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IFAs, or Independent Financial Advisers, used to be invaluable sources of information for individuals and couples alike who happened to be looking for life insurance. A couple of decades ago, most people would go to an IFA for independent advice as to which policy they should go for and indeed an idea of exactly what was available for them in the first place. However, the use of IFAs dropped off a bit, an assertion which is backed up by sales information and data relating to their use as per numerous studies. Why?

Well, the first reason is that some advisers actually became known for preferring certain life insurance policies as a result of the commission they received. Thanks to the minority, they became tarred with the same brush and people began to distrust IFAs. However, people also failed to see the need for life insurance, which is proven by the drop in policies taken out in the last few years. If you are one of those that would like to see what is out there without bias but cannot or do not want to go to an Independent Financial Adviser what options are available to you?

Well, comparison sites for a start. Sites like APH simply offer you quotes for life insurance based on the information you input, meaning that it matches policies to specific criteria. There is no bias and any sponsored links or policies are clearly marked so that you can avoid any hint of bias if you so wish. You can compare policies based on features, premium and length of policy and specify exactly what you want and need from it. With this in mind, the APH comparison site is the ideal place to go for help. You can also visit quickly and easily from the comfort of your own home. No need to get dressed. Just turn on and login to find the best possible value for money on life insurance for you.

In previous posts, I have discussed life insurance and why fewer people are going out to get it these days. The lack of understanding is a major problem and one that immediately puts people off taking out a policy but this is not the biggest barrier to getting life insurance to protect your family apparently. Instead, that honour (or indeed lack of) goes to the fact that many people do not think they need it. They either think that nothing will happen to them so their family will never need the provisions a policy offers them or they just do not think about it, deeming it a little morbid. Unfortunately, life proves time and again that we never know what might happen from one day to the next.

Some companies are resorting to offering incentives to try and get people to consider life insurance as a serious product that they both want and need. For example, a leading mainstream life insurance provider has heavily advertised £40 to £50 of high street store vouchers for the past couple of years and now a supermarket is offering double loyalty card points for a couple of years. Both forms of incentive have apparently proved to be rather successful in enticing people to consider life insurance.

Of course, if you are planning on taking out life insurance then it is completely up to you which policy you take out and whether or not you take advantage of the incentives. However, that should not be the main reason why you choose a specific policy. Instead, you should take out cover because it suits you and because it caters for all of your needs. You can find a range of policies to compare in this respect right here at APH. Just tap in your details and you will soon be able to compare cover.

Life insurance is one of those financial products that people make excuses not to get until they feel that they absolutely have to, whether because they are facing life changing circumstances (such as having children) or because they will not be offered a mortgage unless they have some sort of insurance in place to cover the loan should the homeowner, or at least one of them, die before it would be paid off. However, the industry is facing lower numbers than ever before. For the seventh successive quarter, the numbers of people taking out life insurance has gone down. This really is bad news for a lot of people because of the benefits a good policy has to offer.

Many people see life insurance and indeed taking out a policy as really morbid but it is in fact far from it. It is simply a protection mechanism that is designed to give you peace of mind and provide your family with a safety net should you ever need one. If no policy is in place then it can be really difficult for your loved ones to recover financially. Life insurance gives them time and space to recover in that way as well as emotionally.

There are plenty of benefits to having life insurance and, with very few costing more than a few pounds a month over a period of time of your choosing, very few reasons not to have it in place. If you think that life insurance may be for you then why not check out some of the policies available. Fill in the form here at APH for the comparison engine. Submit it and you will son get results from top providers on your desktop. Check out what life insurance could do for you and then you will be better equipped to decide whether it is for you or not.

Have you ever given any thought as to how much you are worth to your family? Most people have no idea exactly what they save their family in terms of money, attention and care. Fathers alone are worth their weight in gold according to a recent study. It determined that they actually saved the household £21,000 over the course of a year in chores around the house, DIY jobs and childcare. That is not including their wage or salary but in addition to it so you can see how the money soon adds up. You would otherwise have to pay for childcare, a handyman, tradespeople and all sorts of other services that you currently have no need to pay for. So what would happen if the father in the household died or became critically ill? Well, a major struggle to make ends meet would occur unless you had life insurance in place.

