One in 20 children in the UK lose a parent before they reach adulthood (those are the best stats I’ve got, but if any actuaries know better pls let me know). Tragically, my sister and I were part of that unfortunate five percent, suddenly losing our mother just before I was 12. The grief, pain and sorrow are indescribable, and while thankfully as my father was the main breadwinner it meant there wasn’t a financial crisis, now I realise that this is plausible and possible- and would’ve added an almost insurmountable hurdle at a terrible time.
My reason for writing this note, is because this week I’m publishing my new Cheapest Life Assurance article; something thats always a little painful to write, but one I feel a passionate need to publish. Whenever a friend has their first child, I often comment on the importance of some form of life assurance, which provides a payout when someone dies. It’s an unpleasant subject to broach and many don’t deal with it simply due to that. Yet if you can afford it, it’s very much worth considering. Preparing for the worst is a must; you can give your children everything in the world while you’re there, but its also important to consider their future in the horrid event that you’re not.
Update Note October 2010
Reading this blog back is never easy, and I’m never sure I feel comfortable I wrote it. Yet it’s such an important issue that hopefully the personal angle may help a few people think seriously about how their death would impact their loved ones’ finances, as well as everything else.
Last week a woman came up to me to ask me a question, she was in her early 40s and told me her husband had just passed away, she was devastated and she said to me “last month he stopped paying life insurance put kept the dental policy going.”
