Understanding Your Insurance Cover Can Be Just As Valuable As the Cover Itself
Insurance is boring and long-term insurances such as life assurance or critical illness insurance are no exception.
If we are diligent, we set them up as part of big life events such as starting a new job, moving house, having children. But as time passes, our minds are quite rightly focussed on other things.
Roll forward ten years and some of us might just see a monthly direct debit that we do not really understand, only remembering that we don’t dare cancel it because it once seemed particularly important to us.
THE TANGIBLE BENEFITS OF LONG-TERM INSURANCE SEEM VERY REMOTE
The tangible costs are immediate because you are reminded about them on your monthly bank statement. Conversely, the tangible benefits can be very long-term. Additionally, we do not always value these benefits as much as we should because as human beings, we naturally underestimate the likelihood of anything bad happening to us.
In short, on a day-to-day basis, most of us derive extraordinarily little value from insurance. It feels like a cost rather than a benefit. You don’t even want the insurance to pay out because you don’t want to suffer any misfortune.
We were reminded of this just this week. When running through the financial positions of two separate new clients, they both said something along the lines of:
“I’ve got some insurance.
I think it’s life insurance.
I’m paying for it on a monthly direct debit.
I can’t find my original paperwork, so I’ve got no idea what it is, can you help me figure it out”.
It was a timely reminder to us that this situation meant that there are other peace of mind benefits associated with long-term insurance cover that these clients were missing out on.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
If you fully understand how a policy will help you, every time you see that direct debit go out, this knowledge should give you a warm feeling in your stomach knowing that the premiums you are paying are providing you and your family with valuable protection should misfortune strike.
BEING ORGANISED GIVES YOU PEACE OF MIND
Furthermore, if you have not kept records of the cover and how to access it, your loved ones or next of kin may find your policy difficult to track down if they ever needed to make a claim on your behalf.
This would add unnecessary stress to them at an already difficult time.
They may not even realise that there is a policy in existence to claim on and suffer financially as a result.
Keeping clear records should give you peace of mind that, should the worst happen, your loved ones will not suffer any more than they need to.
GET MORE VALUE FROM YOUR INSURANCE
We are all different as human beings and just as some people take great comfort in knowing that insurance is in place, others shudder at the thought of paying hundreds or even thousands of pounds a year across to an insurer.
Whatever your outlook, if you are paying for insurance, make sure that you know what it is and that your documentation is safe and accessible should you or one of your loved ones ever need to make a claim.
That way, you will maximise the peace of mind benefits that the policy is there to give you.
If you would like any help understanding your insurance arrangements, please give us a call on 020 3488 9505.
The value of your investments can go down as well as up, so you could get back less
than you invested.
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