Your life is important to you and those close to you. Sadly, not everyone can live to an advanced old age and statistically speaking, some of us will die before we reach old age. That’s why term life insurance cover may prove important to you.

The role of the provider

In many households, whether alone or jointly with a spouse or partner, you may be making an important financial contribution to the life around you. Even if you are not actually earning money but instead looking after a young family, this is still a major indirect financial contribution to the lives of your loved ones.

Whatever the position, if the worst happens and you were to die, your family may be forced to try and deal not only with the bereavement but also some potentially serious financial consequences.

Providing for those left behind

Life insurance exists so that you can at least partly ensure that those you love do not suffer major financial disruption after your death.

This type of cover comes in many forms, all of which are designed to try and cope with different circumstances and different policyholder / family needs.

Some forms of cover are designed to pay off a specific debt such as a mortgage or perhaps credit card. Others are more general and one of these is called term life insurance cover.

Lump sum life protection

Term life insurance cover (sometimes referred to as ‘level term life insurance’) is a form of policy that will pay out to your surviving spouse, partner or your dependants, a fixed lump-sum upon your death. The amount paid will depend upon the cover level you selected and paid for through your premiums over the years.

It is called ‘term insurance’ because both the amount you pay for it through your premiums and the lump-sum payable upon your death will be fixed from policy inception onwards. This is the ‘term’ referred to.

This type of policy typically will not:

• pay any bonuses – there is no ‘maturity value’ and it is not a savings or investment type of product;
• pay back any monies if no claims are made;
• protect you against the risks of critical illness, unemployment or accidents.

Term life insurance cover is a well-known and potentially exceptionally useful form of protection. It may be seen as a ‘no-risk no frills’ form of cover.

Obtaining cover

It is typically possible to take out a policy that will protect you alone or you and a spouse/partner.A medical may or may not be required prior to policy inception – this will depend upon your individual circumstances.

If you suffer from a serious existing medical condition you may need to pay more for your cover. In some cases the insurance company may exclude death from that particular cause from the protection offered or perhaps in certain situations they may decline to accept you ‘on risk’. It may be necessary to talk directly to the insurance company for further advice if you are in this category.

Term life insurance cover

Having this protection in place may help you and your family sleep a little more easily at night. Getting hold of further information might be a useful idea.