Everyone is looking at their budget in these hard times. People are going through all their direct debits and standing orders and seeing what they can afford to cut to save some pennies. It is with some irony then that at these times of hardship one of the first things to go is Life Insurance.
With my background in finance, it never fails to amaze me how some people go about assessing what is important to them. That priority be given to a Sky TV contract over a life insurance policy is nothing less than astounding to me. It is for this reason, and the fact that a lot of my clients are seeking advice before making any cutbacks, that I feel this article to be of utmost importance.
I was once told a story about a man who went to work and unfortunately he crashed his car and died. Now obviously the car was written off and was a complete insurance claim. Some weeks later there were two insurance men walking up the drive one had a cheque for 20,000 which was the average amount people insured themselves for back then and the other had 25,000 which was the replacement value of the nice BMW the man drove.
The question to be asked here is, with these two cheques, what do you suppose the widow is in a position to replace first, the support given by her husband or his flash car? Sad but true. What I am trying to get across is that we have become, as a nation, more preoccupied by the value of our things that we are undervaluing ourselves. This is particularly evident now when cash flow is a pressing issue for everyone.
So you are looking at your income and outgoings and you’re wondering “do I really need to spend this money every month on life insurance?” Well in my opinion it is simple, if it was worth buying in the first place then it is more than worth keeping now. In fact you will probably need it more. If times are hard for your family right now with your income coming in, imagine for a second what it would be like if you were not here and you family did not have the benefit of your income. I tell you now times will be a lot harder and the luxuries of the likes of Cable TV and Sky TV will then be the first things to go.
Now please understand I do not want to sit here and write an article aimed at scaring people into keeping life insurance. Quite frankly it does not really matter to me. The reason I do it is simple, as an adviser I end up dealing with clients who have lost loved ones and in some cases there is life insurance, rarely adequate amounts but there is some, but in other cases there is none. All of the people I deal with who are in this situation say, without exception, I wish we spoke to you before this had happened and you would have made sure we had sorted this out.
The fact is I would have made them sort it, but I can’t deal with everyone, however much I would like to, so hopefully someone will read this and take some note and make sure they are protected for the worst.
What it all really boils down to here is that if you are considering your options and thinking that way may be saving by canceling a policy then seek advice before you make that step. By going to a financial adviser you will be benefiting from professional advice on what is an extremely important topic. Remember also that if you have had any health issues since opting for a life insurance policy, by canceling it now you may find it a lot harder to get another one in the future. As well as this, if you need to cut back money wise, a financial adviser will also be in the position to advise you on alternative policies that may be available. These may cost less than what you are presently paying and, whilst they might not give you the same level of cover as you have at present, they will assure you and your loved ones some degree of protection for the future. The bottom line is that there will be something in the future to fall back on.
