subject: Life Assurance - Do You Have Your Family Covered? [print this page] There are two things that are certain in this life, one is taxes and the other is death. The latter is something we rather not think about. Life is about living, right? However, some day we got to face the fact sooner or later and plan ahead for the loved ones we will eventually leave behind.
Life assurance protects the people, your dependents who rely on your income to survive. If someday you were suddenly taken away would they have enough from your savings to survive on after you're gone?If you're a single person without dependents or direct responsibilities then you do not need to worry about life assurance. However, if you have a family and are currently without life assurance cover then you should consider your options.
Before applying for life assurance it is a good idea to check if you are already covered through an existing plan. For example, if you have a mortgage you may have an endowment policy attached to it that pays out a certain amount on your death. If you are employed then you may have a paid life assurance plan as part of your employment benefits. If you do have these then check out the terms and conditions and determine if the cover is sufficient to support your loved ones. In many cases these policies do not sufficiently cover the financial needs of your dependents therefore; it is prudent to acquire a separate policy.
Today there is an extensive range of policies to choose from and tailor to your specific needs. The best place to see what policies are available is through the comparison sites. At a glance you can compare the different polices and quotes.
With so much choice it can be daunting to decide which policy is suitable. As a guideline the most cost effective and convenient way to provide you with sufficient coverage is to take out a term assurance policy. This type of policy provides life coverage over a specific period for example 25 years with a fixed payout of say $300,000.
Many people get stuck figuring out how much they need to cover. A simple way of working this out is to take your current yearly salary amount and times that by the number of years covered. For example, if you are currently earning $30,000 a year and your cover period is 25 years then the amount you need to cover for is $750,000.
