Critical Illness Cover (CIC) is similar to Life Assurance but it pays out on diagnoses of certain illnesses as opposed to only paying out on death.

The younger you are, the cheaper the cost could potentially be. For a relatively small amount, you could help yourself and your family cope for a while without income to pay household bills and debts. This would mean one less thing to worry about at this very stressful time. CIC will pay out a lump sum which could also cover other expenditures like:

• Private treatment

• Prescribed drugs not available through the NHS

• Changes to your home

• Paying off all or part of your mortgage

As with all insurances – conditions and exclusions apply

If you couldn’t work due to a serious illness, how would you manage? Could you survive on savings, or on your sick pay from work? If not, you’ll need some other way to keep paying the bills therefore you may want to consider income protection insurance.

Income protection insurance (which used to be known as permanent health insurance or long-term disability insurance) is a long-term insurance policy designed to support you if you can’t work because you’re ill or injured.

• It replaces part of your income if you can’t work for a while because you’re ill or disabled.

• It pays out until you can start working again or until you retire or the end of the policy term whichever is sooner.

• There’s a waiting period before the payments start. You generally set payments to start after your sick pay ends, or after any other insurance stops covering you. The longer you wait, the lower the premiums.

It’s not the same as critical illness insurance , which pays out a one-off lump sum. Income protection insurance pays a percentage of your gross salary or take-home pay (you can decide how much), and you can claim as many times as you need to, while the policy lasts.

It’s not the same as short-term income protection, which also pays out a monthly sum related to your income, but only for a limited period of time and usually covers fewer illnesses or situations.

As with all insurances – conditions and exclusions apply

Buildings and Contents insurance will be a condition of your mortgage offer put in place by your chosen lender.

Buildings insurance will cover your home from such events as fire, flood and subsidence.

It generally covers the bricks and mortar of your home along with any fixtures and fittings within the property, and contents insurance protects the possessions within your home.

While buildings insurance is not compulsory, if you have a mortgage, it is likely to be one of the conditions imposed by your lender.

As soon as you buy a house and exchange contracts, you become legally bound and responsible for the property.

It is therefore essential that you ensure you have buildings insurance in place from the exchange of contracts to protect you from potential disasters out of your control.

Along with fires and floods, a good buildings insurance policy will protect your home against storm damage, subsidence, burst pipes and vandalism. Failure to have cover in place could result in you having to pay out thousands for repairs or even being left homeless.

Our expert advisers will talk to you about the level of cover you require, including any valuable items, bikes etc., and will be able to find you the most appropriate cover available for your circumstances.

As with all insurances – conditions and exclusions apply

This is one of the most common protection products as a mortgage payment is often someone’s biggest commitment. Commonly known as Accident, Sickness and Unemployment cover (ASU), this can give you peace of mind knowing that, in the event of redundancy or illness, your mortgage payments will be made and your home will be safe.

Most standard mortgages do not have any protection insurance included, so it’s important to decide what kind of separate cover you need. Usually payments are made for up to a maximum of 12 months, but if you would like to be covered for longer than this you may want to consider taking out income protection.

Accident, Sickness & Unemployment insurance typically costs £4.10 a month for every £100 of monthly benefit. This is based on a 39-year-old customer choosing £1,000 of accident, sickness and unemployment monthly benefit with claims paid after a 30-day deferred period. The cost of this insurance depends on a number of factors, such as your age, where you live and your occupation. As a result, the cost you will pay is based on your own circumstances. There are other providers of Short-term Income Protection and other products designed to protect you against loss of income. For impartial information about insurance, please visit the website at www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk.

Typically, it is assumed if you do not own very much of significant value then there is no point in having your Will written and so making a Will is dismissed as expensive and time consuming so it is considered better to just get on with your life.

Wrong!

There are actually many good reasons why you should have your Will written even if you do not believe you have a particularly big or valuable estate to distribute.

• If you die without having your Will written then your assets will be distributed according to the law of England and Wales and not how you may have wanted them to be which could lead to ill-feeling among those left behind.

• If you are unmarried and do not have any close relatives then the government may be able to claim the entirety of your estate if you have not had your Will written

• If you die without having your Will written then your family members may have to deal with the ‘rules of intestacy’ regarding the distribution of your estate which could prove to be a difficult and lengthy process which can be both stressful and upsetting.

• Having your Will written could potentially save you on the level of Inheritence Tax that could have to be paid out on the value of your estate.

• If you have children then having your Will written could stop them possibly having to go into care when you are no longer around whilst a suitable guardian is found you could also determine at what age you want them to be able to inherit.

• If you have not had your Will written when you have a life insurance policy then a pay-out could be delayed unless you have had the policy written into trust.

• Having a Will written means you can make your own funeral arrangements so your family will not have to pay a potentially large bill and not have to decide where the funeral should be held, the hymns or readings to be used, and whether you should be buried or cremated to limit the additional stress placed upon your already grieving family.

Contact Taylor Milburn Financial now for further advice on Will writing*

Will Writing is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Putting your life insurance policy into trust with Taylor Milburn Financial can help you to protect your family’s financial future by ensuring the right people will benefit from it.

There are two main advantages to such action:

• Writing a Life Insurance policy into trust can help you to save time and reduce the worry that your policy with not be paid out soon enough to your next of kin by your chosen insurance company.

This is important because a life cover claim is usually made at a stressful time for the family so if your life insurance policy has been written into trust then the insurance policy will be paid out to the Trustees to then be passed onto beneficiaries straight away so they can begin to plan for the future. However, if you do not put your Life Insurance policy into trust then there would be a delay in payment until probate has been granted, either once the Will is deemed valid or Letters of Administration have been obtained. This can take as long as up to six months to be resolved.

• Writing a Life Insurance policy into trust could serve to reduce your level of Inheritance Tax liability.

This is important because when a Life Insurance policy is written into trust, then the premiums are typically referred to as ‘gifts’ for Inheritance Tax purposes. As a result, Life Insurance policies that are written into trust are usually covered by generous exemptions and will thus not form part of your estate for Inheritance Tax purposes. This could be significant for your estate planning since it is only the first £325,000 of your estate’s value that is free of tax.

One of our protection experts at Taylor Milburn Financial can give you further advice in relation to the benefits of writing your life insurance policy into trust and advise you regarding the most suitable form of trust to be used based on your needs even if you have already taken out your life insurance policy.

Contact Taylor Milburn Financial now for further advice on Trusts

Trusts are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority’