BEST LIFE INSURANCE PROVIDERS
Best type of life insurance
The best type of life insurance will depend on your individual requirements. For example:
- Do you have a mortgage?
- Do you have children?
- If so, how old are your children?
- Do you want to leave an inheritance?
- Could you cope financially if you were unable to work?
There are a variety of different policy types available, each suited to covering different aspects of your life. These include:
- Term based life insurance
- Life assurance (whole of life insurance, over 50s plan)
- Income protection
Therefore, the best type will be the one that provides the most suitable cover for what it is you’re wanting to protect.
But how do these policy types work and what’s the difference?
Term-based life insurance
Term-based life insurance provides cover for a specified period of time.
If you pass away within this predetermined time frame a lump sum pay out will be made to your loved ones.
Level term life insurance provides a fixed lump sum which holds its value throughout the life of the policy.
This makes it ideal for protecting fixed costs, such as an interest-only mortgage or providing an inheritance.
Decreasing term life insurance, on the other hand, provides a lump sum pay out which reduces throughout the life of the policy.
This makes it more suitable for covering such aspects as a repayment mortgage, which reduces over time.
Finally, family income benefit provides ongoing, tax-free, monthly payments for the remainder of your policy if you pass away.
This makes it well suited for replacing a lost income or covering day-to-day family living costs.
Speaking to a life insurance expert, such as Reassured can help you to determine the right policy to meet your needs.
We can provide you with all the information you need to make a fully informed decision.
Life assurance
You may have wondered what the difference between life insurance and life assurance is?
Life insurance pays out if you pass away during a term, whereas life assurance pays out when you pass away (hence, the assured).
An example of life insurance would be level or decreasing term cover, which only pays out if you pass away during the policy.
An example of life assurance would be an over 50s plan or whole of life cover, where a pay out is guaranteed
Whole of life insurance provides life long cover and, as a result, can be used to cover large expenses or provide an inheritance for your loved ones.
Due to the longer length of cover, it’s best suited to those in later life who are in good health.
This is because it’s possible to pay more into the policy than the overall sum assured.
An over 50s plan offers guaranteed acceptance for all UK residents aged 50 – 85 years.
The sum assured remains fixed but is significantly lower than other policy types, making it more suited to covering funeral costs or an inheritance.
Income protection
Rather than paying out when you pass away, an income protection policy will pay out to you to help replace lost income if you become unable to work.
You’ll be covered for accident and sickness that prevents you from working for a prolonged period of time.
Typically, providers will pay out between 50 – 70% of your usual income.
You’ll be paid in monthly, tax-free instalments that will help you to cover essential financial commitments such as rent, mortgage payments, bills, childcare costs as well as other daily living costs.
Your payments will continue until you return to work, the payment period outlined in your policy comes to an end, you retire, the policy expires.
Which is the best life insurance?
In addition to considering what type of life insurance is best for you, there are also a number of other aspects to deliberate. Such as:
- Provider pay out rates
- Premium prices
Both pay out rates and premium prices vary between providers, which is something to consider when taking out cover.
For this reason, comparing quotes is essential in finding the best life insurance to meet your needs.
Life insurance pay out rates
The industry average for claims paid is 98% with £17 million being paid out every single day in 2020[1], but this will still vary between insurers.
Therefore, it may be beneficial to take the claims pay out rate of providers into account when selecting your policy.
(Although, most major insurers had pay out rates of over 95% in 2020).
Life insurance premiums
Each life insurance provider will calculate the cost of your monthly life insurance premiums differently, due to the different underwriting processes used.
Typically, insurers will take into account:
- Your age
- Smoking status
- Medical history
- Lifestyle
- Policy type
- Length of cover
- Sum assured
Not only can this influence the cost of your cover but also your likelihood of being accepted.
At Reassured we compare quotes from a range of providers, to help you receive the best possible deal.
We also house a specialist impaired life insurance team who’ve helped secure cover for 45% of people who have been declined elsewhere.
Simply get in touch with our award-winning team to find the best life insurance cover for you.
Which is the best over 50 life insurance?
Over 50s life insurance policies offer guaranteed acceptance for UK residents within a specific age bracket, however, not all over 50s policies are the same.
If you’ve decided this product is best suited to meet your needs, there are a number of elements to consider.
Some providers only offer guaranteed acceptance between 50 – 80 (Reassured offer guaranteed acceptance for all UK residents up to the age of 85).
The sum assured is often capped as a lesser amount. This can differ significantly between providers with some offering as low as £10,000 and others offering up to £20,000.
Some over 50s providers offer a funeral benefit, meaning that upon your death, the proceeds of your policy are paid directly to a funeral director and an additional monetary benefit is added to the life insurance pay out amount. The benefit amount will vary between policy providers and can be anywhere between £250 to 10% of the policy cover amount.
Some insurers add an upper age limit to policies, meaning when you reach this age your premiums cease but your cover still remains in place (this age varies between insurers but is often between 80 – 90).
Alternatively, some over 50s policies require you to continue making payments for the rest of your life, leaving you at higher risk of paying more into the policy than the overall sum assured.
These are all factors that should be considered when taking out over 50s life insurance.
Reassured can secure over 50s plans for those ages 50 – 85, with a sum assured up to £20,000.
Why not use our award-winning broker service to compare multiple over 50s plans to find the best solution?
Arranging your cover through Reassured will also provide an opportunity to harness the funeral benefit.
How do I choose the best life insurance plan?
To determine the best life insurance plan, you should first consider what it is you’re looking to protect.
Not only will this allow you to determine the type of policy best suited to meet your needs but also the amount of cover required.
Your health and lifestyle should also be taken into account as some providers will cater for impaired clients, whilst others will heavily load premiums or decline cover.
Ultimately, the most effective way to determine the best life insurance plan for you will be uncovered by comparing multiple insurers.
This can be done in one of three ways:
- Research different providers yourself online, cross-referencing their offerings, although this can be very time-consuming
- Use a comparison website, although this would require having a reasonable amount of knowledge; understanding the cover you want and deciphering any jargon
- Use a life insurance broker who’ll obtain all of the details of the cover you require and present all of the information you need, in a clear, concise format, allowing you to make an informed decision
At Reassured, we do exactly that. Simply get in touch today to make use of our fee-free, award-winning service.