When you’re struggling to make ends meet, it can feel counter-productive to pay out a large sum of money each month on insurance. Protecting yourself against something which may or may not happen can feel like a waste, but cancelling your policies can feel like tempting fate. Insurers like to make people think that you absolutely need insurance for almost everything, when in fact, the only insurance you’re required to have by law is car insurance. Of course, depending on your circumstances, it can be very sensible to have other types of insurance too – but have you ever considered that you may be over-insured?
Car Insurance
If you drive a car, any car, then you need to be insured. It’s the law and unfortunately you can’t get around high costs by cancelling it. For new drivers and for those who have points on their licence, the premiums can be pretty steep, and even if you have been driving for years and have a no claims bonus, you could still be hit with annual price rises.
Shop around for your car insurance using a comparison website and always try to (truthfully) make your job and where you park sound as safe as possible!
Travel Insurance
Travel insurance is not a legal requirement, but if you get ill or something goes wrong whilst you’re in a different country, you may be hit with a huge medical bill without it. It can also cover things like your travel provider going bust, long plane delays and lost luggage. It’s especially important to have travel insurance if you’re planning to do any adventure sports or do anything that could be considered dangerous when on holiday. Ultimately, whether you decide to take travel insurance or not is up to you. One way to save if you’re going as a family, is to get group insurance. Alternatively, some current accounts will offer free travel insurance as a perk.
Life/Illness Insurance
If you have dependents, or if you would really struggle if you were no longer able to work, then life insurance or critical illness cover may be something that you could be interested in. Of course, there’s no way of knowing if you’re going to make it to old age unscathed, but for some they don’t want to take the financial risk. If you have a strong family history of an inherited illness, then you may want to consider covering yourself, particularly if you have children. If you’re young and healthy, a non-smoker, with no dependents, then you may want to reconsider paying for this type of insurance if you’re struggling with your bills.
Income Protection Insurance
If you have an accident or become ill and need a considerable amount of time off work, income protection insurance would ensure that you could still pay your bills. Some employers will have a policy in place whereby you would get some pay during your time off, so check with them first to see if this is something you really need.
Coral Pearce-Mariner regularly writes articles for a number of top finance related blogs. If you’d like to see more of here content visit Guarantor Loans Online.
