We all want peace of mind, knowing that whatever life throws at us, our family and home will be protected.
Financial protection comes in many forms, from effective estate planning to insurance policies designed specifically to provide capital lump sums or income in the event of death or serious ill health.
With our holistic approach to financial planning, we will review your circumstances and consider where protection can play a role in plugging any gaps in your financial plan.
For example, to protect against financial difficulty arising from events such as early death, serious ill health or disablement as a result of an accident or illness or the loss of income from being unable to do your job.
We advise on the following areas of protection:
Life Assurance
Life assurance can provide a guaranteed death benefit claim in the form of either a capital lump sum or income if a claim occurs during the policy term. It can either be set up for a specified length of time (Term Assurance) or for the whole of the insured’s life (Whole of Life Assurance).
Critical Illness Cover
Critical illness cover will pay out a capital lump sum if the insured is diagnosed with a specified critical illness during the term of the policy. The top four claims for critical illness cover in the UK is cancer, heart attack, stroke and Multiple Sclerosis.
Critical illness cover can normally be combined with Life Assurance so that the policy will either pay out on diagnosis of critical illness or death. Some providers also provide a “buyback” option, which means that the policy will pay out on both diagnosis of a critical illness and death. This can prove invaluable as, often, the insured will be uninsurable after first diagnoses of a critical illness.
Income Protection
The financial consequences of lost income, particularly on the self-employed, can be severe. Many employers do not provide any form of income protection for their employees which means people sometimes find themselves unable to pay bills or falling back on savings, State benefits or help from family and friends.
Income protection policies can provide a tax-free income during the term of the policy, typically until retirement, to replace lost income in the event that you are unable to work over the long term due to ill health, accident or disability.
Private Medical Insurance
An alternative to NHS waiting times, Private Medical Insurance (PMI) allows you to access treatments privately without paying expensive private medical bills.
PMI policies are very flexible and are typically suitable for curable, short-term medical conditions. Accessing medical treatment promptly can be invaluable in getting you back to good health and a return to work as quickly as possible.
Existing medical conditions won’t normally be covered and there are two main types of PMI policy on the market: comprehensive PMI and low-cost or budget PMI.
Your adviser will discuss all of the options with you.
