UK Life Assurance Company

Pointers to picking the right life assurance company.

When selecting a UK life assurance company, ask whether it’s a mutual organisation, find out what its investment record has been like and how many funds it invests into, and then take a look at the fine print of the policy document before signing.

When you’re deciding which UK life assurance company you want to put your hard-earned cash with, here are some of the questions to consider. Firstly, if you’re after a whole-of-life policy (i.e. an investment), ask whether it’s a mutual company. These don’t have shareholders, and all profits are ploughed back into the investors, i.e. you! They’re becoming ever more rare.

What is its investment record? If it delivers bonuses, what have those bonuses been like? Many a UK life insurance company has cut bonuses in the last few years (and you’ll often hear about it in the news). Similarly, if you’re looking at a unitised investment, how well has the company managed those- and what sort of choice of portfolio are you offered? The number of funds into which you can invest your life policy varies between companies, and you might be more or less risk-averse than its other customers.

Two more key considerations: the medical and riders. No self-respecting UK life assurance company will leave itself open to abuse; but there are life policies which require no medical examination (Axa market one, among many others). And no two policies are the same- there can be significant variance between the levels of cover. Of course, death is a pretty inflexible payout condition; but where there is a critical illness component, the differences are often great, so compare policy documents as well as just prices.