Reviewing your life assurance

Unless you have regular contact with a financial adviser you may not have reviewed your life assurance policies for a while. This is a good exercise to do every few years or when your circumstances have changed.

You may need to change your life assurance plans if:

• You have recently married
• You have recently separated
• You have had children
• You have changed job
• You have moved home or changed mortgage company

If an adviser set up your life cover then they would have certainly taken into consideration your circumstances at that time. If these have changed then your cover needs to be reviewed.

If you have increased your mortgage or changed the mortgage term then your policy needs to reflect this. If you now have a family, your cover is unlikely to be sufficient for their needs should you die.

Changing job means a change in employer benefits such as pension schemes and death in service cover. If you have moved job then it is wise to check what the death in service benefits are to see if you need some extra top up life cover.

Rather than trying to do all of this yourself you could seek help from an independent financial adviser or IFA. IFA’s are experienced in reviewing clients circumstances and then recommending changes to your finances to ensure everything you have is suitable and up to date.