Is my life insurance working for me?
April 6, 2008 Family No CommentsSo if you think that the life insurance policy you took out a few years ago is doing its job fine, you would be wrong. In this article we will aim to show you how reviewing the performance of your life insurance can be the difference between using your money wisely and metaphorically throwing it away.
To fully understand what we are talking about here you need to take a step back and analyse just what position you are in now compared to four or five years ago. Maybe back then you were a single person renting a nice apartment in the centre of town, working in a highly stressful job in the financial sector with nothing better to do with your spare time but socialise and smoke to excess whilst enjoying your favorite pastime of base jumping. Now you are happily married with twins, living in the leafy suburbs, and the only addictions that you have now when you’re not working for the library board are the cryptic crossword in The Times and taking care of your much envied organic herb garden.
Okay so we are maybe jumping from one end of the lifestyle spectrum to the other but it’s poetic license to get the point across. Now it may well be the case that your situation has not changed over the last five years and if that’s the case then you will have nothing to concern yourself about. But if things have changed it is imperative that you should have your policy assessed and upgraded if needs be. Failure to do so could at best leave you a few pounds out of pocket but at worst could be leaving you in severe financial straits.
The most sensible course of action is to arrange an appointment with your agent. They will be the best placed to assess your policy and find what changes would be most beneficial for you. It may be the case that you will need to increase or decrease your policy in order to save money but by taking into account changes in your situation they will be able to instigate the appropriate contingency plans to insure against the possibility of financial strife on your part.
The two choices you have are term life or whole life insurance. Depending on your situation one is going to be a better option than the other. The term life policy may cost less but with whole life you can take into account the need to borrow against the policy if financial shortfalls should arise.
Today, most people are opting for the term option because the small cost difference is well outweighed by the huge benefits that will help to cover your unexpected emergencies. Sort of helps you curtail the fear of the unknown with the knowledge that if something happens you can wither cash it in if it is catastrophic or borrow against it if it is just a minor set back. Sort of a savings plan that allows access, as you need it without stiff penalties.
The decision will come down to what suits you and your family’s financial predicament. The best source of advice for this is to either contact your life insurance agent, if you have one, or check through the various websites if you have gained a policy over the internet.
It’s not a terribly difficult decision for you to make. You need to answer a few questions about where you are in life and how much you need in order to survive should a catastrophic event occur. Emergencies are some that come up from out of nowhere, at inopportune times and when we least expect them. That is the whole purpose of planning for the unexpected. You make plans and insure against the worst-case scenario and hope it never happens. If it does you are ok and if it doesn’t, you lived life with peace of mind and if you purchased a whole life policy, you will have a nice little nest egg to cash in when it is time to retire to that villa in the south of France. The important thing is that you do NOT put off doing it until tomorrow. Everyday you put it off brings you a day closer to the possible emergency that you are planning against.
