Getting the Right Advice

When you’re getting advice in this area, make sure:

That you get any advice in writing

Your adviser should provide you with a Statement of Advice, explaining their recommendations and reasons for the advice. It also has to include the fees and commissions payable, plus any relationships that might influence the advice. Be sure to get it in writing.

That they’ve considered ALL of your needs

Make sure that they’ve considered the value of the income you can expect to earn in the future. It is possible to insure for this and to put a dollar value on it. This is neglected sometimes, because it could involve a lot more cover than you want. But as advisers, we have a duty to provide you with the advice you need, not what you want.

That they include more than just your mortgage

As you’ve seen, there is a lot more to life insurance than ‘just your mortgage’. If somebody is only covering your mortgage, find out why. They probably have a good reason, but make sure you agree with it.

Depending on your age, your mortgage might only be 30% of your total insurance need - make sure the other 70% gets the attention it deserves.

That you get some comparison quotes.

While in life insurance, the cheapest normally isn’t the best, there also has to be a good reason for having a policy more expensive than the rest. Standard practice is to have at least two other quotes for you to see where your policy stands compared with the competition, as well as reasons for choosing the one recommended.

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