I think I need life insurance but would like some advice please

Graham1982

Hello everyone:

I am a 38 year old male working in the Middle East in a safe country. I have two children who do not live with me but live in the UK. Up until this point I have never had life insurance and I don't have a mortgage. I genuinely neither smoke nor drink.

I am looking to return to the UK eventually but I have no immediate plans to do so. I have a UK bank account and medical insurance supplied by my employer here.

I do not know the first thing about life insurance so my questions may seem a little dense. I guess the first few questions are:

1. What does life insurance provide in the event of my death - i.e. will my children receive anything?
2. Would the policy be valid given I work overseas?

Given the circumstances above, is there any need for me to get life insurance?

Thanks
Graham

Caz3121

worth a read of the MSE article https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cheap-life-insurance/

On-the-coast

It would be unusual for an employer to offer medical insurance (expensive) but not life insurance (cheap when aggregated over all employees)
have you checked that you aren’t already covered?

Aretnap

"Life insurance" provided by your employer is usually actually a form of death in service benefit - it pays out only if you are still on the company payroll when you die. It is therefore inferior to having your own life insurance cover - you lose it if you are made redundant or change jobs, and you may or may not be able to get a new policy at reasonable cost when that happens. Importantly if you had to leave your job due to a long term health problem you would be left with no cover, and perhaps no prospect of getting cover due to your health problems. 

Whereas a life insurance policy of your own has a fixed term - you pay your tenner a month or whatever and your estate or your nominated beneficiaries get a hundred grand or whatever if you die before a set date, many years in the future. The arrangement continues regardless of changes in your circumstances, employment or health, provided you keep paying your premiums. So it's generally recommended that you ensure that you have enough life insurance of your own, and treat any death in service benefit from your employer as a bonus.

That's how things work in the uk at least. The practicalities of getting a UK life insurance policy as a non-UK resident I'm not sure about.

As for whether you need life insurance, generally you need it if there is someone who will be worse off financially in the event of your early death. Are your children financially dependant on you? 

csgohan4

Never rely on employer benefits for life insurance, rely on something on your own terms. 

Graham1982

Hello everyone:

Thank you for your replies.

I am unsure if my employer offers death in service benefits and to be honest I am not employed by a UK company abroad but a foreign company. I am not suggesting that my employer is disingenuous but I believe if there is a way for them to wriggle out of it, they might.

I am definitely considering getting my own for exactly the reasons stipulated above.

Can someone please explain the difference between life assurance vs insurance? I think I understand it to mean that assurance pay out the pot when I die irrespective of whether the policy has finished. Is this incorrect?

Thanks

Graham  

dunstonh

Can someone please explain the difference between life assurance vs insurance? I think I understand it to mean that assurance pay out the pot when I die irrespective of whether the policy has finished. Is this incorrect?

There are some muddy waters as to the difference.

Assurance means something that is going to pay out.  Insurance means something that could pay out.      For some that means a whole of life assurance plan is the only one that should really be called life assurance and the rest called life insurance.  For others, all life cover plans without restrictions should be called life assurance as you are going to die and are covering an event that is going to happen but may not happen within the policy term.     Whereas plans with restrictions (such as over 50s plans) should never use the assurance wording.
e.g.
Whole of life assurance (don't believe anyone calls it whole of life insurance unless you are outside of the UK).
Endowment assurance (no longer available but was always called "assurance")
Term Assurance (the main type nowadays but sometimes marketed as term assurance and sometimes as term insurance.  Both are the same)
Over 50s plans would be life insurance under either viewpoint as they have restrictions.

poseidon1

OP you asked the same question 5 years ago but presumably made no progress in investigating your options at that time? -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6293267/life-insurance-not-reclaim-advice-but-dont-know-where-to-ask-such-a-question

You will likely benefit from reading the article below -

https://www.legalandgeneral.com/insurance/life-insurance/lifestyle/life-insurance-moving-abroad/

As for need for life cover, do you make maintenance payments to your ex partner for your children? This would certainly give you a UK insurable interest as indicated in the article.

Whether you will find a UK insurer who will take on someone resident in Oman, is another question entirely.

Incidentally if you are going to be very long term resident in Oman, what are you also doing to establish a decent pension fund above and beyond the UK state pension ( I understand foreign ex pats are not entitled to Omani social security) ?

From one of your past posts your stated tax free Oman monthly salary at £3,210 is over 3 times more than the current ( taxable) UK state pension. If you intend to ultimately retire back in UK, a mere UK state pension by itself would be very poor retirement provision relative to your current earnings.

Weighty1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82116509#Comment_82116509

I think it's more that this thread was resurrected by the new poster who is obviously doing a bit of self-promotion…

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82116523#Comment_82116523

My oversight in not seeing how old the original thread was!

Yes the new post does appear to be spam.