Life Insurance Search

The first step in looking for cheap life insurance cover – as with most things – is to decide just what it is you want to buy. When it comes to life insurance, the principle is quite straightforward, since you will be looking for a policy that pays out in the event of your death before the end of the insurance term. Since it would be your death that is the determining factor, there will be little to choose, of course, between different policies, other than the way in which the death benefit is paid; namely, a choice between: 

• Level term life cover;
• Decreasing term life cover:
• Increasing term life cover; or
• Whole-of-life cover (if you would need the benefits paid whenever you die and are looking for a form of savings plan as well as life cover).

The biggest single determinant of the premiums you will need to pay each month is the amount of the lump sum paid in the event of your death. Clearly, this is usually a careful balancing act between what you would like to leave your surviving dependents and what you can actually afford. You can make your life cover cheaper, of course, by reducing the level of protection and this means having a clear idea of just what the policy is intended to cover. If it is to repay a mortgage balance that is declining over the years or if it is to provide security for young children who are of course approaching independence as time goes by, then you might consider a decreasing term life insurance cover. Because the assured benefits paid also reduce over time, the premiums will be cheaper. 

The range of factors that will be taken into account when seeking a life insurance quote include your health, age, occupation and lifestyle. Under each of these headings you could score as a higher or a lower risk. Unfortunately, however, you are unlikely to have much control over most of them – and will not be able to do much in this regard to secure cheaper life insurance. The exception, of course, is the decision to smoke. If you are prepared to stop, then your life insurance quote will certainly come in much cheaper. 

Some couples are sold joint life insurance on the suggestion that it is cheaper than each individual taking out his and her own life insurance. With joint life cover, there is only one payout and that is when the first of the partners dies. There is no payout on the second death. Joint life insurance, therefore, tends to be appropriate only if both partners need the same level of cover. Furthermore, joint life insurance can often as not turn out to be just as expensive as two individual life insurance policies (which of course assure two separate payouts). 

An independent financial adviser or insurance broker could also help you identify the life insurance cover most appropriate to your needs. With his help in advising on the most suitable products and his expertise in comparing life insurance quotes, it could well help you to find cheaper life cover.  

In summary, if you are looking for cheap life cover: 

• Decide on the right type of life insurance to suit your specific needs;

• Decide the level of cover that will be needed by balancing your surviving dependents’ needs against what you can afford to pay in premiums;

• If you smoke – stop. This can help to reduce your premiums, as can losing weight if you need to.

The author of this life insurance article is Alan Knight.

This article does not represent ‘financial advice’ as each person’s individual requirements will be unique to their needs. If there is something in the article which you decide to rely on, then make sure you check those details with the person from whom you purchase any product or service.

The views in this article represent those of the author and not those of Netbasic Limited. 

Term life insurance is probably the most common and most popular form of life cover. As the name suggests, it offers life cover during a fixed period of time – the term – and if the policyholder should die during that fixed term, an assured lump sum payment is made. If the policyholder survives the term of the life insurance cover, then no payment is made. 

Life insurance provides an indispensable way of ensuring that financial security and protection is provided for your family and loved ones in the event of your untimely death.  

Although term life insurance is the most widespread kind of life cover, it comes in many shapes and sizes: 

• Level term life insurance, for instance, will pay out the same assured lump sum if the policy holder dies at any stage during the agreed term;

• Decreasing term life insurance, on the other hand, pays out a lump sum that decreases in size as the term progresses. This kind of life cover is often favoured when used to cover a repayment mortgage, when the outstanding mortgage debt decreases over time. The decreasing term life insurance, therefore, can be written to mirror the decreasing liability of the mortgage;

• Increasing term life insurance, as the title suggests, provides for a lump sum benefit that increases in value as the term of the life cover progresses. One variant of this kind of life cover will provide a benefit that increases at an agreed fixed rate year on year, while another links increases to movements in the retail price index and is therefore a way of ensuring that the assured sum keeps pace with inflation.

There is no shortage of life term insurance providers. Life insurance quotes can be garnered at the click of a button on any number of reputable websites on which it is possible to compare life insurance products.  

Comparing life insurance quotes is very straightforward since it is largely a question of determining the amount of cover required (i.e. the size of the lump sum payout in the event of your death) and comparing the monthly premium required to achieve that level of cover. 

When shopping around for life insurance cover in this manner, it is important to bear in mind that most websites will provide comparisons of life insurance products from a handful of insurers.

