Life insurance FAQs
We understand there’s a lot to think about when it comes to choosing the right life insurance to meet your needs.
How much cover do I need? How long do I need it for? What happens if I become seriously ill?
Here, we’ve put together answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about life insurance and critical illness insurance.
You can also find out more in our life insurance guide.
Life insurance with Zurich starts from as little as £5 a month. The size of your premium will depend on the amount of cover you want, what you choose to protect and for how long. The cost will also be determined by factors such as your age, health and whether or not you smoke.
Critical illness cover can provide financial protection – usually in the form of a one-off, lump sum payment – if you are diagnosed with a serious illness such as cancer, a heart attack or stroke. Zurich offers critical illness cover as part of a life insurance and critical illness policy.
Do you need life insurance for a mortgage? This depends on why you are considering life insurance in the first place. For example, if you need it to protect a mortgage (see our article, Do I need life insurance for a mortgage?) then you may want a life insurance policy whose term mirrors the term of your mortgage. If your main objective is provide for your children should something happen to you, then you may want a policy that will pay out up until the point that they leave home.
Some kinds of life insurance, for example decreasing term cover, are specifically designed for mortgages, because the potential payout under the policy decreases gradually as the balance of your mortgage reduces. Find out more in this article.
With a decreasing term life insurance policy, the amount of cover decreases each month. It’s often an appropriate type of life insurance policy if you want to meet a specific financial obligation, such as a repayment mortgage, that will reduce over time.
Find out more about decreasing term life insurance and other types of life insurance, including level cover and increasing cover.
If you are in a relationship, you and your partner may choose to have separate life insurance policies or a joint policy.
It’s important to carefully consider which type of policy is right for you. The following article explains the differences in more detail.
Some companies offer death in service benefit to employees. It’s a tax-free lump sum paid out to your designated beneficiary if you die whilst employed by that company.
There are some similarities between death in service benefit and life insurance, but a number of important differences. For example, you do not get to choose the size of your death in service benefit (it is usually two to four times your annual salary) whereas you can decide how much you would want to receive under a life insurance policy. Find out more in this article.
Still got a question about life insurance or critical illness insurance?
Read these articles for further guidance.