by Ant Insurance
16. April 2010
There is a lot of confusion between the insurance policies that are available and, with every UK household now looking at the state of their finances, now seems a good time to look at your insurance policies to find out if you are over insured or worse under insured.
There are two kinds of insurance cover. First there is “assurance” where you pay money on a monthly basis and you should get it back later in life, hopefully with some profit. This is called a Whole Life policy. The other is “Insurance” where you pay a certain amount each month for a set period of time and the money is repaid to you when a certain set of circumstances occur. These insurance polices are further split into Life policies and General insurance policies (Mortgage Protection Insurance falling into the latter group).
Firstly you need to find out what cover you already have. Many people have “endowment” policies and usually this is attached with a life cover, everyone should have home and contents, building and car insurance. You may have some form of policy to protect your income against redundancy or sickness such as Mortgage, Loan or Income Protection.
If you are uncertain, contact a good broker who will explain all the various policies and their differences but also be wary because they are “salesmen” and will and do use various techniques to perhaps provide you with policies that you personally feel you may not need. You must be your own judge and do your own risk assessment.