According to the survey, just 64% of fathers in the UK today have life insurance, whether through work or a personal policy, and just 30% have critical illness cover so if they were diagnosed with cancer or another illness that is considered to be critical their salary would be lost with nothing to replace it. Can you imagine how your household would get by without that particular deficit? Many would get into debt today or struggle to pay all the bills. As such, every single father should consider getting life insurance and critical illness cover today. Not being able to provide for a family is bad enough but seeing them struggle when you are ill or knowing that you are leaving them in the lurch is worse.

A range of life insurance providers can be accessed via the comparison engine on APH so you can find cover to suit you and your wallet.

Who needs life insurance? This question seems to be one of the most asked in the insurance industry today because nobody seems to be completely sure as to whether they need it, whether financial institutions can ask them to get it or whether it is a redundant product that costs you money every month. There are numerous reasons for this problem’s existence but it mainly lies with the fact that many people just do not understand what life insurance is at its very foundation and how fundamentally useful it can be.

So do you need it? Well, yes if you own a house and have a mortgage to pay, yes if you have a family to support and yes if you have a reason to leave money behind if you should pass away for whatever reason. For example, if you have debts then the money from a life insurance policy can pay them off rather than have them pass to family members. If you have children or other dependents then leaving money behind can provide them with a secure start in life and make sure that your absence does not leave them financially worse off. If you are paying a mortgage then the same principle applies. However, your lender may actually insist that you get cover to protect their investment. They are well within their rights to do this but you can take it out with whoever you want to. As long as you have decent life insurance in place they cannot make you take it out with them.

So how can you find a life insurance policy to suit you? Well, the first thing to do is compare. Here at APH, you can compare policies in terms of their features and their premiums. Features are the most important element because you need to know the level of cover you have. Just fill in the details and you will be surprised how simple the rest is.

If you are looking to buy a home in the near future but currently rent or live with parents or friends then you may not have any idea what is involved, and more importantly what mortgage companies and banks can ask of you. All the jargon may send you mad but it is some of the demands that those lending you money to buy a home that will leave you scratching your head the most, such as the demand for life insurance. Life insurance is an integral part of the home buying process because it gives your lender peace of mind that they will not be left to cover a debt should something happen to you before your home is paid off. But if you need it in place, exactly what type of life insurance do you need?

The life insurance that is most commonly requested for mortgage applications is decreasing term assurance or cover. Although you have a fixed premium, the level of this life insurance product decreases every year, meaning that you get a lower payout every progressive year of the policy. This does have some advantages, such as having lower premiums, but the main one is that it will cover the level of debt on your mortgage so it will be paid for outright if anything should happen to you.

So there is one question remaining – can your bank or mortgage company insist on you taking out life insurance? The simple answer is yes it can. Their investment in your home is a lot of money so they can make sure that the risk is covered by stipulating that you have life insurance and indeed buildings home insurance in place should anything happen to you or the house itself. You do not have to take either insurance out with your mortgage company but you must still have it in place to cover yourself.

Could you honestly put your hand on your heart and say that you completely understand the jargon that underpins life insurance products today? Most people cannot and this has been a problem for quite some time, especially for those who have taken out policies to cover them and ensure their families were provided for. Luckily enough, though, there is now a campaign in place, known as the Plain English Campaign, to encourage insurers and banks to make their policies transparent.

This particular campaign was only launched this month and is targeting some of the jargon used on a daily basis by life insurance providers with a view to making it more obvious as to what the individual policy offers. For example, although terms like “term life insurance” are pretty self explanatory, some of the other jargon and clauses are not. One such clause is that of critical illness. Everyone knows that it will not cover you if you have a pre-existing condition but if you have symptoms of a condition then that counts too, meaning that you cannot claim if you have any signs of a potential illness.

