Life Insurance Guide

Only around a third of UK adults have any form of life insurance, and most of those who do are significantly underinsured. The average life insurance claim paid in the UK was around £2.6m across the industry in 2023, and 98% of life insurance claims were paid — the myth that policies don't pay out simply isn't true. The real barriers are inertia and discomfort. A healthy 35-year-old non-smoker can often arrange £300,000 of level term cover for less than £20 a month, but the cover only matters if it is the right type, the right amount, and written in trust so that the money actually reaches the family when it's needed.

The guide walks through the full picture: level term versus decreasing term, the underused option of Family Income Benefit that pays a monthly income rather than a lump sum, whole of life cover for inheritance tax planning, and how critical illness cover sits alongside life insurance (the average UK CIC claim is around £67,000, paid to claimants whose average age is 48). It explains why death-in-service is a starting point rather than a solution, how to size cover using a four-part framework, and why writing a policy in trust — free, takes 20 minutes — can be the difference between funds reaching the family in weeks rather than 9-24 months of probate. A worked example follows James, a 41-year-old self-employed architect with two children and a £295,000 mortgage, who closes a serious protection gap with five policies for around £217 a month.

It is written to help UK families work out what cover they actually need, not to sell a product. Read it in about fifteen minutes.