• You are THREE times more likely to suffer a critical illness than to die before you retire
  
  
• In 1997, 1 in 5 of all people who consulted their GP were diagnosed as having a long term illness
  
  
• 700 people every day in the UK will suffer a heart attack - More than 50% of them will survive
  
  
• There are over 300,000 new cases of male coronary heart disease in a typical year
  
  
• More than 1 in 3 people will contract cancer at some time in their lives - At least half of them will survive more than 5 years
  
  
• Each year in the UK, 100,000 people have a stroke for the first time - Nearly 70% survive for at least 12 months
  
  
• A Stroke is the largest single cause of severe disability with over 300,000 people being affected at any one time

Insurance Types

Level Term Assurance.

Level Term Assurance is the most basic type of life assurance. For fixed monthly payments, the amount of life cover - also known as the sum assured - is guaranteed for a fixed term. The lump sum is paid out if death occurs before the policy ends.

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Decreasing Term Life Insurance & Mortgage Protection Insurance.

With Mortgage Protection Insurance, also known as Decreasing Term Assurance, you pay a fixed monthly premium but, instead of the life cover remaining level, it gradually reduces over the term of the policy. It is most commonly used together with a repayment mortgage and the sum assured reduces broadly in line with the amount outstanding on the mortgage over the term. The reducing life cover means that the cost of this type of policy is lower than that of Level Term Assurance.

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Critical Illness Insurance.

Critical Illness Cover is designed to help protect you financially by paying a lump sum if you suffer from one of a number of specified illnesses - usually including heart attacks, cancer, strokes, major organ transplants, permanent and total disability and other serious diseases. The money can be used for any purpose, for example paying off debts, such as the mortgage; being able to change to a less stressful job without worrying about the drop in income; adapting the house or car to accommodate a wheelchair, or having a good holiday to recuperate. This cover can be provided on a level Term basis or Decreasing (See above for more details)

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Family Income Benefit Insurance.

Rather than paying out a lump sum should you die during the selected term, a Family Income Benefit policy pays out a regular tax free income for your dependants for the remainder of the plan term. The amount of income benefit usually remains level over the plan term selected, although you can request that benefits increase in line with inflation as an optional extra. As an example, if you select a £15,000 per annum family income benefit plan over 25 years, and die at the end of year 10, then your dependants will receive £15,000 every year for the remainder of the term I.e. 15 years (£225,000 in total).

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Income Protection

Imagine if the foundations to your house were to disappear, what would happen to your house? Answer - It would collapse!

Imagine what would happen to your lifestyle if your income were to disappear, How would you and your family cope?

In the same way your foundations are supporting your home, your income is paying for your whole lifestyle, including your mortgage, holidays, pension plan, life and critical illness insurance. How would you cope financially if you were unable to work long term due to an accident or long term illness?

Benefit Types

Death Benefit Only

A payment of a lump sum upon the death of the life assured.

Critical Illness Only

This will pay out a tax free lump sum in the event of a qualifying illness being diagnosed e.g. Cancer, Stroke or Heart Attack.

(How many people do you know who have suffered any of these Illnesses?)

Death or Earlier Critical Illness

Pays out a lump sum, so that the life assured is protected for both death or critical illness. The policy pays out on the first event and then ceases

Family Protection

In the event of death or serious illness it is normal to provide adequate family protection, to ensure that your partner and children are provided with a cash sum sufficient to meet any funeral expenses, pay off any outstanding liabilities (mortgage balance, personal loans, credit card balances etc), and have a sufficient cash sum to replace any lost income until the children would no longer be financially dependent on the surviving partner.

For someone in the role as a houseperson, and not receiving a regular income, they should consider if they were to die or suffer a serious illness, what the related costs of providing child minding would be, and ensure that sufficient funding would be set in place accordingly. We would also recommend that where a person is paying maintenance payments to his/her ex partner and his/her children, they should consider ensuring that an appropriate cash sum would be payable to ensure their financial well-being could continue if that person died or suffered a serious illness. If this is not already in place, the partner who is in receipt of the maintenance payments may wish to suggest this to the other party, even if they had to pay the premiums.

Single Person

The life and critical illness insurance priority for a single person is to ensure they have an amount payable on death or serious illness that is sufficient to pay off any outstanding liabilities (mortgage balance, personal loans, credit card balances etc ), and have a sufficient cash sum to meet any funeral expenses.

Keyperson and Shareholder

To make sure a business is not unduly affected in the event that a keyperson within the business dies or becomes seriously ill, sufficient insurance should be taken out to cover loss of revenue, and additional costs that may arise.

To ensure the shares of a deceased shareholder are sold to the intended recipient, it may be that a suitable life assurance policy (usually written in trust) should be set up to ensure that sufficient funds are available to facilitate the purchase of these shares.