Some sites do this well, others less so but the thing that many consumers often overlook is that aside from the lowest price there are other key considerations which are worth bearing in mind which are actually even more important than the lowest price.
Today I'm going to detail just one, which is that most if not all life insurance policies also include terminal illness cover (not to be confused with critical illness cover - these are VERY different to each other!) - terminal illness cover will pay out the sum assured on diagnosis of terminal illness, usually where one or more medical experts believe that the insured has less than a year to live.
What is not very well known is that most policies cease the terminal illness cover in the final 12 months of the policy, and some in the final 18 months, whereas a select few keep this cover in place and able to be claimed right up to the very last day of the policy.
Small details like this can fly completely under the radar for consumers shopping around for the lowest premiums and in a worst case scenario a few saved pennies each month could end up costing hundreds of thousands if such a situation arises.
Why is this important? Well, just imagine, you've bought life insurance thinking one policy is basically the same as the next and saved some money by shopping around for the lowest premium. You're now comfortable in the knowledge that your loved ones will not suffer financially if they lose you. Then at some point in the future the worst happens.
- You fall ill and are hospitalised, tests are done and a diagnosis made.
- Your illness is terminal; you and your family are forced to come to terms with the fact that you are going to die in the near future.
- It's highly emotional and amongst all the different aspects of your thoughts and emotions you think about how those you love are going to cope financially without you.
- Your thoughts turn to that life insurance policy you took out years ago, you remember that it was taken out for this very reason.
- Your brain races and checks itself to confirm that yes, you are still paying those premiums every month, the policy is still in force and when you die your family will receive the proceeds and their future will be financially secure.
- Then you remember that the policy includes terminal illness cover, you realise that you can make a claim now and use some of the money to make your final months more comfortable and see things out spending quality time with your family.
- You retrieve the policy documents to check it out, you find that the policy term still has some months remaining, you find the section on terminal illness and...
- Your heart sinks as you read that this benefit has already ended a year before the end of the policy term - you no longer have terminal illness cover and no claim can now be made until you actually die.
- But the policy only has months remaining, if you don't hurry up and die before it expires your family will be left in the lurch financially and you will have completely let them down.
- You are financially incentivised to hurry up and die quickly for their benefit.
- You are financially disincentivised to take your meds, to try, to strive for life, to beat this thing (yes, some have overcome the odds in the past) - you actually feel that have nothing to live for.
How different would things have been if you'd only known that for a few pence per month more each month you could have had a policy where the terminal illness cover remained in place to the very last day.
Whatever you do in your job, you probably know it well, you know how things are and how they need to be in the areas of your own expertise, you know the pitfalls to avoid and you know the benefits to be gained by doing things the right way. You also know that someone without experience in your field could not possibly be expected to do what you do as well as you can because they don't know what you know, and you may well scoff at the idea that an untrained person would even think about trying.
Well, ask yourself - are you an expert in insurance products or any other area of financial services? If the answer is no, then please consider speaking with an expert in the area concerned, because when it comes to the selection of financial products self-advice and self-selection can easily lead to inappropriate or at the very least 'less good' product selection than you are likely to receive from a professional in that field. read more....
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