In order to make any search and comparison as wide as possible, therefore, it is necessary to perform searches on several sites using different insurers as their points of reference. In summary, term life insurance is probably the most straightforward and common form of life insurance that is offered as one of at least three possible types: 

• Level term life insurance;
• Decreasing term life insurance;
• Increasing term life insurance;
• The internet gives access to a large number of price comparison websites through which it is possible to compare life insurance quotes.

Michael Quinn is the author of this life insurance article.   

This article does not represent ‘financial advice’ as each person’s individual requirements will be unique to their needs. If there is something in the article which you decide to rely on, then make sure you check those details with the person from whom you purchase any product or service.

The views in this article represent those of the author and not those of Netbasic Limited.

With the aid of the internet, it is possible these days to get any number of life insurance quotes by completing a handful of details and with just one click of the mouse. The real trick comes, therefore, not just in getting your life insurance quotes but in arriving at a useful and meaningful comparison. 

In essence, therefore, a meaningful comparison of life insurance quotes is a question of deciding on what purpose your life cover is intended to serve and, having made your choice about the type of product you need, then comparing like with like. Here are a few of the pointers to help you decide:  

Income replacement – if you are the family’s principal breadwinner, your reason for buying life insurance is likely to be the wish to ensure that your dependents continue to enjoy a reasonable standard of living in the event of your death. In this instance, you will be looking to provide either a lump sum benefit (subsequently invested to provide a regular income) or a family income benefit to replace at least a proportion of what you were earning. The level of cover (i.e. the amount of benefit) you choose will, of course, determine the premium you pay;  

Mortgage repayment – most people would want to ensure that, at the barest minimum, Life insurance cover will pay off the mortgage. Indeed, many mortgage lenders will make it a condition of granting the loan that mortgage life insurance is taken out;  

Education – if you have children, you will probably want to ensure that their educational opportunities do not suffer in the event of your death. If they are being privately educated, you would want a life insurance plan that covered those school fees; if they are at, or plan to go on to, university, you will probably want to ensure that there is sufficient financial provision for those plans to proceed;   

Childcare – younger families will know only too well the time, effort and expense that goes into caring for children. The death of the parent responsible for providing that care may well lead to considerable additional expense on childcare;  

Written in trust – it is important to ensure that the policy you choose and the life insurance quotes you compare are ones that allow the policy to be “written in trust”. This is a legal formulation for ensuring that any benefits under your life insurance cover are paid directly to the named beneficiaries as swiftly and as smoothly as possible. In this way, the beneficiaries are also relieved of the obligation to pay inheritance tax (a potential saving of up to 40%);  

Joint life insurance – if you are married, you might wish to consider joint life insurance that pays out in the event of either yourself or your spouse (which ever is first). Although this will save money initially, it is important to remember that, in the event of the first death, the surviving spouse would then need to take out their own, new life insurance cover;  

Critical or terminal illness insurance? – most life insurance policies include terminal illness cover as a matter of course (where benefits are payable in the event of the policy holder’s terminal illness and anticipated death within 12 months). However, many policies also offer a combined life insurance and critical illness insurance at a much cheaper rate than buying two separate policies. Critical illness insurance benefits become payable as a lump sum in the event of the policyholder being diagnosed with a number of critical illnesses, without the anticipation of any specified early death. 

To summarise, as any quick search of the internet will tell you, there is an amazing range of life insurance products on the market. In order to make meaningful comparisons, it will be necessary to decide on: 

• Some of the basic purposes for which your life insurance cover is intended; and
• Any additional features which you want your life insurance cover to include. 

The article above has been written by Mick Quinn.

This article does not represent ‘financial advice’ as each person’s individual requirements will be unique to their needs. If there is something in the article which you decide to rely on, then make sure you check those details with the person from whom you purchase any product or service.

The views in this article represent those of the author and not those of Netbasic Limited. 

In this age of the internet, comparing life insurance quotes has never been easier. Indeed, the consumer is almost spoiled for choice and the difficulty comes in knowing where to start. Thankfully, though, there are a few ground rules which apply to comparing life insurance quotes in pretty much the same way as comparing just about any other product; namely price and value for money.   

• If you are looking for term life insurance, this will almost certainly give you the cheapest life insurance quote. Your choice is then between a level term (which pays the same assured sum throughout the whole of the term) or a decreasing term insurance (which pays a reducing amount as the cover reaches full term). The latter is the cheaper option;
• Life insurance cover is price competitive – it pays to shop around;
• Choose wisely and combine policies where appropriate. Consider buying combined life insurance cover and critical illness insurance, for example, which will pay out in either event (but not both);
• Reduce the price of the life insurance premiums you need pay by stopping smoking. This can achieve reductions in the cost of your life cover.   

