insurance
Affordable cover, just when you need it….
Howell Smith Financial Services provides affordable insurance across a wide range of needs, from Life Assurance, Mortgage Payment Protection, cover for critical illness to, Building and Content Insurance. Getting the right insurance cover is vital to your financial planning strategy.
Critical Illness Cover
CIC provides a tax free lump sum in the event of you being diagnosed with a specified critical illness which need not be terminal. The range of illnesses covered by insurance companies will vary but usually includes;
- most cancers
- heart attack
- stroke
- multiple sclerosis
- major organ transplant
- kidney failure
PHI (Permanent Health Insurance)
PHI cover, sometimes known as Income Protection, pays a tax free income in the event of you being unable to work due to sickness or accident. It’s called Permanent as the provider cannot cancel the policy just because of the number of claims you have made. Typically, the cover can be set to start between 4 weeks and 2 years of the diagnoses of illness and continues paying out until death, retirement, policy end or return to work, whichever occurs first. Usually, the benefit payable to you can be a maximum of around 65% of your pre-illness income (less state incapacity benefit). Some providers will allow you to insure ‘home makers’ as there may be a need to provide an income in the event of their illness. Benefits received can then be used to take care of housekeeping and childcare costs if the homemaker is unable to do so.
ASU (Accident Sickness and Unemployment) Cover/MPPI (Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance)
ASU provides a tax free, short-term cover (up to 1 or 2 years maximum per claim) cover of income and is designed to cover mortgage payments and associated costs such as buildings insurance in the case of illness or redundancy. It’s important to note that cover is not provided for unemployment where the insured is sacked or voluntarily resigns.
Aside from the length of cover (1-2 years), the main difference in comparing ASU with PHI is that the cover is renewable annually at the discretion of the insurer. This means that they can increase premiums or even terminate the policy if they feel that the insured person has a poor claims record. ASU is a less comprehensive but cheaper alternative to PHI and can provide some peace of mind in protecting you and your family from loss of income.
Life Assurance
Life Assurance (also known as term assurance) is designed to provide a tax free lump sum on the death of the insured person. This can be of great reassurance to you and your family to know that the mortgage or other debts can be repaid if this event occurred during the term of the policy. This can be up to 40 years and in some cases even more. A cash lump sum or income can also be left for remaining family members to maintain their standard of living. Please bear in mind that the buying power of your benefit may erode with inflation.
Cover is usually arranged on a level term or decreasing term basis. During the policy period the sum assured remains constant if arranged on a level term basis. Decreasing term cover is cheaper but the amount of benefit received will reduce over the years to zero by the end of the policy. This is usually used to cover a repayment mortgage.
Building and Contents Insurance
This can be arranged as buildings only, contents only or a combined policy. It provides protection for your home and its contents in the event of unforeseen disaster, e.g. fire or flood. Accidental damage cover can be included as an optional extra.
We can provide you with a competitive quotation from our range of insurers for owner occupiers and tenants which may save you money.
Landlords Cover
Similar to insurance for owner occupiers and tenants, additional cover can be arranged for landlords to protect their buildings and contents from unforeseen disaster. This may include events such as replacement for lost or stolen keys. Legal liability is often included automatically to protect you against injury or damage caused by your property to others and their property.
Additionally, legal expenses cover can be included to protect against the costs of defending and pursuing claims where a breach of tenancy has been made.
