Summary
There are various types of life insurance quotes cover available in the market. Many people are now experiencing the benefits of lower monthly premiums by switching to pension term assurance (PTA) because of the tax relief on the cost of this type of insurnace plan. It is not, however, suitable for all people.
It was revealed recently that the cost of life insurance plans has fallen dramatically in recent years. How do you know what kind of policy is most suitable for you?
Term plans are the simplest and cheapest typeof life insurance cover – you pay a regular premium each month for an agreed amount of cheap life insurance for set number of years that the policy will run for. If you die whilst the policy is in force, it then pays out a cash sum. If the plan reaches the end of its term and you are still surviving, no benefit is paid out.
There are several sorts of term insurance: “level” term is where the payout is a fixed amount; “decreasing” term, which is often significantly cheaper because the benefit to be paid out drops each year. Usually this sort of insurance plan is taken out to protect a mortgage.
There is also “increasing” term insurance where the amount payable goes up each year; this can be an excellent way of protecting your coveragainst inflation.
Joint life cover is useful for couples who use both of their salaries to help pay the mortgage because a payout is made if either partner dies.
Family Income Benefit offers the policyholder’s beneficiaries a regular income from from the date the policyholder dies until the end of the policy term rather than paying out one single lump sum.
The amount of insurance cover you need will relate to your own individual personal circumstances. Most large and medium-sized firms offer a death in service benefit which can pay out 3 or 4 times to your partner if you died whilst still in employment. Hence if you are reasonably confident about staying in employment, you may reach the conclusion that paying for extra life insuranc with another plan was superfluous.
The price of a life insurance policy depends on a selection of factors, namely the length of the policy’s term, the type of policy and certain medical criteria, and certain health criteria – whether you are over-weight or whether you smoke. Underwriter are also increasing premiums for those who are obese.
There are big advantages to switching to pension term assurance. If you already have a term insurance plan which pays out a lump sum, you can reduce the cost of your monthly premiums by shifting to a pension term plan. The reason for this is because under new pension arrangements, most customers qualify for tax relief on the money they pay for their life insurance plan if they opt for a pension term assurance (PTA) policy. PTA is basically the same as term insurance in so far as it is still protection-only. So it pays out if you passed away within the insured period but if you survive, the policy has no value.
However, some people will not benefit from switching to PTA. For instance, if you bought your life cover a long time ago, the larger premiums that you may now have to pay because you will then be oldercould well outweigh the benefit of tax relief. Similarly, if you have had a significant illness since you purchased your cover, you will probably be better off remaining with your current insurance plan.