subject: What Is Life Assurance? [print this page] Life assurance will help you have peace of mind about what will happen to your financials should anything happen. We all know that life is about as predictable as the weather, we never know what will happen next and your life can change in an instant.
You have probably heard stories about someone who was involved in a big car accident and can no longer work, or a family who suddenly lost their main breadwinner and could no longer look after themselves. You hear these stories feeling empathy for those people, but with a secret thought that something like that would never happen to you. We live in a bubble, a conceived thought that we will always be okay. This is not true. You can be struck by tragedy at any time and you don't want to be caught off guard. This is where life assurance comes in (also known as life insurance).
Life assurance will ensure that your family will receive a benefit that will help cover costs and bills when you pass away. If you are the main breadwinner and had to pass away your family could suffer some series financial burdens if you don't have life assurance. If you take out a life assurance policy you will choose what level of cover you would like to get. This would depend on your lifestyle, such as whether or not you have a spouse or children. You will choose the amount that you would like your family to receive. You also choose how long you would like the life assurance to last; you can choose a selected number of years or for the rest of your life no matter how long that is. You will then choose a beneficiary; a beneficiary is the person who will receive the money when you pass away. A person's beneficiary will usually be their spouse or children, depending on their family structure.
You will have to pay into your life assurance each month. The cost of this payment will depend on the level of cover that you choose. It will also depend on your personal characteristics such as your age, health, lifestyle and occupation. When applying for life assurance a representative from the insurance company will do an assessment on you to give you a quote on how much you would have to pay. The difference between life assurance and life insurance is that life assurance covers an event that will happen, while life insurance covers an event that is likely to happen. We all know that we will die at some stage, this is the one certain thing in life. Life assurance then covers death as it is inevitable that you will die. Your family will then receive payment when this happens. Life insurance can then cover a select number of years, such as 30 years. The insurance is then covering the fact that you may die within 30 years. If you do die within those 30 years you will be covered, however if you die outside of those 30 years you will not be covered.
