Traditionally, women have always done better when it comes to life insurance premiums. On the whole, women live longer than men, so they pay more into their policies before claiming later in life which, in turn, pushes down the monthly costs of their cover.

However, all that is about to change thanks to the European Union Gender Directive.

How might the Gender Directive affect you?

You may have seen some recent press coverage on car insurance premiums and how they’re being balanced so that women and men both pay the same premium. What you probably won’t have heard about is how the same rules will also apply to life insurance.

Insurers had always been able to argue that women and men both present different risks and should be charged differently.

Nevertheless, the European Court of Justice found this to be unlawful and so the ruling will come into effect on 21^st December 2012.

European law doesn’t allow companies to discriminate by gender when offering goods or services; this now includes life insurance and means that, according to estimates by HM Treasury, women’s premiums could go up by as much as 15%.

In fact, based on figures released by Legal & General the average payment for a £90,000 Decreasing Term policy held by a 39-year old female over 21 years could cost an extra £1,000-£1,800 after the Directive is implemented.

Sounds like a bit of a lost cause, doesn’t it? There is still something you can do.

Getting around the price hike

Fixed premium plans that are already in place when the ruling comes in are unlikely to see a price rise, so the best way to ensure that your price doesn’t rise is to take out life cover before the ruling comes into effect.

Unfortunately, there is no cast-iron guarantee that this is the case – but seeing as starting life cover gets more expensive the older you are anyway, you stand to save money either way by acting now.

Time really is of the essence here – sometimes an insurer will need to obtain further information from your doctor which can take up to three months in some cases.

Most insurers will offer free accidental cover for you during this time, but also consider that if you have a birthday this year between now and December, that will also increase the price.

Protection products are there to ensure your peace of mind; if you have the option to benefit from that now, at a lower rate then why not do it? Ask yourself; how would your family cope financially if the worst happened? Would they be able to continue the lifestyle they’re accustomed to without your income?

Whether you are your family’s main breadwinner or not, death can leave a family to deal with financial burdens along with their emotional distress; while it can’t bring your loved ones back, life insurance can certainly help to lighten the load.

Protected is here to help

At Protected we are committed to providing quality cover at a guaranteed low price that you will not find anywhere else. Our Lowest Price Guarantee means that we can provide you with cover from the UK’s top insurers at a price that we will not be beaten on.

Add to that our offer of up to £600 cashback, and there really is no reason to wait any longer.

Get our cheapest quotes online and see how much we could save you.

Figures released today by Aviva, one of the UK’s largest protection insurers, reveal that they paid out 99.7% of life insurance claims in 2011. Claims were paid to the families of 10,495 people totalling £320million.

Aviva also released their Critical illness statistics, revealing a pay-out rate of 94.1%. The total amount of £114million was paid to 1,568 people, with the average pay out being £73,591.

Most people buy life insurance and don’t know or sometimes don’t care who they buy from as long it appears to be the right product at the right price. Finding out a bit more about the company that you buy your insurance from could actually save you some money!

Life insurance is sold on an advised or non-advised basis, if you were to go to your Independent financial Advisor and sometimes your bank, then you would more than likely get advised on the right product to take based on your needs. You may also be told that taking other products such as Critical illness, Mortgage Protection or Income Protection are also the right thing for you to purchase.

If you bought your life insurance on a non-advised basis, this would mean that the company that you purchased your life policy from would not advise you but would simply give you all of the facts about the policies available to you and let you make the choice yourself.

Due to the downturn in the economy you are very unlikely to find a policy these days which is part life insurance – part investment (Endowment policy), which turns the life cover aspect into a very very simple type of insurance! Yes, there are a couple of exclusions, which you need to be aware of: suicide, alcohol or drug abuse and being diagnosed with a terminal illness in the last 12 or 18 months of the policy are excluded with some insurers.

The other aspects to consider are the term of policy, how much cover you take and the insurer that you choose. So let’s have a look at how you would decide on each one:

Term of your policy

You can choose between taking a Whole of life policy, which will literally cover you until the day you die however old you are or you choose a period of time between your current age and 90 years old – this is much cheaper, but greatly depends on what you would like to cover.

How much cover?

Think about what you pay out every month and how much money your family would need to pay off any debts or a mortgage. You may want to include funeral costs as well.

Which Insurer?

If you are looking at the big names in life insurance then they more or less cover the same things – life and terminal illness. When you look at Critical Illness or income protection cover it tends to become a little more complicated but you can look at each of the insurers and will soon see the differences between them.

What does it cost to get advice?

If you wish to get Advice from your financial advisor or Bank, you would be looking at paying an upfront fee, much like you do when you take out a mortgage. This normally depends on your monthly premium. You will also be tied into a contract and if you wished to cancel the policy within a certain period of time, you would have to pay a cancellation fee, which can be up to £1000!

What do you lose by not getting advice?

Over the years of providing life insurance we have heard of many customers taking out life insurance on advised basis, sometimes even because of loyalty to friend who is a financial advisor that is charging £20 more per month!

The only difference you will see from not getting advice is that you won’t be told that “This is the policy for you”. We will give you all the information that you need to know, tell you everything about the policies and give you lots of different options, and at your own time – Let You Choose!

If you were investing money then it makes complete sense to pay for the advice, let the experts tell you where you should put your money to make the most out of it, but for such a simple product, do you need someone to charge you more money to tell you what to do?

Would you get advice on your Car Insurance?

The majority of people in the UK will buy their Car Insurance online these days, as you can search all the insurers and compare the different cover that they offer, then pop your direct debit details or credit card details in online and you’re covered!

Why should life insurance be any different?

Compare Life Insurance online and see how much you could save!