What life insurance does for your family
A life insurance policy is a promise from an insurer. You pay a premium each month, and if you die during the policy, the insurer pays an agreed sum to the people or trust you named. Your family can use that money for anything: clearing the mortgage, covering childcare, paying for university, or giving themselves time to grieve before going back to work.
Most people buy cover when someone starts to depend on their income or their care. That moment often comes with a first home, a wedding or a baby. Buying earlier tends to cost less, because the insurer sees a younger and usually healthier applicant, and your premium stays the same for the life of the policy.
The main types of cover
UK insurers offer a handful of shapes. Each one answers a different need, and plenty of households combine two of them. For example, decreasing cover can sit against the mortgage while a level policy protects the family's day-to-day spending.
We will help you pick the mix that fits your debts and your plans, then compare prices across our panel for that exact shape. Term cover suits most families, since the need for protection usually shrinks once the mortgage is paid and the children have grown up. Whole of life cover costs more each month, because the insurer knows it will pay a claim one day.
- Level term: the payout stays the same from the first day to the last
- Decreasing term: the payout falls over time, often to match a repayment mortgage
- Increasing term: the payout rises each year to help keep pace with inflation
- Family income benefit: pays a regular income instead of one lump sum
- Whole of life: lasts for life, often used for inheritance tax or funeral planning
How much cover and for how long
Start with the big debts. Add the mortgage balance, any loans and an amount for funeral costs. Then think about income. How many years would your family need help before the youngest child leaves home or your partner could manage alone? Multiply a sensible yearly figure by those years and you have a working total.
The term usually ends at a milestone: the last mortgage payment, a child's twenty-first birthday or your planned retirement. Remember to subtract savings and any death in service benefit from work, though keep in mind that workplace cover ends when you change jobs. Our guide to working out your cover walks through each step with you.
What sets the price
Insurers look at how likely a claim is during your chosen term. Age carries the most weight, followed by smoking or vaping, your health and your family's medical history. A longer term and a bigger sum both add to the premium. Some jobs and hobbies, such as working at height or diving, can add a loading.
You can bring the price down by choosing decreasing cover where it fits, picking a term that ends when the need ends, or buying a joint policy with your partner. Stopping smoking for twelve months and then reapplying can also help. Honest answers on the form matter more than anything, because a wrong answer can put a future claim at risk.
Writing your policy in trust
A trust is a simple legal arrangement that lets the payout go straight to the people you choose. Most insurers provide a trust form free of charge, and you can usually complete it when you apply. With a trust in place, your family can often receive the money without waiting for probate.
A policy held in trust also usually sits outside your estate for inheritance tax. That can make a real difference to what your family receives. Trusts come in a few types, and the right one depends on who you want to benefit. We will explain the options in plain English and help with the paperwork.
How Hi Tomorrow helps you get it right
We are an advised broker, so we start by listening. We ask about your home, your family and your health, then recommend a type of cover, a sum and a term that suit you. After that we compare the insurers on our panel and show you the options that make sense, with the reasons behind our recommendation.
If you have a health condition, we know which insurers take a kinder view of it, and we help you answer the medical questions properly. We do not charge you a fee for this advice, as the insurer pays us commission. And if your family ever needs to claim, we will be there to help them through it.