as sad as it is to think of, would help provide financial security for myself and our children. Life assurance, as it’s often called as an employee benefit, could also render life insurance policies as void, depending on the times and conditions. So you need to know all the facts about any policy and be asking the right questions before you sign up. Also, if you’re renting rather than owning a home then again it might not be a neccessary option for you as usually life insurance is used to pay things off and cover things like funeral costs or mortgage payments.
It seems the best times to get life insurance is if you buy a home with young children which isn’t something every couple can afford right now, especially where I live. This then helps provide financial security if anything where to happen to you whilst your children were growing up. However, looking at it I’m not sure it would be very beneficial after the mortgage was paid and a home was owned outright unless the policy explicity allows a pay out to beneficiaries to do with as they please after funeral costs are met. It is a topic that needs to be thoroughly researched and worked out. Right now, for us, it’s not a priority or a need and we have no reason or the financial ability to buy a house right now so life insurance isn’t going to be something we buy especially with a death in service benefit from Adam’s work place. But I would consider a form of health plan or accident plan which would provide a payout for myself or my next of kin should I have a severe accident. Personal accident plans are another way of protecting yourself and can be paid out alongside life insurance and a death in service benefit because they are very specific, but again, something you need to check with the terms and conditions of the policy.
Have you taken out life insurance? What was the deciding factor for you?
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