When it comes to taking out a life insurance policy, our clients put themselves in our hands in many aspects: which company to take out the policy with, what guarantees they need? Today we will focus on the capital they need to contract. We hear a lot of advice and we want to clarify which ones we think are correct and which ones are not.
Guarantees and contingencies covered by a life insurance policy
Life insurance, as we have already explained on many occasions, is intended to guarantee a capital sum for our family and relatives, should anything happen to us (meaning the person insured in the policy).
The death
This is how the capital acts in the death benefit, which is the main and most common life insurance coverage. Immediate family members should contact the insurer to request compensation.
Here we helped you to choose the best life insurance according to your needs, depending on how long you want to keep it, what guarantees to cover…
Disability
On the other hand, the disability guarantee provides indemnity to the insured person.
Why? To be able to meet the expenses associated with this misfortune, as well as the consequent reduction in family income, precisely because of this supervening professional incapacity.
There is absolute and total disability, apart from partial disability, of course (here is the link in which we explain the differences in the types of Social Security disability ).
How to calculate the sum insured
Many things have been said about the sum insured to be contracted:“a sum equivalent to the income of 3, 4 or even 5 or 6 years should be subscribed”. However, these suggestions do not take into consideration that there are already public pensions for widowhood and orphanhood that should also be considered, so as not to contract capital sums above what is advisable. For this very reason, we advise this:
- Calculate those public pensions of which we would be beneficiaries: widowhood, orphanhood, disability, … Precisely to subtract them from the sum insured to be contracted.
- See what our family circumstances are: married couple with similar income or not; with young or older children; or without children… This will tell us, depending on the “burdens” that each one has, the number of years that we should compute from our income. We understand that:
- If one of the couple assumes the major part of the family income, he/she should have a life insurance with more capital than the other member of the couple: compute 5 or 6 years for the one with more income, and 3 or 4 years for the one with more modest income.
- If you have two or more young children, both members of the couple must have at least 4 years of income.
- The third step would be simply to calculate this income minus the pensions that we would receive in those computed years, which will give us the sum to hire
Which insurance company is reliable at the time of the claim?
However, it is not only taking out a life insurance policy with the correct capitalization that is essential. As we pointed out at the beginning, it is essential to know how to choose the right company. Why? For a very simple reason:
In the event of a claim, it is important to have an insurance company that you can trust, so that you can make a quick and problem-free disbursement; that is, a solvent company.
It would not be the first time that we have heard that an unknown life insurance company is causing all kinds of problems in making payments, when it was a company that was very simple and very cheap to contract.
The solvency of a life insurance company is the fundamental aspect for this, since it guarantees its financial capacity to meet its obligations. Companies such as: AXA, Zurich, Santalucia, Reale… are examples of this type of companies.
At the same time, a first level company also guarantees us a condition with fewer exclusions and surprises in order to cover us for any type of accident or illness that we may suffer.
We provide this life insurance advice on a daily basis. Therefore, our advice is to go to a professional when you want to make yours. It is not easy to calculate public pensions and, for that, we are here. Contact us and we will tell you how much a life insurance policy adjusted to your situation will cost.
