How long should I get life insurance for?

Summary: The length of your cover depends on what you would like to protect. Everyone is different, some customers will purchase a policy aligned to the length of their mortgage, whereas others will select a policy that provides a pay out until their children can fend for themselves.  

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The length of your cover depends on what you would like to protect. Everyone is different, some customers will purchase a policy aligned to the length of their mortgage, whereas others will select a policy that provides a pay out until their children can fend for themselves.

Your premiums could cost more the longer your policy is, since the risk of you dying while covered is higher. But a short policy with lower premiums might end before you need it.

Consider your reason for taking out life insurance, and who would get the lump sum payout if you died. You might have a young child who chooses to go to university one day, so making sure your life insurance covers that period of time could help provide financial security.

Maybe you’ve chosen decreasing term life insurance, designed to cover a mortgage to protect your family home. With this type of cover, the lump sum payout reduces monthly, like a mortgage and in line with an annual interest rate of 6%, regardless of the interest rate of the mortgage you’re currently paying.

Decreasing term life cover tends to have lower premiums than level term life insurance, where the cash payout stays the same for the whole policy.

You can adjust your cover duration on the quick quote summary page to see the difference it makes to your premiums.
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