This is just one example of where life insurance moves out of the realm of consumer friendly and into that of so confusing that it puts people off. It does need to be simplified and it looks like many policies will be in the future too. With that in mind, it is worth taking a look around the market to check what is available for you. There are plenty of options available, the range of which is designed specifically to provide something for everyone.  It is certainly worth looking at and the APH comparison engine can certainly help you because there are plenty of policies out there. Compare the top providers and you may well find what you are looking for.

Life insurance is often perceived as being one of those policies that the young invest in. Those with young families choose cover to provide if they should ever pass away suddenly. Homeowners in their 20s and 30s choose to own a life insurance policy to cover their mortgage so as to ensure that their partner or spouse would not have to worry about the remaining balance if they found themselves an income down. However, attitudes towards life insurance amongst the over 50s is slowly but surely changing with policies specifically for those in their senior years now available and offering excellent value for money.

Under 50s life insurance policies are very different from those for over 50s. For a start, they tend to offer very little in terms of return, with most offering under £5000 back, but they are also perfect for those with health problems because they do not require medicals either. Initially offered as a funeral fund policy, they are also perfect for those looking to leave a bit behind for the family. There are very few clauses at all that prevent people from taking out such a policy but it is certainly still worth looking around.

Life insurance is not something that only applies to a certain group of people. We are all going to die at some point and it is simply a way of leaving something behind for those who rely on you. Whether you are 25 or 75, it is certainly worth looking into the possibilities available. There are many providers of all sorts of cover so check out your options and, most importantly, get the quotes you need to see which ones will suit you best. After all, you never know whether some will suit your family as well as your wallet better than others.

Do you have a family history of diabetes, cancer and other such illnesses that tend to have a genetic connection? Of course, not all cases of diabetes and cancer are genetic but they are excellent examples of ailments that may be passed down from parents to children and are also excellent examples of illnesses that life insurance companies will ask about when you apply for a life insurance policy. I recently took a policy out after an addition to the family and, having diabetes and cancer in the family, I was expecting my initial quote to shoot through the roof. I was shocked, or should I say pleasantly surprised, to find out that it cost me just 50p more a month for the same level of cover!

It is the usual myth with life insurance that tends to put people off – that you are stung if there is anything potentially damaging in your family’s medical history – or encourages them to lie but taking the easier road of telling your chosen life insurance company is definitely worth it. If you tell porkies then you may well find your family struggling if you get found out. If you did die, or indeed if another policyholder did, and you withheld information like that then you are technically invalidating your policy and thus also your right to any payout. If your family thinks they are covered then this would prove to be a huge shock, and if you think that life insurance companies do not check the details then you are definitely mistaken!

All in all, life insurance is a valuable policy to have so as to protect your children and other family members that depend on you. Making sure that you tell them everything they need to know in advance will not only save you heartache later on but will also offer you peace of mind in the meantime.

Life insurance is one of those financial products that nobody really wants to think about getting because it is rather morbid to even think about but is one that everyone with any dependents, particularly children, absolutely needs if they want to look after their families after their passing. However, although it has always been a little on the confusing side and can be difficult to choose a policy to cover your needs, the choices available for those looking to take out life insurance are shrinking. Earlier this month, a major insurer announced that they were merging with another major provider to save money but of course that has also led to limited options.

Many insurers do not offer life insurance because of the complex nature of the policies and those that do tend to have them underwritten by one of the several experts in the field, so what difference does this make to you? Well, it may put up quotes that you get for new policies and add a little to existing policies that renew every year rather than having a fixed premium for the life of the policy. However, the main concern is obviously that the life insurance market shrinking will limit the options available to those looking for protection.

It must be said that there are still plenty of providers out there for you and many are easily accessed via APH so you can save time and money by using the comparison engine. You may not have heard of some of them before but you should check them out because they all have essential experience behind them. As such, there is no need to worry just yet but it is essential to do your research and look at policies in depth before taking one of them out. After all, your family may count on your choice one day.