SEOcontest2008

In these times of financial insecurity people are being forced to analyse their monetary standing with the view tighten their belts wherever possible. Bizarre as it may seem, one of the first things to be discarded when looking for ways to ease their outgoings is one of the most important with regards to future financial wellbeing, 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 if you are one of those people who is currently looking at your direct debits for the month and are thinking to yourself that it would be so much easier on you money wise if you weren’t paying out for your life insurance, have a think on this. You took out your life insurance policy back then for a reason, to provide adequate protection for your family in the event of your death, and that fact still remains. If the worst was to happen, as it sometimes can, your gym membership or Sky TV subscription is not going to look after your family in your absence.

Now this article is not written with the aim of scaring people into continuing with their life insurance policies. That decision is up to, and can only be made by, the individual. But what I will say is that with my experience as a financial adviser I have seen many scenarios where people have either been extremely grateful for having a life insurance policy for whatever amount it yielded, or regretted the fact that they did not seek the advice in order to put one in place for the future. These were real life situations and not just surmising on what could happen in the future.

I can only give advice to people face to face if they knock on my door, but hopefully by writing these articles I can reach a larger audience in order that the right choices be made when planning ahead.

One thing I would definitely urge is that if you are finding money tight, which of course the majority of us are in the present climate, and you are considering doing away with your life insurance in order to free up some extra cash, please do one thing and consult your financial advisor before taking any drastic action. You may not know that if you have had any health issues since originally taking out the plan and you then stop the plan, you may not be able to restart the insurance plan in the future. You could even consider the possibility of transferring to a cheaper plan. It may not give the same amount of protection as before, but it may save you a bit of money in the meantime, and at least you will be partially protected, which is the important thing after all.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 31st, 2008 at 1:34 am and is filed under Properties.