No one wants to think about falling ill or their own mortality – especially if you’re in your 30s, 40s or 50s.
However, the truth is that thousands of families are affected by accidents, ill health, and premature death in the UK every year.
To help you understand the risks you might face, we’ve launched a new “Risk Reality Calculator” that can work out how likely it is that you’ll fall ill or die before you’ve repaid your mortgage or you retire.
Read on to find out why understanding the risks you face can help you provide valuable peace of mind for your loved ones.
Why an unexpected event is likelier than you think
If you’re young or healthy you might not think that you need to put any protection in place. It’s one reason that millions of people in the UK don’t have any personal protection.
Indeed, research reported by Mortgage Solutions has revealed that the take-up of protection policies in the UK is “dangerously low”. The report found fewer than 1 in 5 people have income protection and fewer than 1 in 3 have any life insurance.
Without any protection, your loved ones could be left with a financial struggle if you were unable to work, had a serious illness or worse, you passed away unexpectedly.
However, saying “it won’t happen to me” is a dangerous approach.
Leading insurer Aviva has looked at the data which clearly shows that it might just happen to you.
For example, in the UK in 2018, 23,147 people aged between 34 and 49 were diagnosed with cancer. The most common cancers in this age group were:
- Skin
- Breast
- Cervical
In addition, 20,361 people between the ages of 35 and 49 died in the UK in 2018. 12,600 of these were male and 7,761 were female. The top three causes of death in this age category were accidental poisoning, suicide and injury, and cirrhosis and other diseases of the liver.
In the older age group, the figures are even more stark. In 2018, more than 74,000 people aged between 50 and 64 were diagnosed with cancer, the most common being:
- Skin
- Breast
- Prostate
Aviva also report that 64,582 people in the UK between the ages of 50 and 64 died in 2018, mainly from heart disease, lung related cancer and cirrhosis and other diseases of the liver.
The Risk Reality Calculator can help you to work out your personal risk
What these statistics show is that there is a strong chance you could be affected by an unexpected event that would cause financial upheaval.
Now, using a brand new Altura tool, you can see exactly what the likelihood is of you being unable to work, suffering a serious illness, or passing away before you’ve repaid your mortgage or you retire.
Powered by insurer LV=, the Risk Reality Calculator can work out how likely these events are to happen to you.
You simply enter a few details – your age, gender, smoker status and retirement age – and the calculator will give you an idea of the chances of one of the above events happening before your chosen retirement age.
The calculator uses population and industry statistics, and your personal results are shown as a percentage.
Let’s take the example of James and Sarah, both non-smokers aged 50. They are looking to retire at age 66.
What this shows is that there is a more than evens chance of one of these events happening to the couple before their retirement age.
Without the right protection:
- If you have to take an extended period off work, you may have to manage on Statutory Sick Pay which, in 2022/23, is just £99.35 a week, payable for up to 28 weeks. Could you maintain your commitments on this amount?
- You may have to dip into your savings to pay vital bills until you can return to work
- Your family may have to maintain the mortgage repayments and other bills without your income if you were to pass away.
The right protection provides a valuable safety net
For just a few pounds a month – often cheaper than a mobile phone contract or gym membership – you can put protection in place that will provide a valuable safety net.
For example:
- Income protection would ensure you receive a portion of your salary each month if you had to take an extended period off work due to illness or injury.
- Critical illness cover would provide a tax-free lump sum if you were diagnosed with a serious illness covered under your plan, such as cancer, a stroke, or multiple sclerosis.
- Life insurance would pay a lump sum to your family on your death to enable them to repay a mortgage or to replace your income.
Protection is also designed to be there when you need. According to the Association of British Insurers, 98% of both individual and group protection claims were paid in 2021, with a record £6.8 billion paid out in individual and group life insurance, income protection and critical illness claims.
To learn more, download our complete guide to financial protection, which contains lots of useful tips and information.
Get in touch
If you’re concerned about how you and your loved ones would cope financially in the event of disruption such as illness or worse, we can help you to put the right protection in place.
Email [email protected] or call us on +44 (0) 20 3411 0079 to find out how we can help.
Please note
Note that life insurance plans typically have no cash in value at any time and cover will cease at the end of the term. If premiums stop, then cover will lapse.