Make sure to compare life insurance quotes on a like-for-like basis. There are many different products and the differences can be subtle. For example: 

• Some Life insurance cover will come with premiums that are guaranteed not to change throughout the life of the policy; others may be subject to increases;
• Are additional benefits included? Many term life insurance policies nowadays include terminal illness benefits so that the assured sum is paid in advance if the policy holder is diagnosed with a terminal illness; 
• Some life insurance quotes will be for policies that pay benefits in trust to your named beneficiaries. This ensures that the money goes straight to those you intend to benefit, without the risk of the payout incurring inheritance tax;
• Another additional benefit, sometimes included free of charge with some life cover, is the ability to waive premiums if you are incapacitated by illness from working for several months – life insurance cover even though you are unable to pay the monthly premiums;
• Some policies even offer the benefit of bereavement counselling for your loved ones in the event of your death.

In summary, there is no need to be put off by the huge range of products to choose from when you compare life insurance quotes. Be guided by essentially the same considerations you would use when buying anything, namely: 

The price – price competition between different insurers makes it important to shop around and compare life insurance quotes. Consider quitting smoking in order to achieve major reductions in the price or combine similar forms of cover to gain discounts; 

Value for money – compare like with like, remembering to take into account the various additional benefits which many life insurance companies now include as standard in most of their policies.

Chris Burns has written this life insurance article.   

This article does not represent ‘financial advice’ as each person’s individual requirements will be unique to their needs. If there is something in the article which you decide to rely on, then make sure you check those details with the person from whom you purchase any product or service.

The views in this article represent those of the author and not those of Netbasic Limited.

The media these days is full of stories about the “credit crunch” and the belt-tightening response of thousands of consumers who are forgoing holidays, shopping at discount stores, and generally cutting back on their spending as the economic downturn begins to bite. But dropping the life insurance premiums should be one of the very last things any of us should think of doing.  

life insurance is one of those apparently intangible financial products that no one forces you to buy and the benefits of which you will not be around to enjoy. Yet is it can be invaluable - paying out a lump sum benefit in the event of your death, for the protection and security of your surviving loved ones.  

The financial protection and security of your loved ones is not something you would lightly skimp on. That is what makes any decision to drop your life insurance premiums such a false economy. You could say that life insurance is less an option, more a necessity. Given the uncertain economic times ahead, your family and loved ones need financial protection and security more than ever before.  

Your mortgage lender would not be prepared to see you drop your mortgage life insurance – and a good thing too. Of course, you would not want to leave your spouse with the mortgage to repay in the event of your death. But simple mortgage cover would not be enough to ensure financial security.   

Whatever the twists and turns of the housing market, the good thing about choosing life insurance is the very healthy competition in the market for life insurance products. This gives the consumer not only plenty of choice in the variety of products available, but keen prices too. It pays to shop around, therefore, for your life insurance quotes, to ensure that the monthly premiums you pay deliver the best level of protection you can afford. Simply compare life insurance quotes in order to find the life cover that best suits your needs.

You are not limited to the conventional level term life insurance (where the same assured lump sum is payable throughout the term of the life cover), but might prefer a decreasing term policy (if the size of a specific debt to be covered is decreasing over the term of the insurance), or an index-linked policy if you want to ensure that the benefits keep pace with inflation, or even a whole life policy if you want the added benefit of a savings plan to be included in your life cover.  

And this points to another great thing about life insurance cover – the flexibility it offers in the level of protection. Naturally, the amount you pay in premiums is directly related to the level of benefits payable. This allows you an array of calculations for what you think your survivors might require in the event of your death and a level of cover based on what you can afford.  

In conclusion, even when your disposable income is under pressure, it could prove a damaging false economy to do without life insurance cover, because: 

• Life cover that is limited to your outstanding mortgage is unlikely to offer your spouse and family all the financial protection and security they need;
• The life insurance market remains keenly competitive, with prices offering good value for money, so it is imperative that you shop around for your life insurance quote;
• There are many life insurance products to choose from;
• You can adjust the level of Life insurance cover to balance what your surviving dependents might need and whatever you can afford at the moment.

The author of this article is Alan Knight.

This article does not represent ‘financial advice’ as each person’s individual requirements will be unique to their needs. If there is something in the article which you decide to rely on, then make sure you check those details with the person from whom you purchase any product or service.

