Financial Protection
Providing financial protection for you and your family
Change is inevitable. It’s just a part of life
Some changes you can predict, while others you simply cannot, which is why financial protection is so important, including critical illness insurance, life insurance, Lasting Power of Attorney and making a Will.
However, you can have a plan in place to help mitigate the impacts and protect your wealth should something change in your life, like your career, your health or even your family situation.
Financial protection planning is all about preparing for the unexpected. A thorough protection review can give you peace of mind that following illness, injury or worse, you can still provide for yourself, your family and your business if relevant.
We will help you ensure you have the financial protection most suitable for your circumstances.
Why do you need protection?
It’s easy to underestimate our own value. We insure our homes, cars, valuables and pets, but often we forget about life protection and insuring our income that provides for all of the above.
Have you ever thought about how quickly your life and circumstances can change? One of the many things the past few years has highlighted is that the unexpected can happen at any time, to anyone, and that it’s really important to have a financial safety net and financial resilience in place just in case.
Life insurance and mortgage life insurance
Life insurance will help you financially protect your family.
Whether you are looking to provide a financial safety net for your loved ones, moving house or a first-time buyer looking to arrange your mortgage life insurance, or simply want to add some cover to what you already have in place, you will want to make sure you choose the right type of cover.
Surviving financial hardship
After surviving a critical illness, you may not be able to return to work straight away (or ever), or you may need home modifications or private therapeutic care. It is sad to contemplate a situation where someone survives a serious illness but fails to survive the ensuing financial hardship.
If you are single with no dependants, critical illness cover can be used to pay off your mortgage, which means that you would have fewer bills or a lump sum to use if you became very unwell.
If you are part of a couple, it can provide much-needed financial support at a time of emotional stress.
Income protection insurance
Being unable to work can quickly turn our world upside down. Income protection insurance is a long term insurance policy that provides a monthly payment if you can’t work because you are ill or injured.
Long term care insurance
This insurance will provide the financial protection and support you need if you have to pay for care assistance for yourself or a loved one. You can receive long-term care in your own home or in a residential or nursing home. Options include:
- Immediate needs annuities – pay a guaranteed income for life to help cover the cost of care fees in exchange for a one off lump sum payment, if you have care needs now
- Enhanced annuities – you can use your pension to buy an enhanced annuity (also known as an impaired life annuity) if you have a health problem, a long-term illness, if you are overweight or if you smoke.
- Savings and investments – give you the opportunity to plan ahead and ensure your savings and assets are in place for your care needs.
- Equity release – give you the ability to receive a cash lump sum as a loan secured on your home and these can be used to fund a care plan now or in the near future.
Making a Will
3 out of 5 adults in the UK do not currently have a Will. Without one, the state directs who inherits, so your loved ones, relatives, friends and favourite charities may get nothing.
It’s important to make sure that after you die, your assets and possessions (known as your ‘estate’) will go to the people and organisations (known as your ‘beneficiaries’) you choose, such as family members and charities you want to support.
Your estate includes your personal possessions, as well as assets such as:
– Property (in the UK or overseas)
– Savings and investments
– Insurance funds
– Pension funds
Making a Will is particularly important if you are not married or are not in a registered civil partnership (a legal arrangement that gives same-sex partners the same status as a married couple). This is because the law does not automatically recognise cohabitants (partners who live together) as having the same rights as husbands, wives and registered civil partners. As a result, even if you’ve lived together for many years, your cohabitant may be left with nothing if you have not made a Will.
Making a Will is also vital if you have children or dependants who may not be able to care for themselves. Without a Will, there could be uncertainty about who will look after or provide for them if you die.
Giving you peace of mind
No one likes to think about it but death is the one certainty that we all face. Planning ahead can give you the peace of mind that your loved ones have financial protection and can cope financially without you. At a difficult time, it can help to remove the stress that monetary worries can bring.
Lasting Power of Attorney
As someone becomes more unwell, they’re likely to find it more difficult to manage money and financial affairs, and may become too unwell to make decisions about health and care.
A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document in which someone (the donor) gives another person (the attorney) the right to help them make decisions, or take decisions on their behalf.
A Lasting Power of Attorney is a completely separate legal document to your Will, although many people put them in place at the same time as getting their Will written as part of wanting to plan for the future. Many people find it reassuring to know that someone they trust will be able to make decisions on their behalf if they become too unwell.