We all intend that our plans will come good. But making sure that you and your family can cope if you fall ill or die prematurely is something we can too easily put to one side. In particular, a recent study identified that financial protection is something that millions of fathers in the UK, and their families, could benefit from.
\nMore than half (58%) of men in the UK with dependent children have no life insurance, meaning that just over 4.5 million dads[1] are leaving their families in a precarious situation if the unforeseen were to happen. Worryingly, this has increased by five percentage points compared with 2017, a year-on-year increase of around 542,000 individuals[2].<\/p>\n
Financial hardship <\/strong> Critical illness insurance \u2013 <\/strong>this doesn\u2019t usually pay out if you pass away, so it\u2019s not always suitable if you want to make sure your family are provided for after you\u2019ve gone. This is where life insurance comes in. Many insurers will offer both types of cover combined.<\/p>\n No savings<\/strong> On top of this, many fathers are leaving themselves and their families unprepared for other aspects of illness or bereavement. 16% of them aren\u2019t sure who would take care of them if they fell ill, and more than two fifths (42%) don\u2019t have the protection of a Will, power of attorney, guardianship or trust arrangement in place for their families.<\/p>\n Risky position <\/strong> Seek advice<\/strong> Recent changes to bereavement benefits, and their continued unavailability to those in cohabiting relationships, mean that it\u2019s more important than ever for fathers to review their financial protection needs and seek advice to make sure their household is covered.<\/p>\n Unforeseen circumstance<\/strong> Whether it is your family or other loved ones, it\u2019s essential to make sure that the people and things that matter to you are taken care of \u2013 whatever life throws at you. \u03c4<\/p>\n Source data:<\/strong> PROTECTION PLANS USUALLY HAVE NO CASH IN VALUE AT ANY TIME AND WILL CEASE AT THE END OF THE TERM. IF PREMIUMS ARE NOT MAINTAINED, THEN COVER WILL LAPSE.<\/p>\n CRITICAL ILLNESS PLANS MAY NOT COVER ALL THE DEFINITIONS OF A CRITICAL ILLNESS. THE DEFINITIONS VARY BETWEEN PROVIDERS AND WILL BE DESCRIBED IN THE KEY FEATURES AND POLICY DOCUMENTS IF YOU GO AHEAD WITH A PLAN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Families left in a precarious situation if the unforeseen were to happen We all intend that our plans will come good. But making sure that you and your family can cope if you fall ill or die prematurely is something we can too easily put to one side. In particular, a recent study identified that … Continue reading “Financial protection”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rmw-ifa.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rmw-ifa.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rmw-ifa.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rmw-ifa.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rmw-ifa.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rmw-ifa.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rmw-ifa.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rmw-ifa.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rmw-ifa.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDespite a fifth (20%) of dads admitting their household wouldn\u2019t survive financially if they lost their income due to long-term illness, only 18% have a critical illness policy, leaving many more millions at risk of financial hardship if they were to become seriously ill.<\/p>\n
\nLife insurance \u2013 <\/strong>this insurance usually only pays out if you pass away. It\u2019s designed to help your family maintain their lifestyle after you\u2019ve gone, for example, to pay off a mortgage or other loans and provide for children\u2019s university fees.<\/p>\n
\nIf they were unable to work due to serious illness, 16% of fathers say they could only pay their household bills for a minimum of three months. More than two fifths (45%) say they\u2019d have to dip into their savings to manage financially, but 17% admit that their savings would last for a maximum of just three months, and 12% say they have no savings at all.<\/p>\n
\nThis is an especially risky position for the two thirds (66%) of UK fathers who are the main breadwinner in the family, and it\u2019s clear that many are in lack of a \u2018Plan B\u2019.
\nMany fathers don\u2019t consider having insurance as a necessity, with 16% of those without saying they don\u2019t see critical illness cover as a financial priority, and 20% saying they don\u2019t think they need it. The value of protection, however, is to provide long-term peace of mind about having financial security in place for your dependents.<\/p>\n
\nLife is full of uncertainties \u2013 and while we insure cars, houses and even holiday arrangements, when it\u00a0comes to ourselves and our family, often insurance is overlooked and undervalued. The simple\u00a0truth is we can get too ill to carry on working or tragically die too soon, either through serious illness\u00a0or accident. These events are random, and they can potentially affect us all.<\/p>\n
\nThe impact of losing the\u00a0family breadwinner can be devastating \u2013 missed mortgage repayments, savings depleted, your home\u00a0being sold, your family\u2019s standard of living eroded, with stress and worry\u00a0all too evident.<\/p>\n
\nAll figures, unless otherwise stated, are from Opinium Research. The survey was conducted online between 5 and 12 April 2018, with a sample of 5,022 nationally representative UK adults.
\n[1] Percentage of adult population that are fathers with dependents = 762\/5022 = 15.17%; 15.17% of adult population of 51,767,000 = 7,854,730 million; 58% of these don\u2019t have cover so 4,545,848 million
\n[2] Percentage of adult population that are fathers with dependents = 735\/5077 = 14.48%; 14.48% of adult population of 51,767,000 = 7,495,861 million; 53% of these don\u2019t have cover so 4,003,721. Difference of 542,127 compared with 2017<\/em><\/p>\n