Woody Allen once said, ‘I’m not afraid of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.’ This is true of many of us, I’m sure you’ll agree. We see things on the TV, read them in newspapers, but these things happen to others, we never believe they will happen to us. When they do affect us and our loved ones therefore, we are usually rather unprepared.
So what do you do? As yet, there is no way of predicting when we are going to die. The only thing to do is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Life insurance gives us this safety net. Far from being some form of inheritance for the rich, famous and old, life insurance is worthwhile for anyone with something to lose. For example, a family buys a new house with a large mortgage. Dad dies unexpectedly. Unless mum can earn enough to pay the mortgage and childcare on her own, which is unlikely, she has to sell the house. However if this fictional, but perfectly imaginable, family had taken out life insurance linked to their mortgage, mum and the kids would receive financial aid in line with the mortgage repayments after dad’s death.
Let’s take another scenario. An elderly lady does not think she needs life insurance. She then gets struck down with cancer and needs expensive treatment that’s not readily available. She could ask her family, but they are already struggling to pay off a mortgage in an inflation-battered society. Alternatively she could sell her own home to pay for treatment; neither ideas are perfect. However, if she had taken out a critical illness insurance policy she could get financial assistance to help pay for her treatment and to provide in-home care so she wouldn’t have to move into a care home.
Modern society is uncontrollable and unpredictable. All we can do is ride the roller coaster. However, through careful financial planning, putting money aside for a rainy day in savings accounts and insurance policies, we are better at coping with the downward plunges and have more fun enjoying the skyward ascents.
Legal and General cheap life insurance packages are available to all types of people at various ages and different life stages. There is no use worrying about tomorrow if you are prepared for whatever it may bring.
