Life Cover

The purpose of this product is to ensure that your family is protected from financial hardship as a result of you dying prematurely.

A Life cover or Life Insurance policy will pay a specified lump sum on death within an agreed term. Policies can be set up to pay out on a single life, joint or dual life basis. Conversion option can also be included that will allow you ‘convert’ to a new policy without the need to provide further medical information. When taking out a policy with a conversion option you are essentially locking in your health.

Under current legislation, the lump sum benefit paid under this policy are not liable to income tax or capital gains tax. However the sum payable on death will normally form part of your estate for inheritance tax (Capital Acquisitions Tax) purposes.

Some of the additional benefits that can be included on your policy are:

• Specified Illness Cover
• Cancer Cover
• Permanent Total Disablement (automatically included with some life companies)
• Hospital Cash
• Personal Accident
• Waiver of Premium
• Inflation Protection
• Protection Continuation
• Whole of Life cover

Whole of Life Cover

As the name suggests this is protection for the whole of your life.  Unlike older WOL contracts premiums on whole of life contracts are now guaranteed and do not increase unless you have specifically included Inflation Protection option when setting up the policy.

No tax liability arises on payment of the death benefit.  The Death benefit it payable to your representatives and may be taxable as part of your estate.  If the policy is expressly taken out under Section 72 Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003 (‘Section 72’) then the proceeds are then exempt from inheritance tax – as long as the benefits are used to pay inheritance tax arising on the insured person’s death.

This is a protection plan; the policy never acquires a cash value.  If you cease to pay premiums, then the policy will be terminated.  However, for the first time in the Irish market we can now offer clients a whole of life assurance which can pay back a lump sum of 70% of the premiums paid by the customer once the policy has been in force for 15 years. Under this unique contract the customer also has the option to cease premiums and maintain the protected cover for the rest of their life. This feature has only recently been introduced to the Irish market and is proving very popular’.

Specified Illness/Serious Illness Cover

This contract will provide a lump sum payment to the life assured on diagnoses of a specified illness which is listed on your policy document. Since the introduction of this type of cover in the market place nearly 20 years ago, the benefits provided by each provider have increased greatly, with more illness now cover, and better additional fringe benefits (hospital cash benefits, partial payments on diagnoses, child illness cover).

Cancer and heart disease are the two biggest illnesses in terms of claims experienced by all providers in the market place. By putting this cover in place you can protect yourself and your family and allow time you’re your recovery and return to the work place. Some of the providers offer excellent additional Supporting Services. This will help each of our customers in the claim process and enhances the service with

We would be delighted to provide you with more details and full comparison of the listed illnesses covered.

Mortgage Protection

Mortgage Protection is reducing life cover that is designed to pay off your mortgage in the event of your death. It is taken out on a joint first life basis meaning that it is only paid once. For this reason this is the cheapest form of cover. The term of this product is linked to the term of your mortgage. Premiums will not increase at any time during the term of the policy.

If you take out a mortgage your lender will require you to take out a mortgage protection policy to cover the full loan amount – not the value of the property being purchased. Whilst you are only required by the lender to have sufficient life cover in place, this product can also cover you in the event of a serious illness or permanent total disablement.

Where the policy is assigned to the lender in the event of any claim the benefit amount will be paid to the lender. It also means that you will be unable to cancel or amend the policy without the permission of the lender.

Income Protection

This benefit will help replace your income if you are unable to work due to accident, illness or injury.  You cannot be better off out of work so the maximum payment limit is set at 75% of your annual earnings and less the State Illness benefit for PAYE workers.

You will have to be unable to work for a pre-selected amount of time before payment is made to you. This is called the Deferred Period.  It can be 4, 8, 13, 26 or 52 weeks.

Income Protection premiums can be paid for by your employer as Executive Income Protection.  If you pay for the premiums yourself you can claim tax relief at your marginal tax rate (to a maximum of 10% of total salary).

The fact of the matter is that if you rely on your salary –   you need income protection.  A recent survey by Royal London found a third (33%) said that they couldn’t survive financially for more than three months if they lost their current salary’.

Pension Term Assurance

This is a life insurance policy for those in employment. The term of the policy is the individual’s normal retirement age. For personal pension term assurance policies tax relief is available on premiums paid at the individual’s marginal rate.  For executive policies corporation tax relief is also available. Please keep in mind though that the overall relief combined with any relief on pension contributions cannot excess the tax relief limit for your age.

Group Risk

As the name would suggests, this cover is put in place to cover a group of employees whilst working for their specific employer. It is also known as Death- In- Service cover and is put in place by the employer for each employee. The benefit is based on a multiple of salary. (3 x salary. 4 x salary). This cover is attractive to both the employer and the employee. The employee should see this as benefit since the employer is payable the premium and can be put in place on a non- medical bases. This means that the individual does not have to provide medical evidence. However, there is a requirement for each employee to be activity at work, with most providers necessitating a period of at least six months with no absentee periods more than 10 days.