Joint life insurance policies
[social_share]Many life insurance policies are set up to help one half of a couple when the other person dies. In some cases this may be because there is one partner who earns a lot more money than the other partner. In these cases the family will have trouble meeting their commitments and could find themselves in serious financial trouble. In these cases only one life needs to be insured.
In other cases however it may be the case that both lives need to be insured. This may be because the salaries are roughly equal, or that one of the two partners takes on a large amount of child care which will need to be paid for if that partner dies. In these circumstances it is often an option to choose a joint life insurance policy.
A joint life insurance policy is a life insurance policy that has two people who are insured on that policy and will pay out if either of them dies. It is designed to cost approximately twice what the life insurance would cost for an individual, although this is not always the case. The idea is that if one of the two parties dies then the other person is therefore not in financial trouble.
One thing that should be considered is the risk that one of the two partners may become disabled. This can prove to be as costly as if a person dies, as people prove to be unable to be able to either earn money or fulfil household duties. This will mean that it is a good idea to consider a policy that will also pay out if one of the two parties becomes disabled, as well as if they die. These policies are more expensive than straight life insurance. There are three broad levels of disability insurance – for a disability that means that a person can no longer work at all, or can no longer work at their current level or no longer work at all.
There are alternatives to joint insurance, particularly in getting separate life insurance policies. This can be considerably cheaper as different life insurance companies may have different criteria that means that a life insurance policy is better matched – this can be particularly the case if there is some difference between the age and the medical history of the two partners. There can also be a difference in the required payouts, although this can be handled through a joint policy.
