Life insurance: Don't wait until it's too late

There are a number of life events that can drastically affect the amount of cover you will need including starting a family, buying a new house or starting a new job so sorting out your life insurance needs should be a priority for any family.

Women and life insurance

Everyone realises the terrible financial effect that losing the main breadwinner can have on a family but according to research by Legal and General, many families are still drastically underestimating the amount of value that mums add to the finances of the household.

"The value that mothers provide to the home through daily activities is massively underestimated," notes Matt Morris from Legal and General.

The insurer's analysis found that the financial cost of replacing the work that mothers do around the house is £32,812, which is actually more than the median UK salary. Full-time mums often put in over 80 hours per week around the house including chores and looking after the kids. Even mothers that work full-time outside the house manage to spend over 50 hours per week on domestic responsibilities.

"Mums are a rock for many families, making sure that the home runs smoothly, that the children are looked after and often holding down a job of their own. Families need to ask themselves how they would cope with all the domestic work and childcare that Mum does if she wasn't around?" added Morris.

Tips for life insurance purchases

The first step you will come to when deciding on a policy is, just how much cover do we need? Well, help is at hand, with many online calculators to choose from, which will ask you a series of questions including age, kids and income and will work out your precise needs.

So, once you have worked out how much you need, then is the time to look for an insurer. The best way of doing this is to look online, with a price comparison website offering you a much better chance of securing a good deal than going to each insurer directly. As Morris from Legal and General notes though, it is vital to think about these things before anything tragic happens.

"Crucially, don't wait till something happens before you look into protecting your finances. By then it may not be possible to be accepted by an insurer and the effects on family finances can be devastating," concluded Morris.