How to get Cheapest Life Insurance

The Association of British Insurers has calculated that less than a half of all households in this country have any form of life insurance. Even amongst those, many will have life insurance that never was, or is no longer, the most appropriate to their current needs. Yet life insurance is one of the most critical forms of protection to offer your surviving dependents in the event of your death. So, it is worth examining how best to get the cheapest life insurance, most suited to your needs.  

According to industry analysts, life cover has never been cheaper, with the price of policies falling by some 40% in the past five years. Couple this with the abundance of internet-based price comparison facilities and you are already well on the way to identifying the cheapest life insurance.  

If you already have some form of life insurance, however, that is no reason for inaction. You might be paying too much for what you have, or it may no longer offer the most appropriate cover if: 

You have married, children have been added to your family, you have started or completed a mortgaged or you have divorced or retired;

You bought the cover without examining all of the options on the type of policy before you bought it; or 

You have not reviewed and reconsidered the policy within the past five years.

Are you paying for the life insurance policy you really need? This will depend on your particular, personal circumstances, of course. If you are single, without any children, you are unlikely to need one at all. If you are recently married and do not plan having children for a number of years, then the cheapest life insurance can be bought for just ten years or so (or until the children come along) and can take the form of a joint life policy to cover both yourself and your spouse, with a single payout in the event of either yours or your spouse’s death.  

If and when any children are born, the prudent course of action would be to increase the level of cover and to buy policies to cover the life of yourself and your spouse separately. This might also be the time for you to consider a whole life policy as a family savings plan.  

When the children have grown up and become financially independent, it would be time to review your life insurance cover once again and consider whether the amount assured should be reduced, along with the premiums you would need to pay.  

It is a familiar enough piece of advice, but stopping smoking would not only improve your health but also allow you to secure the very cheapest life insurance deals. Non-smokers generally profit from a reduction of about one-third in life insurance premiums – or up to £3,000 over the life of the average policy.  

To conclude, to make sure you are getting the cheapest life insurance: 

Remember to keep any policy under regular review and make changes to the cover as your circumstances change;

Ensure that the policy you have is the one you really do need. If it is not, change it; 

Remember that by quitting smoking you could make considerable savings in the cost of your life insurance.

Michael Quinn is the author of this life insurance article.   

This article does not represent ‘financial advice’ as each person’s individual requirements will be unique to their needs. If there is something in the article which you decide to rely on, then make sure you check those details with the person from whom you purchase any product or service.

The views in this article represent those of the author and not those of Netbasic Limited.