Life insurance for families
Many people first think about life insurance when going into a new stage of their lives, such as becoming a parent. But what kind of life insurance is best for your family?
The truth is, there’s no single answer when it comes to choosing the best kind of life insurance for families. Your choice should be based on your family’s circumstances and needs, and it’s important that you’re aware of all the options available before you decide.
How life insurance can help protect your family
A life insurance payout could help give your family some much-needed peace of mind if you were to suddenly pass away.
The payout could, for example, help cover any household costs such as mortgage or rental payments, essential bills and even the food shop for a while. It’s a way to keep your family financially covered during a difficult time
Life insurance also be much cheaper than you think, with premiums starting at £6 per month*, making life insurance a realistic option for lower-income families.
How to choose the right type of life insurance for your family
There are many ways you can protect your family through life insurance, so it’s important to choose the option that best matches your family’s needs, as well as your individual circumstances.
How much life cover does your family need?
The first thing you should do when thinking about getting life insurance for your family is work out how much of a payout you’ll need. This will depend mostly on your regular household income and expenses.
If you and your partner are contributing similar amounts to the household income, for example, you’ll likely need a smaller payout than someone who is the sole earner of their household.
Similarly, if you’re currently renting or paying off a mortgage, you’ll likely need a larger payout than someone who fully owns their home.
Other household costs that you should consider include:
- Home maintenance costs (if you’re a homeowner).
- Household bills.
- Childcare and education costs.
- Food, clothing, and other general living costs.
What type of life cover is best for your family?
There are different types of life insurance to choose from, so it’s important to understand how each option works before you make a decision.
Level term life insurance
Level term life insurance will pay out an agreed sum if you die during the policy’s term.
If you outlive this term, you can set up a new policy once your policy ends.
Neither your payout nor your premiums will change throughout the length of your policy (unless you make changes to your policy).
Decreasing term life insurance
The payout for decreasing term life will go down over time throughout the length of the policy. This means that the longer your policy goes on for, the less money your family is likely to get if you die during the policy’s term.
Because of this, premiums for decreasing term life insurance are often cheaper than those for level term life insurance.
A decreasing term life insurance policy is usually recommended to help your family pay off a mortgage or other debts that are usually paid off over time.
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Critical illness cover and children’s critical illness cover
Critical Illness Cover is something you can add onto your policy to get a payout if you’re diagnosed with a serious illness. This includes cancer, heart attack and stroke. See our policy terms and conditions for a list of all conditions covered by Beagle Street.
There are two main types of critical illness cover. If you take out life insurance with critical illness, your policy will pay out only once, either when you die or when you receive a critical illness diagnosis. If you take out life insurance with additional critical illness, you’ll get a separate payout if you receive a critical illness diagnosis, which won’t affect the payout for your life insurance policy.
You can also add children’s critical illness cover to your cover. This means that you could receive a payout if any of your children are diagnosed with a serious illness.
The payouts from either your own critical illness cover or your children’s critical illness cover can help cover any costs that might arise from yours or your children’s health conditions. It could pay for medical costs, as well as cover household expenses if you were to be unable to work or if you’d have to stop working to care for your children.
It’s worth bearing in mind that adding either critical illness cover or children’s critical illness cover to your life insurance policy will increase the price of your premiums.
Choosing between a single or joint life insurance policy
When you take out a joint life insurance policy with your partner, rather than two separate single life insurance policies, the policy will pay out only once when either of you dies or makes a terminal illness claim.
If both you and your partner each take out a separate life insurance policy, you’ll each have your own payouts.
While having two single life insurance policies can give your family, such as your children, better financial protection, it’s typically more expensive than sharing a joint life insurance policy.
Should I get life insurance for my family?
Ultimately, the decision to take out life insurance, and what type of life insurance suits you best, is completely up to you. However, it’s an important choice that can have a big impact on your family if you were to suddenly pass away, so you should make sure you’re fully informed before you make a decision.
Before you take out life insurance, take the time to review your household budget to work out what you can afford to pay in premiums and how much of a payout your family would need. You might prefer to take out a lower amount of cover so your premiums are lower, or you might feel safer with a higher sum assured and be happy to pay higher premiums.
At Beagle Street, we offer fixed premiums, meaning they won’t change over time (unless you request changes to your policy). Premiums are also usually lower if you’re younger, so taking out a policy earlier can mean lower monthly payments throughout the length of the policy. You could make sure your family’s covered for as little as £6 a month.*
Want to find out how much you can get covered for? Use our quick quote tool to find out, with no obligation to go ahead with the quote!
*Example of a policyholder that is 30 years old and a non-smoker.
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Accidental death benefit acts as short-term cover while you’re waiting for a decision on your life insurance application.
Critical illness cover can help protect you and your family if you are diagnosed with a serious illness. But how does it work, how much does it cost, and is critical illness cover worth it?
Joint life insurance policies
Joint life insurance protects two people under one policy. The policy closes after it's paid out once.
Find out how much life insurance could cost with Beagle Street
Our simple, online quick quote tool will let you know how much cover you can get and how much it’s likely to cost you. There’s no commitment to take out a policy.