Life insurance: what is it and why you might want to consider it?

So you might be thinking, I m only young why would I want life insurance?! , well it's not something everyone things about; death that is but it is something that happens to us all eventually.
Hopefully for most people that day wont come until we're old and grey but sometimes things just happen and it can be good (depending on your circumstances) to prepare for that, this is where life insurance (and also wills/power of attorneys, i won't go into these two as I/we haven't yet been through sorting those out) comes in.

Life insurance like other kinds of insurance is where you pay a monthly premium and in return you're covered if you die (or with some insurances you get a pay out if you get a terminal illness).Many providers allow you to choose your amount of cover, this would depend on what you think your family would need to pay for if you suddenly died, things like a funeral and helping them with bills.

How do you get life insurance?
You obtain a quote (like any insurance it's good to look at many different providers for the best deal) by answering a series of questions based on how likely you could die basically, things like health questions for example whether you have any health conditions (and how they are treated) and whether you drink often, also they might ask about your families medical history if there's anything genetic and they also ask if you have any kind of risky job, so if you work on an oil rig expect expensive payments:P

what will it cost?
It will vary from person to person depending on their risk, personally i pay just short of £6 a month, which includes being covered if i get cancer or something similar and covers £70k if i die.
who does the money go to if you die?
when you take out a policy they ask you to nominate a beneficiary who the payout would go to.
How much cover should I take out?
This will depend on your circumstances at that time, it is possible to change it as your life changes but many sites have calculators that help you decide how much cover to have, in my circumstances we're planning to get a mortgage in a couple of years so I have enough for my half and for a funeral. I also have enough critical illness cover for more than 18 months of wages.
what are the difference types of life insurance?
There are two main types, fixed term which covers for however many years the policy is and then life term which covers until you die.

This is really handy I've considered whether I want to get it in the future, but I worry what with all my health problems and family history of cancer and stuff it'll just be mega expensive and not worth it. The critical illness cover sounds good though. I never even thought about that!

Some providers are more flexible than others, the one I went for included just parents history rather than grandparents (which would have upped it a bit and they didnt count my dad's condition in it either) and they let me specify how often i've had to use my asthma inhalers so that helped in not being so expensive. You can get loads of quotes and see which is best for your medical history. I thought about it as unfortunately 3 grandparents got cancer and it added an extra 50p a month i think.
It certainly makes me less worried about something happening to me and how my family would cope, especially whilst i've not gotten a will yet.

Oh, that actually sounds a lot more reasonable than I thought. Specifying how often you use inhalers sounds really good. I might actually look into it. I don't necessarily need it now, but it is something I want to look into and prepare for

I think the more questions they ask, the more likely they'll be flexible really