Pillar one

Protect — cover the people who depend on you.

It solves exactly one problem: if your income stops because you die, the people who depend on it still need it. Everything else you may have heard attached to a life policy is secondary to that, and on this site we are going to keep it that way.

It is not a savings account, not an investment, and not a tax strategy. Anyone presenting it primarily as one of those is telling you something misleading about what you are buying.

The two shapes

Term and permanent, without the sales angle.

There is no universally better one. There is one that fits a given situation and budget, and the honest answer is often term.

Term

Covers you for a fixed number of years — commonly 10, 20 or 30. If you die inside the term, it pays. If the term ends first, it stops and pays nothing. It is the generally the lowest-cost way to buy a large amount of cover.

Fixed period · lowest cost per dollar of cover

Permanent

Designed to stay in force for life as long as it is funded, and it accumulates a cash value you can borrow against. It costs considerably more per dollar of cover, and the funding commitment is long-term.

Lifelong · higher cost · long commitment

Often a mix

A large term policy covering the years your children are dependent and the mortgage is outstanding, alongside a smaller permanent policy, is a common shape. Which is right depends on your numbers, not on a preference of mine.

Decided at the review, not before

How much

What actually goes into the number.

The income your household would need to replace, and for how many years.
Debt you would want cleared rather than inherited — mortgage first, then everything else.
Final expenses, which are more immediate and larger than most people expect.
How many years your youngest dependant still needs supporting.
What you already hold, including any policy that came with a job — and whether it survives you leaving that job.

You can get a rough version of this yourself on the estimator on the home page. It uses the same arithmetic and asks for nothing from you.

Honestly

Who probably does not need this.

If nobody relies on your income, the case for life insurance is weak. If you are single with no dependants and no shared debt, a large policy is usually solving a problem you do not have.

If money is tight right now and the choice is between a premium and clearing high-interest debt, the debt often wins. We would rather say that on a free call than sell you something you resent in eight months and cancel.

Next: build on top of it.

Protection is the floor, not the plan. Once it is in place, the second pillar is where patient, long-term saving does its work.

Build →Book a 15-minute call