Life insurance - the best deal for you and your family

{ Posted on Nov 10 2008 by Chris Clare }
by Chris Clare

There comes a time when each one of us will need life insurance. Whether it is to cover a loan or a mortgage or just to make sure that your loved ones future is cared for life insurance plays a part. The aim of this article is to help in your understanding of which type of policy to best suit your needs and circumstances when the time comes.

The first thing you need to do is establish just what you need life insurance for. This is important as it will probably dictate the sort of policy you ultimately go for. As a guideline, mortgage protection will probably come in the form of term insurance, family protection will usually be a term or whole of life insurance plan and inheritance tax cover a little known policy called gift inter vivos will most likely be the option best suited to you.

Once you have decided on the type of plan you want to go for, you will then need to go to the market place to get the best premium for that type of cover. There are many places you can buy life insurance, such as direct from a life insurance company, from a bank, from a financial advisor or even online from one of the many life insurance quote sites on the internet.

However, you need to be careful. Do as much research as possible before making any final decision as some of these routes do offer impartial advice on life insurance, but many do not. The key is to look after number one and be well informed.

The most obvious first stop is the life insurance company itself. This is often a popular choice as you can deal face to face with a company and it usually a company with which you are already familiar. However you should be aware that whatever quote you are given, that quote will be standard fayre and will have no leeway for special offers. Also, if you are dealing with a specific insurance company the only policies they will offer you will be from their own portfolio.

Another option is to deal with a bank and just like with the insurance company, familiarity with both institutions can make for a less daunting experience. The downside is that the policies on offer will be limited to the ones on the portfolio of whichever insurance company the bank deals with.

Procuring the services is also an option, and indeed is seen by some as a move that would yield the most choices. This indeed may be the case but only of the financial advisor is an independent one. If they are not then you be in the same position as you would be with a bank or insurance company. They will only be at liberty to discuss plans that are part of the portfolio of the company they represent. An independent financial adviser, on the other hand, will be able to offer unbiased advice on the best plans from many different companies.

Finally is the internet, this is generally the best route for those who have done their homework. So if you know exactly what you want and how you want it there is no better place to do your research and get the best quote available to you. Couple this with the fact that the internet is a very competitive place you will find that the quotes you get only from particular life companies will be quite a bit cheaper than if you went to the company direct. This is achieved by the web site discounting their commission and returning it back to the plan to reduce the premiums.

So, to obtain maximum benefit from the option of the internet you should know exactly what you require, and for how long, and what the final outcome should be. Then it is a matter of trawling the options (avoiding companies that may need to call you back, they have a tendency to try and push what you don’t need). An important thing to remember is that if you are getting bogged down and don’t really understand the details whilst on a certain site there should be a contact button which I would always advise that you use. Reference points for any queries are usually part of the site setup, and, usually at no extra cost, provide invaluable information that you can use to supplement your own findings.

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