No one likes to think about a time after they’ve gone, but life insurance could offer reassurance and comfort for your loved ones if you die while covered, helping to ease any financial worries at a difficult time.

The cost of life insurance varies and this can mean many people don’t think about buying any at all, but this can be a mistake. It’s possible that your dependents or next of kin may become financially responsible for any outstanding debts or expenses like childcare costs, a mortgage, medical or care costs for elderly parents, or even to pay for your funeral. Even if you’ve been careful with your finances and have no outstanding debts, you may want to leave your loved ones a legacy towards their future.

There are different types of life insurance; some provide a fixed amount of cover for the whole term of the policy (the agreed length of time of your policy), while others slowly reduce the amount of cover over time. Often, you can combine buying a life insurance policy with critical illness insurance or serious illness benefit to cover you if you are diagnosed with a serious illness such as a heart attack or stroke. The list of illnesses and the definitions used varies between insurers so check what illnesses are covered before buying.

Here are five good reasons to have life cover:

1. It can be surprisingly affordable

Contrary to what most people imagine, life insurance can be an inexpensive way to protect you and your family. It can be even less than you think.

You can buy life insurance yourself without advice. You can buy it online, over the phone, or via a paper application. If you choose to buy it through a financial advisor, then expect to pay a fee. The extra cost of a financial advisor might be worth it in the future by helping you to reach a decision that works best for your situation.

2. It offers protection and peace of mind

With a policy in place, life insurance could pay out money to your loved ones when you die. They might use a payout from a life insurance policy to pay off an outstanding mortgage or cope with regular bills. If you have children, a partner or others who depend on you financially (such as an elderly relative), it can help make sure they’re taken care of if you die.

A life insurance pay out can be useful for loved ones after your death, because it will be a very difficult time, emotionally and financially. Having to worry about bills and debts while coping with the loss of a loved one is difficult, and a life insurance pay out can help to ease financial worries.

Also, some policies pay out early on the diagnosis of a terminal illness. This would enable you to spend time with loved ones without having the financial worry.

3. Different types of cover available

There are three main types of cover:

Level Term Life Insurance -
This offers a fixed amount of money, covering you over a fixed period of time that you pre-select.  If you die within the chosen time period, known as the ‘term’, the policy pays out a lump sum to your beneficiaries.

This gives you the certainty of knowing how much the pay-out will be. However, it won’t increase with inflation, so in the longer term it might be worth less against the rising cost of living.

Decreasing Term Life Insurance -
This is another type of fixed-term policy aimed at people whose financial commitments reduce over time - for example, if you’re repaying a mortgage. Decreasing term life insurance is a term life policy where the death benefit payout decreases during the time the policy is in place, so the payout gets smaller over time.

Whole of life insurance -
Also known as ‘life assurance’, is a  policy that lasts for the rest of your life and pays out if you die (as long as you’re kept up with monthly payments). This type of life insurance could offer you certainty that there’ll be a financial payment to your family, but can be more expensive than other options.

4. Support your children's future

We all want to be there to help our children when they need it most, whether that's supporting them through university, or buying their first car. But if you were to pass away before your children grow up, you can still help support them if you have life insurance in place.

5. You would need a lot of savings to get the equivalent payout amount

You could help the family save or invest to build up an emergency fund. However, most people don’t have enough surplus cash, or the time to build up the same amount of money that a life insurance policy could pay out. A relatively small monthly payment can give protection and could help the family with bills or debts.

You must remember though that life insurance has no cash-in value at any time, it's a protection policy only. If you stop making payments your cover ends and you won't get anything back.