We were humbled to have been contacted by the Irish Times a few weeks ago and asked for our opinion on life cover for an article by journalist Eithne Dunne, published in the Sunday Times on 21st May.
We wholeheartedly gave our 'tuppence-worth' on some of the things we believe are important to consider when selecting Life Cover for yourself. However it also dawned on me how big a problem exists with regards Life Cover, so we are out to quash that problem right here and right now.........in a second!
Firstly, if you are a new visitor to Informed Decisions, welcome, and have a quick look over here to find out what we are all about & why we exist! We are on a mission to bring practical financial planning & personal finance to Ireland's millennials. If not, welcome back to Ireland's only dedicated Money & Financial Planning Podcast!
What's The Big Problem!?
Life Cover, it's a product (of many sorts!) and as someone recently said to me 'everyone and their Granny sells it'. The commissions paid to the intermediaries and agents who sell it can be pretty rewarding for them. So, do intermediaries and agents be they online or face-to-face make money if you buy Life Cover from them? Of course they do! As do people from whom you buy tanning lotion, cars, carpets, jewellery, cat milk, holidays, lawnmowers, home insurance, windows, taxis, shoes and every other consumable item or service on this planet!
However it is the fact that people make money from selling it that we believe leads to a wholesale dislike and general apathy to this form of 'insurance'! And this is a problem ( oh by the way I was recently told by a reputable source that it is actually OK to start a sentence with the word 'and'!). Consumers are often therefore also sceptical of the benefits and their potential need for Life Cover, and not knowing who to trust! We may all have heard someone (or ourselves) say 'sure yer man/ yer wan was trying to sell me bloody life cover, sure I don't need that stuff, a racket!'.
Maybe you do, maybe you don't but please don't let a sceptical view be a barrier to a potentially life-changing product for your heirs! In this episode we are going to address this problem, we are going to outline how to figure out for yourself if you actually need any Life Cover, presenting purely facts, and you decide for yourself if you need to buy some or not, and also how much Life Cover to buy if you do decide you need some!
I remember almost 10 years ago when meeting a client who insisted that he did not need Life Cover (despite having 5 kids and a wife whom were all relying on his salary!), when I probed he advised it was because "he was not going to die, ever", and he wasn't joking. That's a separate issue and not sure it's one I can address in this blog!!!