Experience in the life assurance industry shows that most life assurance policies are taken out by people in their 30’s, 40’s and to a lesser extent in their 50’s. There is a very low uptake of life assurance by people in their 20’s who simply think they don't need it.

We believe that it’s time to look again at this line of logic, and we ask you to consider why we believe it makes sense to get cover in place sooner rather than later. 

You are fit and healthy now

Typically when you are in your 20’s, you’re in the prime of your life. You’re fit and healthy, and when it comes to life assurance, you have the choice of benefits, usually all of which can be purchased at ordinary rates without loadings or exclusions.

Being overweight is a very common reason for additional loadings being applied to life assurance premiums. When you are young, your Body Mass Index (BMI) is less likely to incur additional loadings than in the future, as some of us unfortunately spread out a little bit later in life! You also must remember that your ongoing good health is not guaranteed and that many illnesses don’t raise their ugly head until later in life. Once you are diagnosed with an illness, it may affect your access to life assurance in the future, either altogether or possibly at normal premium rates.

So taking out life assurance while you are young gives you the best chance of getting cover at rates that are not loaded because of any health issues that you might have.

Your relatives are (more likely to be) fit and healthy

In a similar theme to the above point, the health of your immediate family is an important factor in determining your premium rates. When you are younger, your parents and siblings are of course also younger and as a result, you are less likely to suffer a premium loading based on family history at this stage.

Common Family History issues that can complicate an application for cover include cancers, heart disease, a stroke, haemochromatosis, multiple sclerosis and a range of other serious conditions.

You have not yet have taken up a hazardous activity.

There are a range of activities that can impact your access to and price of life cover if you carry them out, or are planning to carry them out at the time you take out the cover. These would include the likes of;

• Working in a High Risk Area (eg: Libya, Chad, Nigeria, Colombia etc.)
• Scuba Diving
• Private Aviation

These types of activities can result in premium loadings, exclusion of cover if your death is related to these activities, or in some cases complete declinature of cover. It is quite possible that in your 20’s, you don’t carry out or plan to carry out any of these activities. So at that time you can get cover at the most competitive rates.

You have not yet undertaken advanced diagnostic screening 

As we all get a bit older, we begin to recognise our own mortality and most people start to pay more attention to their health. Many people as a result go for health checks. This is a great idea as these checks can pick up any potential issues that you have, and enable you to deal with them as early as possible. However advanced screenings can also pick up incidental findings that can affect future life assurance applications.

So while undergoing the likes of ECG’s, MRI’s or Echocardiograms can be crucial to your ongoing health, you need to recognise that they may result in findings that can impact your access to life assurance. At the end of the day, you are less likely to be getting these diagnostic tests done in your 20’s. 

Protect yourself against policy changes

Events happen in the life assurance industry that can impact the price of cover too. For example, the 1990's HIV scare resulted in an approx. 15% increase in premiums overnight. So getting cover in place early can protect you against such sudden premium increases.

And of course cover is cheaper

We purposely left this point until last as the earlier points are equally important. But yes, cover is cheaper at these earlier ages, so getting the cover in place early secures these lower premiums.

“But I don’t need it now”

We hope that the above points have given you some food for thought as to why it might be a good idea to get cover in place now. Also, we’re here to find the most appropriate cover for you. There are lots of different benefits and options available in the Irish market for people at different stages of life, and we'll find the right ones for you.

At the end of the day, that’s what we’re here for – to find you the right cover, at the right time, to suit your specific circumstances and needs.

A marriage breakup is usually a traumatic time. Very significant life decisions are needed about custody of children and access arrangements, and where each party will live. Often relations between the parties become quite fraught… and then financial arrangements need to be agreed.

At this stage, the difficult areas of dividing up the assets, maintenance payments and agreeing the ongoing repayment of debt need to be tackled. Having a financial planner involved in this process is very valuable, as they will approach the task in hand without emotion. Our job is simply to achieve the very best outcome in relation to the financial issues that will inevitably arise.

So to help you, here are some of the areas that we can help you with.

We’ll start with our lack of emotion

We’re actually as emotional as the next person… except when it comes to our clients’ finances! At this highly charged time, it is invaluable to have someone at the table who will leave emotion at the door, and who will look coldly at the financial picture. Sometimes a potential solution such as selling a family home in order to buy two smaller homes needs to be voiced, but often it is difficult for both parties to agree this themselves. Having a voice of reason can save a lot of time, expense and additional heartache.  

Make sure you get (the right) life cover in place

Once an agreement for maintenance payments are put in place to support the other spouse and children, it is very important that life cover is put in place to secure these payments in the event of death. However we strongly suggest that you seek advice in relation to the type of policy and the beneficiary profile in order to reduce the Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT) liability on receipt of the benefit.

If you are the recipient of maintenance payments, it is also important to ensure your ex-spouse has adequate income protection cover should he/she be unable to work because of illness or injury.  Also we’ll help you to ensure that you retain any health insurance cover, as lapses in cover can lead to increased cost or indeed reduced coverage down the road.

Be realistic about household expenses

This is particularly important if you previously didn’t pay too much attention to the money being spent by you and your ex-spouse each month. If you are to be the recipient of maintenance payments in the future, you need to immediately take a forensic look at what is spent to maintain the family. You need to track and document your monthly expenses very diligently, and also think through the one-off expenses that arise during the year – motor expenses, education expenses, holidays, club fees, insurance costs etc.

All of these costs quickly add up and we can help you think through them all. However we don’t have a magic wand to make them go away – the reality going forwards is that (in some cases) a single income may have to sustain two households, so sacrifices often need to be made.

Pensions are a minefield – we’ll help you through it

Pensions are complex beasts at the best of times. On separation they become even more complicated. We can help you to ensure an equitable solution in relation to an ex-spouse’s pension, through the application for a Pension Adjustment Order (PAO). This entitles you to a share of your ex-spouse’s pension fund.

There are different ways that these can be established. The benefits for both parties can remain in the pension scheme until the pension scheme member retires, or instead the non-member can transfer their share of the assets to their own arrangement. We’ll help you identify what’s the right approach for you.

We’ll help you to minimise the tax bite

This can emerge in many ways. If people are generally inexperienced in financial matters, we can help you structure your income tax payments to avoid any nasty (big) tax bills. We can also advise you in relation to the transfer of assets between both parties to ensure this is done as tax efficiently as possible. And we can help you reduce where possible any future inheritance tax liabilities.  

Separation is very difficult and the financial repercussions can be immense. Don’t let them spin out of control – we can help you maximise the value of every euro that is available.