Understanding UK Life Insurance Cover

Having adequate UK life insurance cover is a simple yet effective way to provide protection for you and your loved ones. In fact, a lot of people include UK life insurance cover as part of their overall financial planning.

Start by figuring out your needs

UK life insurance cover can be a simple term policy or it can include extras. And that's a good thing because everyone has different needs. Determining your needs is an important first step in determining which type of UK life insurance cover will best match your overall needs.

For example, you may want life insurance that simply pays a death benefit to your beneficiaries upon your death.

But you might instead want UK life insurance cover that pays off your mortgage. If so, you have a choice and it depends on the type of mortgage you have. If it is an Interest Only mortgage, you'll want to make sure the life insurance cover you select equals the value of your mortgage.

In addition, the term of the life insurance cover needs to be the same as the term of your mortgage.

If you have a Repayment mortgage, you need to consider another type of insurance called Mortgage Life Insurance. This type of UK life insurance cover fluctuates as you make your mortgage payments. The goal is to reduce the amount of cover as you reduce the amount of your mortgage.

Upon your death, your Mortgage Life Insurance benefit will be equal to the amount still owed on your mortgage. The payout is then used to pay off the balance of the mortgage. This is a good way to ensure your family isn't left to worry about how they'll pay the mortgage in your absence. It's also an option that's affordable.

Terminal Illness vs. Critical Illness cover

This type of mortgage may or may not include something called Terminal Illness coverage. Basically what this means is that you'll receive immediate payout of your cover in the event your doctor diagnoses an illness that likely will cause you to die within a year. While the situation is unfortunate, protecting your family in this manner is prudent.

Don't make the mistake of confusing Critical Illness cover with Terminal Illness cover. There is more difference than just the names. Critical illnesses are defined by the insurance company so check to see which ones are covered.

When you consider the fact that being diagnosed with a critical illness such as a heart attack or vision loss doesn't necessarily mean you will die but may mean you're no longer be able to hold down your job, this type of additional UK life insurance cover make sense.

You won't be able to collect under your Terminal Illness cover or your UK life insurance cover until you die, but Critical illness cover will provide a payout shortly after a diagnosis of a covered illness is made. The purpose is to supplement the probable loss of income that results from such an illness.