Protection

Life insurance policies provide you and your family with a lump sum payment or a series of monthly payments if you were to die.

Typical types of cover include:
Level term insurance – designed to pay out a sum of money if the policyholder dies during the policy’s term. The sum assured is guaranteed and remains unchanged throughout the term.

Decreasing term insurance – where the sum decreases during the policy. It is regularly used to protect capital and interest repayments on a mortgage.

Family income benefit – a term life insurance product that, as the name suggests, is designed to provide a monthly income to dependants in the event of a claim, rather than a cash lump sum.

Life insurance policies provide you and your family with a lump sum payment or a series of monthly payments if you were to die.

Typical types of cover include:
Level term insurance – designed to pay out a sum of money if the policyholder dies during the policy’s term. The sum assured is guaranteed and remains unchanged throughout the term.

Decreasing term insurance – where the sum decreases during the policy. It is regularly used to protect capital and interest repayments on a mortgage.

Family income benefit – a term life insurance product that, as the name suggests, is designed to provide a monthly income to dependants in the event of a claim, rather than a cash lump sum.

An income protection policy pays a proportion of your salary if you’re unable to work because of sickness or injury.

Policies usually have a deferred period typically based on when your employer ceases to pay your salary or sooner if you are self-employed. The policy aims to provide a continuous monthly income.

The length of time you receive payments depends on the policy you choose, which can be anything from just two years per claim or long term- typically your state retirement age or longer.

The amount of income protection insurance you need will be determined by the salary that you want to insure. Generally, income protection provides cover for about 60% of your gross annual salary, however, you will not be taxed on any benefits that are paid out by the insurers.

You need to consider what the costs of meeting a mortgage and other debts will be, as well as providing for a partner, children or other dependants. The point of income protection insurance is to provide an income stream if you can no longer work through accident, sickness or illness.

Buildings insurance usually covers the bricks and mortar of your property and possible events such as fire, flood, storm damage and subsidence.

Contents insurance covers all the possessions within your home.

If you have a mortgage then it is likely to be a condition of the lender that buildings insurance is in place, however, most people will also insure their contents as the cost of replacing these can run into many thousands of pounds.