Life Insurance

Life Insurance is an insurance policy that pays a lump sum in the event that a person insured dies during the course of the policy term. It is possible to choose a Single Life, Joint or Dual Life Cover policy. It is also possible to use life insurance to protect a mortgage loan, your family, or even your business.

Where there are 2 people on the policy, a joint policy will only pay out on the first claim and the policy ceases. On dual life policies, the policy continues to allow a second claim pay-out.

There are 3 main types of life insurance: Reducing Term, Whole of Life, and Level Term.

• Reducing Term – Used to protect certain regular Mortgages & Personal or Business Loans – see also mortgage protection.
• Level Term – Used to protect a family, or business against loss of income, as well as to protect mortgage loans.
• Whole of Life – Used to fund for inheritance tax payment – see estate planning.

We compare the market and grant a 20% discount on the cheapest providers’ price. This cheapest price is then fixed for the full term of your policy and because life insurance gets more expensive as you get older there never any need to switch its best value for life!

Should you choose to add serious illness cover to your life insurance policy you will also be covered for a tax-free lump sum payment in the event of a serious illness claim on one of up to 91 specified serious illnesses. Your policy quote will be on a “life & accelerated serious illness cover” basis meaning that a serious illness claim payout acts as an advance payment of your chosen life cover amount.

Many people think that will live to a ripe old age so life insurance is pointless unless it lasts however long they do. However few people understand that (1) Term Life Cover can last to age 91 next birthday (2) Term life insurance is much cheaper than whole of life insurance (3) Life insurance is not just about covering funeral costs, but much more about protecting your dependants against the loss of your income.

We recommend a higher level of cover up to retirement age and then reducing your cover down in old age and to allow this level of flexibility to include a conversion option in your quote. However, if you’re already retired and you are more concerned about funeral cover then compare the cost of whole of life insurance against term life insurance and opt for what’s affordable!

Life insurance benefit is paid out as a tax-free lump sum. Joint and Dual life policies are paid directly to the second life assured and are always tax-free, as they don’t form part of your estate. Typically, unless you leave a very large estate on your death, your spouse will not have to pay tax on the life insurance pay-out.

However, anyone who inherits the money after your death, depending on their relationship to you, may have to pay inheritance tax. How much tax they pay depends on how much they inherit and Revenue rules at the time of your death. If you have a large estate, you can buy a specific type of life insurance policy, to provide a tax-free lump sum to cover any inheritance tax liabilities that your beneficiaries may have when you die.

If you arrange a policy on your own life only, the benefit is paid directly to your estate and distributed in accordance with your will. Alternatively, you can arrange the policy in trust for payment to whoever you have named as the beneficiary, once the insurer has received proof of your death.

If your spouse or partner takes out a policy on your life, the benefit could be paid to them without going to your estate. If you have a 2 person policy the benefit is usually paid directly to the surviving policyholder named on the policy.

No. If you have given up tobacco smoking for over 12 months, but you are still using e-cigarettes or any other nicotine replacement products you will still be charged smoker rates. However, once you stop nicotine replacement and tobacco for 12 consecutive months you are eligible for non-smoker rates!

For family protection purposes, the lump sum provided by your policy should be ideally invested to provide an income over a set time frame. For example, based on current interest rates €450,000 life cover would provide an income replacement of circa €30,000 for 20 years.

On average, your total amount of life cover should equate to 2/3rd of net annual income multiplied by your number of years to retirement. Include a continuation option to review and extend cover beyond this.

Joint cover means the policy will only pay-out one time only on the first to claim of the 2-people covered.

Dual cover will pay out again if a subsequent claim occurs during the policy term.

Joint cover is more suited to mortgage loan cover and dual cover for family protection. Dual cover also allows for different levels of cover on each person as required, so in effect offers better and more flexible cover, at very little extra cost.

For a small additional cost, a continuation option is a very valuable benefit that allows you to extend your cover under a new policy. You can use this option at any stage throughout your policy term, without having to provide any fresh evidence of health.

Yes, we quote only guaranteed premiums without reviews. If you choose to inflation protect your cover (3% per annum) by including indexation, the cost will also increase at an average rate of 4% per annum dependent on the insurer.

Comparing life insurance quotes is easy with Covermore Financial! Just fill in some simple details such as your age, the amount of cover you want, and the term the policy should run for using our online comparison service, and we’ll compare policies from all the main insurance providers in Ireland and produce your best value quote in just seconds.

Typically there is no need to do a medical. However, if you are seeking a very high level of cover for your age, or for applicants with a serious ongoing medical condition, a medical exam may be needed. If this is a concern, it’s best to be upfront and give us a call and we will quickly be able to tell you, what extra medical information will be sought.

It depends on the condition, how serious it is, and how progressive it is! The underwriters will seek specific information from you and sometimes your GP or consultant, before confirming its effect if any!

Once you run your quote, we will email you full cover details along with your online application form. Simply follow the instructions in this email, on how to apply by telephone and email. It will also include a link to your Customer Guide so that you can easily check out your policy coverage options!

You will need to answer health-related questions and in some cases, additional health questionnaires may be required. Dependent on your age and cover level a GP attendance report may also be sought.

Your life insurance quote will remain fixed until your next birthday occurs. Once your life insurance policy starts your premium remains fixed unless you increase your cover level.