Finding a life cover provider raises issues familiar to any consumer in search of a good buy. In essence, it boils down to identifying the product that does exactly what you want it to do, at a realistic price. The good news is that fierce competition among insurers has driven real prices down, while the growing ranks of different providers help to ensure that there is an exceedingly wide range of products available.
It’s at this point, too, however, that the right news continues to get better. Perhaps more than any other consumer item, the internet has proved to be an attractive and valuable marketplace for all kinds of insurance. There are specialist life insurance companies online who can typically help you access life cover, quickly.
The type of insurance that suits you
One of the first steps towards finding a life insurance provider is deciding what kind of life insurance best suits your needs. The choice is wide, but generally speaking breaks down into selecting one (or more) of the following:
Simple Standard term life insurance
This remains probably the most honest and straightforward expression of the principles of life insurance. In return for the payment of a monthly premium, the policyholder, and his or her dependants can take comfort from the guarantee that in the event of the policy holder’s death, an agreed tax-free, lump sum benefit will be paid. By providing an alternative income or a means of paying off outstanding debts or loans, the interest might help to take a little of the sting and financial worry out of a breadwinner’s untimely death;
Reducing/decreasing term life insurance
In this modern variation of the fundamental principle, the guaranteed sum paid in benefit in the event of the policy holder’s death, in fact, reduces over the insured term. This might be an especially suitable way of covering a standard, repayment mortgage, where the outstanding balance is also decreasing over the years. Since the insurer’s liability is steadily declining as the insured term progresses, the cost of premiums is typically lower than for standard term cover;
Increasing term life insurance
Alternatively, the policyholder might prefer a cover that is increased by a given percentage each year. Although the monthly premiums naturally cost rather more, the advantage lies in the guaranteed benefit growing each year in the event of the policy holder’s death;
Index-linked term life insurance
In a similar vein, it is also possible to ensure that the insured benefits reflect changes in the retail prices index and more closely reflect changes in the rate of inflation by purchasing an index-linked policy;
Whole of life insurance
Finding the right life insurance provider is of particular importance when considering the purchase of this kind of insurance that not only makes a payout whenever it is that the policyholder dies, but also typically represents an investment in the associated life fund.