Money, money, money.
All together now: IT’S A RICH MAN’S WORLD.
And it is.
Otherwise, how else could you afford the essentials, such as 144 rolls of toilet paper and 67 loaves of bread in the case of a worldwide pandemic or three days of snow?
No doubt, life is expensive enough already – so why spend more money than you need to on something like Life Insurance?
In today’s blog, I’m going to walk you through why choosing the right insurer is so important and give you some fire tips on how to get the right insurance for you.
Because nothing inspires faith quite like an insurance broker and his fire tips.
??
If you’re in good health, getting Life Insurance is pretty straightforward. You can do it all online: fill in a magic quote machine and buy it. Doneso.
If you’ve got health issues or a dangerous job, it’s not quite so simple. You’re likely going to have to pay more money for your cover because the insurers think you’re high risk. It’s not fair but that’s why we’re here – to make sure you pay as little extra as possible.
However, even if you have no health issues, you could be wasting thousands if you choose the WRONG INSURER.
Let’s look at an example.
Steve is 40 years old and in good health. He wants €250,000 cover over 25 years, as he’s just had his first baby with his wife. The baby looks like a little old man, but Steve thinks he’s cute and that’s the important thing here.
Steve goes to his bank for advice. Because the banks are trustworthy, right?
RIGHT?
The bank recommends Irish Life, because most of the banks are tied to Irish Life, and they give him a quote that’s almost a tenner more expensive than a similar policy that’s available through a broker ?
That tenner, across 25 years, adds up to €2,979.
Wave goodbye to that €2,979, Steve
Imagine the things Steve could have bought for his shrivelled, old man baby with that money?
It gets worse if you have a health issue because the insurers add a “loading” to their base premium.
A loading is a nice way of saying “an extra wedge of cash.”
It’s already hard enough dealing with a chronic illness only for the insurers go and take a metaphorical, money-fuelled dump all over you.
The thing is, loadings differ from insurer to insurer because the insurers all consider various illnesses to be varying levels of risk.
For example, let’s say Steve has Type 1 Diabetes. He’s on treatment, and his diabetes is well-controlled. In such a case, the loadings from the insurers can vary from an extra 125 per cent to an extra 225 per cent depending on the insurer.
That’s a lot of extra money.
And it could be even more expensive depending on if you’re hit with 125 or 225 per cent.
Let’s say Zurich decides to hit him with a loading of 125 per cent, on top of the €25.60 base premium he was quoted per month. Suddenly, his final premium is €57.60 a month.
In a not too distant insurance office, Irish Life goes for the full wedge of 225 per cent loading on their base premium of €33.52. This adds up to a whopping €115.47.
If you choose Irish Life, because the bank tells you to, you’d be paying €17,361 EXTRA OVER THE LIFE OF YOUR POLICY
Which is an abomination!.
By the way, I’m not saying that Irish Life is the worst for diabetes, I’m just using them as an example. For some people with diabetes, they might even be competitive. The important thing is to find the best insurer for YOUR situation.
No two people are the same, so no two insurance policies will be underwritten identically.
So, now you know the cold, hard numbers, what should you do to make sure you end up getting the best deal for you?
Cue RuPaul voice: CATEGORY IS…
As I touched on above, if you’re in good health, getting Life Insurance should be pretty straightforward. If you go with a competent online broker (for example lion.ie – like Troy McClure, you may remember us from our grand achievements such as 950+ excellent client testimonials, or the “Best Customer Service in Ireland Awards”), you should be able to complete the whole process online without interruption.
It’s easy:
It’s that simple, and you can even do it on your lunch break if you want to…without having to meet anyone #covid19.
Unfortunately, getting the right insurance policy for you is trickier if you have a health issue.
I mentioned this earlier too, but your best bet is to cast your net as wide as you can. The more insurers you go to, the better your chance of finding the one who is most sympathetic to your condition.
In some cases, one insurer might hit you with a hefty loading while another might decline or postpone you. It’s rare enough to be refused outright (think of insurers as little trolls who like gobbling up your money). But remember: if one insurer declines you, it doesn’t mean they all will.
On the other hand, if you’re postponed, it usually means the insurer is waiting to see if your treatment is effective or for you to have a follow-up. For example, if you have a high BP, you could be postponed on the expectation that you will change your lifestyle, get your BP under control and try again.
Whatever your situation is, arm yourself with all the knowledge you can find online. (I suggest having a poke around this here blog for bullshit-free Life Insurance advice.)
Spy. Bomb disposal. International man or woman of mystery.
Or a scaffolder.
Is being a scaffolder as sexy as being a spy? Nope.
My apologies to all the very sexy scaffolders out there.
But does scaffolding still come with a raised price tag on insurance? Yes, believe it or not, some insurers will increase your premium if you work at heights.
To hammer the point home one last time, a high-risk job (even if it’s only a little bit high risk) can increase the cost of your premium. To counteract that, you’ll need to shop around.
This is especially true for income protection/salary insurance.
The main factor driving the cost of your income protection is your occupation.
The insurer categorise occupations according to the risk of a claim. Class 1 being lowest risk (office worker), Class 4 being highest (manual workers).
But as with loadings, occupation classes vary across the insurers. Take social workers for example. They are Class 4 with Aviva (mucho expensive) yet if you go with Irish Life, you can get Class 2 rates (much cheaper).
Every situation is so different as is learning the ins-and-outs of all the insurers. Navigating through the small print of life insurance will take time and bore you to tears so your best bet is to go with a specialist life insurance broker.
It doesn’t even have to be me…but please use a specialist life insurance broker, not someone who sees life insurance as an afterthought after selling you a pension.
Over to you…
Want to get the best cover for your hard-earned money?
Give me a call on 057 93 20836 or fill in this questionnaire and I’ll give you a call back as soon as I can.
Talk to you soon
Nick
PS :If you’re not sure, why not have a nose of some of those aforementioned 950+ great testimonials from happy customers?
As Ireland's leading life insurance broker, we specialise in comparing the rates and policies from the top five Irish life insurance providers and offering the very best value quotes to suit the individual needs of our clients. Our expertise lies in finding a suitable insurance plan for those with specific needs, be it a particular illness, occupation or claim history, we've got you covered in every sense!
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