30 guides
Types of policy
Each type of life cover answers a different need. These guides set out what each one pays, for how long, and how it is priced.
- Accidental death insurance: what it pays and whether it is … Accidental life insurance, properly called accidental death insurance, pays a lump sum only if you die as a direct result of an accident. Life insurance is…
- Aviva Whole of Life Insurance+: how it works Aviva's main whole of life insurance policy is Whole of Life Insurance+, a separate product from its Over 50s Life Insurance, and Aviva's DigiCare+ page li…
- Best joint life insurance for couples The best joint life insurance for a couple is the policy whose design fits what the money is for, not one insurer that suits everyone. On price, one joint…
- Best whole of life insurance in the UK Which whole life insurance is the best has no single answer: Aviva, Legal & General, Royal London, Zurich and Vitality each set their own entry ages, premi…
- Borrowing against whole of life insurance Whole life insurance policy borrowing, in the American sense, means taking a loan from the insurer against the cash value a policy has built up. The UK who…
- Can one person cancel a joint life policy Whether one person can cancel a joint life insurance policy depends on who the insurer treats as the policy's owner, and the terms below differ. Royal Lond…
- How much does joint life insurance cost How much joint life insurance costs for a couple depends on both your ages, your health, whether either of you smokes, how much cover you want and for how…
- How much does whole of life insurance cost How much whole of life insurance costs depends on your age when it starts, your health and smoking, the amount of cover and whether the premium is guarante…
- Increasing (index-linked) life insurance Increasing term life insurance is cover whose payout is raised each year, usually by a measure of inflation, with a premium that rises alongside it. Unlike…
- Increasing your cover: top-ups and guaranteed insurability … Yes, you can often increase term life insurance coverage, but the route depends on what your policy already contains: a guaranteed insurability option that…
- Is term life insurance worth it Term life insurance pros and cons, in brief: it covers a set number of years, usually for less than a policy lasting your whole life, but if you are alive…
- Is whole of life insurance worth it The main pros and cons of whole of life insurance come down to one trade: a payout that is certain to arrive, in return for premiums that usually run for a…
- Joint life second death cover Second death life insurance, also called last survivor or last-to-die cover, is a joint policy that pays its single lump sum only when the second of the tw…
- Joint or single life insurance: which is better Joint vs individual life insurance comes down to one policy that pays once, usually when the first of you dies, or two single policies that can each pay. L…
- Life insurance on divorce or separation What happens to a joint life insurance policy after divorce depends on the insurer's own terms. You can keep it running, ask the insurer to replace it with…
- Limited-pay whole of life insurance Whole life insurance limited pay means paying premiums for a set number of years, or up to a set age, and keeping the cover for life afterwards. Among the…
- Single premium whole of life insurance A single premium whole of life policy in the UK is a contract paid for with one lump sum instead of monthly premiums. Protection plans such as Aviva's whol…
- Term vs whole of life insurance The difference between term and whole of life insurance is how long the cover lasts and whether it is certain to pay. A term policy covers a chosen number…
- Types of whole of life insurance The main types of whole life insurance in the UK split first on how the premium behaves: guaranteed (it stays put) or reviewable (the insurer can change it…
- What happens when term life insurance ends? Term life insurance lasts for the number of years you choose when you take it out, and each insurer's own documents set how short or long that can be: from…
- What is convertible term life insurance To convert term life insurance to permanent cover means using an option in a term policy to turn some or all of it into whole of life cover, so it no longe…
- What is joint life insurance A joint life insurance policy is one policy that covers two people, usually a couple, and pays its lump sum once: in most cases when the first of the two d…
- What is level term life insurance A level term life insurance policy is term cover whose payout stays the same, from the day it starts until the day it ends; at Aviva and Legal & General th…
- What is renewable term life insurance What renewable term life insurance means, in short: a term policy that gives you the option, as its end date approaches, to carry the cover on for another…
- What is term life insurance and how does it work Term life insurance is cover for a fixed number of years: it pays a lump sum if the person insured dies before the end date, and nothing if they outlive it…
- What is whole of life insurance Whole of life insurance is life cover with no end date: it pays a lump sum when the person insured dies, whenever that is, as long as the premiums have bee…
- Who owns a joint life policy and should it be in trust Joint life insurance in trust works differently from a single policy in trust: both people on the policy have to agree, both become settlors, and the main…
- Whole of life insurance and inheritance tax Whole of life insurance and inheritance tax are linked because the policy pays a lump sum whenever you die, which can go towards a bill that falls due on d…
- Whole of life insurance for long-term care The whole of life insurance plans quoted here are not built to pay for long-term care while you are alive. They pay a lump sum when the person insured dies…
- Whole of life payout amount A whole life insurance policy pays out the sum assured chosen when it was taken out, plus any yearly increases built into the plan, as one lump sum after t…