As the new decade has dawned, global economic unrest has left the UK, as well as much of the rest of the world, in dire straits. Rising unemployment and inflation, together with a faltering economy, mean that everyone, from the high street to the big banks, is starting to feel the pinch. It’s times like these when it can be tempting to cut corners, and try to save pennies by avoiding those investments that we might deem non-essential. But in some cases, whatever your financial situation, it can still pay to invest a little now, to avoid catastrophic troubles further down the line. This is especially true when it comes to non-essential insurances.
It’s easy to put such things to the back of your mind, especially when you’re young and healthy, and tell yourself ‘it won’t happen to me’ but it’s a sad truth that we never know what’s around the corner. With much of us saddled with significant debts, it’s important to make sure you and your family are provided for should the worst happen, and a little investment now could save you a lot of money in the long run.
The fact is, it’s those young, healthy individuals, just starting out in life, who could often benefit most from investing in non-essential insurances. Put together combined potential debts from university fees, mortgages and young families, and many people will never be less financially secure than in their early 20s. While this might tempt you to cut costs on non-essential insurances, it actually makes more sense to protect yourself, your family and your investments.
Ask yourself what would happen should you fall ill? As the primary worker in your family, the financial effect could lead to you defaulting on your mortgage, and worse still, should you die, you family losing their home. These future costs – both financial and emotional – are far greater than the premiums you’ll pay now, especially with some very reasonable life insurance quotes available. Young people especially can benefit from term life insurance packages which, with their specified cover periods, can enable you to cover yourself and your family until your kids leave the nest for example.
With the amazing free healthcare service provided by the NHS, health insurance might seem like and unnecessary luxury, and for the majority of us, it probably is, but it’s worth making sure you’re provided for should you fall seriously ill. Those of us who have hereditary illnesses in our families particularly can benefit from a little foresight in protecting ourselves and our families from their effects. Critical illness cover enables you to provide financial support to pay for long-term treatment and keep your family fed, clothed and under your roof during what could be a long recovery. Once again, neglecting to protect against something that you know could be around the corner could lead to huge costs in the long run when faced with the emotional and financial turmoil that long-term illness brings.
Likewise, home insurance too is an important way of protecting the investments that you’ve worked so hard to gain. Skimping on home insurance is all too easy, but say you’re boiler is to break in the middle of winter, leaving your family in the freezing cold? No insurance policy can mean immediate bills running into the thousands to replace boilers and cracked pipes. But investing in home insurance will protect your property against such unexpected events.
Furthermore, you might wish to ensure your property is protected for your loved ones after you die. While standard life insurance plans don’t necessarily ring-fence money for specific things, it is possible to take out mortgage life insurance for this very eventuality. Paid out directly to your mortgage lender on your death, the premiums for mortgage life insurance decrease as the mortgage is paid off during your life, and can be cheaper way of insuring your family still has a roof of their head when you’re no longer with them.
As you can see, the risk taken by avoiding these ‘non-essential’ insurances could be too big to comprehend, protect your family by making a little money today go a long way tomorrow.