The views in this article represent those of the author and not those of Netbasic Limited.

This selection of information is taken from the Association of British Insurers and taken from their information report based on 2004 figures.    

In 2004 there were 297 insurance companies listed as being able to carry on life insurance and life insurance premiums over that year totaled 31 billion pounds.   

Benefits paid under life insurance policies totaled 37 billion pounds. Please not that benefits are paid from existing funds rather than this years collected premiums.   

About 47 percent of households in the UK brought life insurance or one form or another. What perhaps is surprising is the number that claimed not to purchase life insurance. Of those who purchased the average expenditure was £807 per year.    

The UK life insurance market is the third largest in the world and the largest in Europe.    

So how do you compare to the above. Are you one of the 47 percent who have life insurance or one of the 53 percent who may not have life cover. If you do not have personal life cover then you may have a good reason for not doing so. You may have no dependents or you may have built up a level of wealth which makes life insurance unnecessary or your employer may provide you with cover as part of the job benefits.     

If you are not then perhaps you should reconsider whether you might like to join the 47 percent.   

If you are already part of the 47 percent then you might like to compare you annual life insurance spend. Do you think you have adequate cover. It is worth looking at how much you have and  how much you need or can afford every two years or after any major life change.     

A piece of good news is that people in the UK are generally living longer.  Taken from national statistics in 1901 women had a life expectancy of 49 and men a life expectancy of 45. That hardly seems any life span at all. By 2002 that had increased to women having a life expectancy of 81 years and men 76 years. However these are averages.    

For those who have managed to reach the age of 50 then their life expectancy increases to women being 84 years and Men 81 years. Up until the age of 50, accidents and other events take their toll. After the age of 50 it is disease that is the main cause.   Cancer is the main cause between the ages of 50 and 64. Then from 65 onwards circulatory system problems become the main killer. That would be heart associated problems. Respiratory problems come in as number three and gain prominence as age develops. Digestive system is number four and injury and poisoning comes in at a low fifth.    

These statistics help explain why a 15 year term life insurance for a 25 year old can be obtained at very competitive premiums.
The author of this life insurance article is Alan Knight.

This article does not represent ‘financial advice’ as each person’s individual requirements will be unique to their needs. If there is something in the article which you decide to rely on, then make sure you check those details with the person from whom you purchase any product or service.

The views in this article represent those of the author and not those of Netbasic Limited.

Most of us will be in debt at some point in our lives. Several of us may live in debt for most of our working lives. A mortgage is a debt which often lasts many years. If we move up the property ladder then we may take out larger and larger mortgages until we have reached the property level we desire.   

Every debt has two factors. The annual cost of servicing the debt. In most cases that will be made up of  monthly repayments. Then there is the outstanding capital balance that is owed. As long as we service the debt on time then the lender will not ask for immediate settlement of the outstanding balance provided the loan agreement has not come to an end. However if we die then the debtor will look for our estate to settle the outstanding debt amount or perhaps seek recovery through the courts if the loan was secured on some thing of value.  

It is at that point that having life insurance can be of prime importance to those left behind.  

Some debts are large and under long term agreements such as a mortgage or a five year personal loan. For those debts it is sensible to purchase separate life cover. You can use  exiting life over but the size of these debts are usually large and paying of the debt might use up a lot of the life cover you brought to protect others areas of your life.    

If you are repaying an amount of the debt each month then you may want to purchase decreasing term insurance. Under that type of the policy the level of cover reduces each month. That reduction should be in line with or close to the level in reduction to your outstanding balance of debt.  

If the amount of debt is not being repaid in part each month then you should consider level term life cover where the amount of cover remains the same during the period of the insurance term contract.  

As well as single loans under separate agreements we may regularly build up debts which are less formulized. These may be under credit cards, bank overdrafts, with friends or relations or perhaps owed to the government as either tax due or over paid benefits. There can also be amounts you owe for work done or items purchased where the payment date has not yet been reached or the invoice has not yet arrived.  

To cover types of debt you might want to consider always having a set amount of level term Life insurance cover in place.  If it is over what you need to cover the debt then you beneficiaries  get the surplus figure. If it falls short of your debts then at least it has reduced the amount that might otherwise be taken from you restate.

Michael Quinn is the author of this life insurance article.

This article does not represent ‘financial advice’ as each person’s individual requirements will be unique to their needs. If there is something in the article which you decide to rely on, then make sure you check those details with the person from whom you purchase any product or service.

The views in this article represent those of the author and not those of Netbasic Limited.