Spousal life insurance – the why.
When you make the leap from single person to 50% of a couple, there are all kinds of adjustments going on. For example, you might get joint bank accounts for household spending and saving, and put shared assets into both your names. You might also decide that jointly-owned assets, like vehicles and home contents, should be protected by insurance policies. All of these things may help to reduce the impacts of negative events that might happen in the future.
While you’re thinking ahead to what might happen and making plans to minimise risks, it’s likely you’ll find yourselves in a conversation about life insurance. Why? Because if one or both of you becomes sick, gets injured, becomes disabled or dies, you want to make sure there’s a financial backup plan. The next part is to consider which type or types of cover could work for you.
Joint life insurance for married couples with kids.
If you and your partner have children, arranging some form of life insurance could become doubly important. We don’t have to tell you that raising kids isn’t cheap. To help protect your children’s financial future, if something was to happen to you or your partner, you could both consider taking out life insurance, which provides cover for both you and your partner, even if one of you isn’t earning.
Types of life insurance – the what.
Nobody likes to think about worse-case scenarios, but understanding their potential for financial impact is important. How would you pay your share of the expenses if you were off work for a long time? How would your partner cope financially if you weren’t around anymore? There are different types of life insurance designed to protect the people you care for most by providing you or them with money if something happened to you.
- Life cover is designed to help out with a lump sum payment if the insured person dies or is diagnosed as terminally ill and given less than 12-months to live.
- Trauma cover pays a lump sum if the insured person suffers from any of the conditions and the specified definition listed in the policy. With Fidelity Life Trauma cover, more than 40 conditions are covered, including heart attack, stroke and some forms of cancer.
- Total and permanent disability cover (TPD cover) pays a lump sum if you become permanently disabled, due to illness or injury and it’s unlikely you will ever work again. If you don’t have a paying job cover may still be available, but it will be assessed differently. More about TPD cover.
- Income protection helps out if you can’t work for an extended period, due to illness or injury. Payments start after a waiting period, which you choose when you take out the cover. You also choose how long you’d like monthly payments to continue for while you are ill or injured and couldn’t work. After the agreed waiting period, income protection cover can provide you with a monthly income. See our customer brochure about Income protection.
- Mortgage protection provides an agreed monthly payment when you’re unable to work due to illness or injury. The money can be put towards mortgage repayments, rent payments or any other expense. Payments start after a waiting period, which you choose when you get cover. And just like income protection, you also choose how long you’d like monthly payments to continue for while you are ill or injured and couldn’t work. At Fidelity Life, this type of protection is called Monthly mortgage repayment cover.
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When to start your marriage insurance plans.
Whether you decide to put life insurance in place before or after the wedding is totally up to you, however getting it done before gets one more thing off your ‘to do’ list. If one of you will be changing their name, it’s easy to update your life insurance policy after the wedding.
To better understand what type (or types) of cover you and your partner need, as well as how much to get, we recommend you talk to a financial adviser. It’s a way to ensure you’ll get cover that fits your needs.
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this article is a summary of the key points of the insurance cover(s) mentioned and is general in nature. This article does not constitute a financial advice service. All covers are subject to the definitions, standard exclusions/limitations, terms and conditions contained in the full policy documentation which is available from Fidelity Life or your financial adviser who holds a Distribution Agreement with Fidelity Life. All applications for cover are subject to underwriting criteria.
