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Are your Children Protected?

Are your Children Protected?

After a particularly difficult and bumpy few years and with uncertainty still on the horizon, now seems an appropriate time to review your financial situation.  This is particularly important for people with children to ensure that loved ones will be protected, no matter what life throws at them.  Having the right insurance in place is often key to making this happen.

Family life insurance protection cover Coombes & wright Hertfordshire Kent

The basics of life insurance

Life insurance comes in two main forms, whole life, and term.  Whole-life policies remain in effect indefinitely.  This means that, as long as the policyholder keeps making the payments, their heirs are guaranteed to receive a payout eventually.  Term policies are only valid for a specific period.

If the main purpose of your life insurance is to protect children in the event of your death, then term assurance may be the more practical option.  It will ensure that your children will be provided for until they are adults and hence can provide for themselves.

In addition to ensuring that you have a suitable level of insurance coverage, you may want to think about how the proceeds will be paid.  Putting the money into a trust would give you some level of control over how it is spent.  It would also separate the insurance payout from your main estate.  This reduces the taxable value of your estate and hence could reduce your inheritance tax bill.

Life insurance is for more than just the “breadwinner”

Both parents need life insurance, even if only one earns an income.  The homemaking parent provides childcare, which has an economic value.  It may even be appropriate to extend life insurance cover to the children themselves.  The death of a child can lead to expenses for the whole family (e.g. funeral expenses), and the cost of cover is likely to be minimal.

Last but not least, if you depend on relatives for childcare, e.g. grandparents, then it may be advisable to look at life insurance for them too.  This may be more expensive (due to their age), but you may only require a short-term policy e.g. until they go to school.

Renewing life insurance is a good opportunity to review legal documents

Ensuring your children are protected means more than just ensuring their financial well-being (although this is certainly a good place to start).  You’ll also need to think about who would care for them practically if you were no longer here.

It is highly advisable to document your wishes in your will so that they are both clear and legally enforceable.  If you do not, then your children may end up in the care system until there is a legally-binding agreement on their care.  This agreement may not be what you or your family would have wanted.

On a similar note, renewing life insurance is also a good time to look at powers of attorney (both financial and medical).  This can, indirectly, help to protect your children since it can make life a lot easier for anyone trying to juggle looking after you with looking after them.

Other forms of insurance

Your death isn’t the only issue that could impact your children.  In fact, anything which impacts you, your partner and your home can have a negative impact.  This means that, if at all possible, you should think through potential issues and take out insurance to protect against them. Types of cover you may wish to consider might include:

  • Family Income Benefit
  • Critical Illness Cover
  • Income Protection
  • Mortgage Protection
  • Private Medical Insurance
  • Rent Protection
  • Limited Company Relevant Life Insurance

Contact Coombes & Wright, we can help you source protection cover that meets your needs.

Book your free no-obligation initial consultation

The FCA does not regulate wills and power of attorney – For wills, power of attorney, and payment protection insurance, we act as introducers only.

 

 

How to insure against the winter blues

How to insure against the winter blues

Summer, such as it was, is now very definitely over and autumn is starting to make itself felt.  Depending on your point of view, we’re now either coming into the season of hot chocolate and hygge or coming into the season of cold, wet weather and general misery.  Even if you love the cooler months, the fact still remains that they do bring their own challenges, but the good news is that you can protect yourself against them by “self-insuring” (following good practices) and taking out formal insurance cover.

Insuring your health

Even though minor illnesses and injuries and frankly part and parcel of autumn and winter seasons, you don’t just have to cave into them.  Just being sensible about what you eat and drink can go a long way to boosting your immunity and if you make time for exercise as well, especially outdoor exercise, then you will put your body in a much better place to ward off the cold-weather nasties.

At the same time, however, you have to be realistic about what life can bring and about what you can do to be prepared for it.  With that in mind, it could be a good idea to take out dental insurance, if not full medical insurance.  Autumn rains and leaves and winter ice are all serious tripping hazards, which can easily leave you with damaged teeth – and dental bills can be very expensive.  Thanks to the NHS other forms of treatment are often much more reasonably priced, in fact, they may be free, but there may be a lengthy wait for them and the treatments on offer may not be as extensive as you might have liked (e.g. they might not include physiotherapy after an accident or may only offer limited sessions).  This is why full health insurance can be a great investment.

Insuring your income

For most people, their income is dependent on their ability to get to work.  If your ability to get to work depends on you having your own transport of some sort, then it’s a good idea to give your vehicle a thorough check and take any necessary action before the cold really sets in.  You may also need to think about whether you should take any other precautions related to travel in cold weather, such as upgrading your insurance to include accidents and perhaps even a call-out service.

You may also want to think about what would happen if a long-term illness or injury left you unable to work for any length of time (or to function as a parent, a carer or in any other capacity).  Depending on your stage in life, you may be able to get by with a basic emergency fund, but if you have people depending on you in any way, such as for childcare, then you may want to look seriously at Critical Illness Cover for protection during long-term illness.

Insuring your property (and its contents)

Most people will probably already have insurance for their home and contents, however, you can reduce the chance of needing to make a claim on your buildings insurance by making sure that you have done everything possible to ensure that it can withstand everything the weather is going to throw at it.  Now is also a good time of year to review your contents cover to ensure that it is still an accurate reflection of what is inside your home and to think about any potential large purchases you may want to make, either at Christmas or in the January sales.

For motor insurance, mortgage payment protection insurance, building and content insurance and general insurance products we act as introducers only.